NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • All Blacks
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

Gardening: Workers vital for food security

By Meg Liptrot
Living·
19 Sep, 2015 09:45 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
A New Zealand native bee laden with pollen from a pohutukawa flower. Photo / Paul Estcourt
A New Zealand native bee laden with pollen from a pohutukawa flower. Photo / Paul Estcourt

A New Zealand native bee laden with pollen from a pohutukawa flower. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Nature’s diligent little helpers now need us to secure their survival

September is Bee Month and it's great to see a groundswell of public awareness on the plight of the honeybee. Beehives are popping up in backyards and even schools are getting in on the action. Garden centres are helping by highlighting bee plants, and research is now available on bee-friendly trees for farms.

Often going unnoticed (or mistaken for a small wasp), our native bees are important pollinators.

Aotearoa's native bees may be a little subdued in their dark Zambesi threads when compared to the imported Italian honey bees with their Versace stripes, but several of our native species, previously considered primitive, are surprisingly smart.

New Zealand has 41 bee species, 28 of which are native. Researchers from the University of Canterbury studying rare native mistletoe discovered some native bees have worked out how to "pop" sealed mistletoe flowers by nipping just the right spot on the flower tip and pushing with their legs.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Native red mistletoe Peraxilla tetrapetala relies on native birds for pollination and seed dispersal. Until recently it was believed only birds such as tui and bellbird were able to open this peculiar flower, whose ripe bud springs open only when twisted by a bird. What mystifies experts is how bees have learned this behaviour, given they are solitary.

A bee's life right under our feet

Native bees don't produce harvestable honey, but they do collect and store nectar for their young. They dig holes or tunnels in fine soil or sand and, happily, they can't sting.

I had a Gerald Durrell moment while on holiday at Awaroa Inlet in Abel Tasman National Park last summer. The house we were staying at was near the beach, and what we thought were small black wasps hovering around on the lawn, on closer inspection, turned out to be bees.

As I whiled away a hot afternoon lounging in a campchair, I was drawn to the busy-bee activity in front of me. The tell-tale feature telling us they were bees were the yellow pollen sacs on the females' back legs. Although the bees are solitary, this spot appeared to be an ideal nesting site. Many nests were in a sunny piece of ground that had dry sandy soil.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I found these industrious bees fascinating. As soon as one landed it quickly propelled itself into the soil, digging down until it had disappeared, leaving a little mound as the only proof it was there. This bee, a species of Leioproctus, is one of our larger native bees. Native bees range in size from 4-12mm long. Female bees dig a hole or small branching tunnel, lay an egg and feed the developing larva with protein-rich pollen and nectar.

Unfortunately, a hungry blackbird had figured out that there were tasty treats in the sand and greedily pecked at the nest site, devouring the baby bees.

Bee aware

Native bees are vitally important for the pollination of our native plants, and they help pollinate crops and fruit, too. Otago University PhD student Jan Iwasaki says it is important to realise that it's not just honeybees that contribute to pollination. Having a more resilient pollination system in place that uses all other bee species is important for food security, agriculture and a functioning ecosystem.

Jan is researching whether honeybees and native bees compete for nectar. Native bees have shorter tongues than honey- and bumblebees, and although they share many flowers, native bees can't access nectar in deeper flowers such as clover. His research suggests exotic and native bee competition is not too much of an issue.

Discover more

Lifestyle

Gardening: Big trees demand a lot of digging

15 Aug 10:30 PM
Lifestyle

Karekare's most famous pohutukawa under threat

05 Sep 08:35 PM
Lifestyle

Gardeners its time to plant your veges

13 Sep 01:30 AM
Lifestyle

Gardening: Build a bed for summer veges

13 Sep 03:59 AM

Research by AUT PhD candidate Ngaire Hart indicates native bee numbers are declining in parts of Whangarei. She has developed a system to study bee populations using digital photos in a virtual "sweep net". Data is processed via free software which can count nests. In time, Kiwi kids might take a leaf out of Durrell's books, and get a buzz helping to collect data, this time without the butterfly nets.

Looking after the bees' needs

• We can protect our special bees by maintaining and increasing habitat, including native bush.

• Avoid spraying pests, and don't use systemic insecticides. If we followed France's lead, we would ban pesticide use altogether.

• Choose plants with open, simple flowers, such as manuka. Native plants are best but native bees will also forage on beneficial flowering plants such as coriander.

• Plan flowering sequence to provide nectar and pollen from spring to autumn.

• Sow beneficial insect seeds. Check out 'Wonderful Wildflowers' at kingsseeds.co.nz; wildforage.co.nz; and 'Wildflower World' at gardenpost.co.nz

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

• For information on bee-friendly garden plants and trees visit these sites: treesforbeesnz.org and eastwoodhill.org.nz/conference/

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Lifestyle

How to build muscle as you age: Tips for midlife strength training

Lifestyle

Opinion: How exercise and diet can stave off heart disease

Premium
Lifestyle

Picking up the pace on your walk helps, even for older adults


Sponsored

Sponsored: The return of industrial chic

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Black Caps suffer injury blow with Latham out on eve of first test
Black Caps

Black Caps suffer injury blow with Latham out on eve of first test

Never lost: The Black Caps aim to retain near perfect test record
Black Caps

Never lost: The Black Caps aim to retain near perfect test record

Watch: 'People started to panic' - Auckland supermarket evacuated after sign catches fire
Auckland

Watch: 'People started to panic' - Auckland supermarket evacuated after sign catches fire

Netball NZ non-committal on player pay cuts with new broadcast deal
Silver Ferns

Netball NZ non-committal on player pay cuts with new broadcast deal

What you need to know about Wednesday's nurses strike
New Zealand

What you need to know about Wednesday's nurses strike

'Deep sadness': New Plymouth videographer dies after assault outside rugby club
New Zealand

'Deep sadness': New Plymouth videographer dies after assault outside rugby club



Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Premium
How to build muscle as you age: Tips for midlife strength training
Lifestyle

How to build muscle as you age: Tips for midlife strength training

New York Times: Building muscle gets harder in midlife, but it’s still possible.

29 Jul 06:00 AM
Opinion: How exercise and diet can stave off heart disease
Lifestyle

Opinion: How exercise and diet can stave off heart disease

29 Jul 03:32 AM
Premium
Premium
Picking up the pace on your walk helps, even for older adults
Lifestyle

Picking up the pace on your walk helps, even for older adults

29 Jul 12:00 AM


Sponsored: The return of industrial chic
Sponsored

Sponsored: The return of industrial chic

28 Jul 07:01 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search