FREE DELIVERY FOR ALL ORDERS OVER £50
FREE DELIVERY FOR ALL ORDERS OVER £50
£74.99
*There is a two week lead time for this product. Please also note these colonies are not for outdoor use, as they have no outdoor protection. If you require Bumblebees for your garden and outdoor use, select our Beepol Villa & Bumblebee Colony.*
The Natupol Smart bumblebee colony has been designed specifically by Koppert for growers using polythene tunnels and glasshouses. The colony is of a smaller size to our alternate Beepol colonies, and includes a queen, the workers and brood, as well as some sugar water. The colony consists of a native British species of Bumblebee, the Bombus terrestris audax.
So, if you have a small holding using polythene tunnels or large glasshouses with plants that need pollination, such as Tomatoes, the Smart colony can help boost pollination and yield.
A simple trap door on the outside of the colony should be opened to release the bees. The worker bees will then orientate themselves as to where the colony is located in the glasshouse / polytunnel. The workers will then start flying back and forth to the colony with their pollen loads to feed the young bee larvae inside.
Full application instructions will be provided with the colony.
After introduction of the hive, worker bumblebees will start pollinating the flowers and collecting pollen to feed the brood. More workers will emerge from the brood in the weeks after the introduction, increasing both colony size and pollination performance.
After some weeks the colony will reach its peak and start declining in size and pollination activity. Colony development depends on environmental conditions and the amount and quality of available pollen.
Once all activity has stopped inside the colony, it can be removed. A new colony can then be ordered to continue pollination, or pre-ordered to use for the following season.
Natupol Smart can be used in small greenhouses (up to 1000m²), or in crops that produce less pollen (less than 25 flowers per m²).
The bees will be brilliant pollinators specifically for round, beef and plum tomatoes, and other vegetable or fruit crops grown on small surfaces. The bees can also be used effectively for pollination of melon crops.
Orders will be processed and delivered within 2 weeks of ordering. Orders can be taken for the Natupol Smart throughout the year. Please be aware there is a slightly longer lead time for orders placed in October-March of 3 weeks.
If you would like to specify when you wish to receive the colony please let us know upon ordering. Otherwise we will notify you when the order is due to dispatch, and the colonies will be sent with a courier that will provide updates and estimated delivery times.
Should your colony be attacked by the natural pest, the Wax Moth, we strongly recommend that you purchase our Wax Moth Killer Nematodes, which can be found here. These nematodes are deadly to the Wax Moth grubs but safe to the humans and wildlife. The nematodes enter the grubs via a natural opening, like the mouth, and feed on the contents of the grubs. A natural bacterium is produced by the nematodes inside the grubs, which kills it. Infected grubs will be completely broken down by the nematodes and will often turn brown. The nematodes also reproduce inside the grubs, releasing more nematodes into the surrounding area. Please only apply these nematodes when Wax Moth larvae are clearly visible.
