Midori Horticultural

Past Projects

Alternative Pollinators: A guide for growers, beekeepers, and conservationists.
This forthcoming USDA-SARE/SAN publication expands on the excellent (and unfortunately now out-of-print) Jordi Bosch and William Kemp book, How to Manage the Blue Orchard Bee.
Co-Authored with Dr. Marla Spivak, and Elaine Evans, of Befriending Bumble Bees, this new 300+ page handbook includes chapters on Pollination Botany, the Economics of Insect Pollination, Bumble Bee Rearing, Leafcutter and Mason Bee Management, Managed Fly Pollination, Habitat Conservation for Wild Pollinators, and much more. Printing is scheduled for 2008.

The Development of Alternative Bee Pollinators for Managed Crop Pollination.
Funding for this project has been requested through the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection's Agricultural Diversification and Development Grant Program. This project would develop locally appropriate and ecologically sound Midwest pollinator alternatives to the European honey bee, and the non-native Western subspecies of the blue orchard bee.
The Agrecol Corporation: Crop Scouting and Pollinator Conservation Program.
Midori Horticultural's crop scouting service has provided weekly insect, disease and weed monitoring for Agrecol, the Midwest's largest grower of native prairie plants (used for CRP/WHIP, biofuel production, and restoration projects). These efforts have established actionable thresholds on several hundred crop species grown on hundreds of acres. The result has been a reduced need for pesticide use. In addition, on-farm habitat improvement efforts have been established to insure the health and abundance of native pollinators which are essential to the production of many of their crops.

Horticultural Appraisals For Eminent Domain.
Working with the Oshkosh-based Appraisal Group One, Midori Horticultural is performing statewide horticultural appraisals for landowners facing loss and damage to their property due to eminent domain seizure. As a consequence of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 Kelo v. City of New London ruling, state and municipal eminent domain seizures continue to increase—often resulting in the loss of private greenspace, particularly in the case of road expansion projects. To insure adequate compensation for landowners, Midori Horticultural performs complete site inventories, and calculates current market prices for the replacement of damaged plants. This allows the landowner to seek replacement for landscape features. Our appraisal methods are based on current guidelines developed by the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers, and the International Society of Arboriculture.
Keeping Wild Bees. Just Picked: Newsletter of the Upper Midwest Organic Tree Fruit Growers Network.
Published by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service, Midori Horticultural has been contributing an on-going series of articles since spring of 2007 on the subject of wild pollinator conservation, and managing native bees for fruit tree pollination