The Bees

woodsy · #1 06/27/10, 07:42 AM

Recent article talks about continued decline of Bee populations among bee keepers and the important job they do pollinating a variety of crops such as the local Blueberry fields.
I noticed my apple trees had lots of flowers this spring but only have a couple apples growing. We did have a very early flowering this year though, maybe too early for the bees..
The highbush blueberries did well though.
So, anyone else have trouble with fruit pollination this year ?

Wolf mom · #2 06/27/10, 07:56 AM

This has been going on for a few years. There's been TV shows about the decline of bees and the concern of bee keepers that rent their hives to growers around the country.

I keep a water dish out for them so they'll gather at my place.

I also have lavender plants that they looove. Yet, I wish I were seeing more bees.

anniew · #3 06/27/10, 08:15 AM

I am having a poor tree fruit crop this year. I think it has to do with the weather more than bees in my location. First there were two weeks of really warm weather very early which pushed the flowers. Then when they were open it was cold, enough to freeze the flowers. One peach tree in a protected location is bearing a fair amount of fruit as well as two plums, but the others (about 35) in a less protected location are almost fruitless.
Berries, however, are doing fine. The raspberries are the best crop I've had so far, plus the blueberries look loaded.
My blueberries always seem to be pollinated by bumblebees, not honey bees.
Keep in mind that honey bees don't fly when the temps are below 50-55, plus don't fly in wind and rain, so there may be a lot of honey bees around, but it isn't good flying weather some times.
My local commercial beekeeper didn't have too bad of a bee death problem this year. He did not move them around as much for pollination purposes. He used to take them to Florida and other places, but found that the death rate was pretty high in commercial crops probably due to pesticides. He does do some local pollinating work, within about 50 miles, but then always bring his hives back to his bee yard in the fall so that they are close by and he can keep an eye on them so that if they need some "food" he can supply it even in weather where he might not be able to get to the hives if they were spread out.

ronbre · #4 06/27/10, 09:06 AM

a bee keeper keeps bees between a half mile and 3/4 of a mile on either side of our property..i have asked for him to put hives on our property but he says his bees will pollinate it half a mile to a mile away..i know we have plentyof healthy bees here but would prefer to have a hive on our own property and don't really think i want to buy one of our own

woodsy · #5 06/27/10, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anniew

I am having a poor tree fruit crop this year. I think it has to do with the weather more than bees in my location. First there were two weeks of really warm weather very early which pushed the flowers. Then when they were open it was cold, enough to freeze the flowers. One peach tree in a protected location is bearing a fair amount of fruit as well as two plums, but the others (about 35) in a less protected location are almost fruitless.
.

Yes, thats exactly what happened here weather wise.
Can't help but wonder how widespread this event was and how the larger orchards in the northeast fared.

MaineFarmMom · #6 06/27/10, 10:46 AM

My cherry trees were loaded with blossoms and I knew I was going to be putting up more cherries than ever before. Now that cherries are set I know that there are very few, probably not enough for a batch of jelly. Not only were the bees not around as much as usual when the tree flowered, the other pollinators weren't either. The butterflies and hummingbird moths weren't active in the trees. We had a very early spring but the pollinators weren't as early as everything else.