Jon: Is there more to say of the leaf-blower alternative? Is this a first-time trial? Problems?
It looks appears to have advantages over the stilts and dabbing trials I ran some years ago, though uniformity of set is likely not so good. David Kollas Kollas Orchard, Tolland, CT On May 2, 2013, at 8:00 PM, Jon Clements wrote: > Interesting, I was just observing full bloom sweet cherry yesterday afternoon > and made a mental note that native bee/pollinator activity seemed to be > light. There are no honeybees brought into the orchard yet, we wait for > apples. Normally, they (the native pollinators) are really swarming the sweet > cherries because they are the only thing in bloom at the time. Today activity > seemed lacking again. It's been very dry here, is there any possibility there > is a lack of nectar? That might not explain David's observation in Indiana > though? Seems to be a theme here, but maybe Mo is right -- just plain natural > (i.e. chaotic) population swings? > > Anyway, who needs bees? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bsl7sILSGoU > > > On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 11:01 AM, David Doud <david_d...@me.com> wrote: > Another casualty of last year's freak weather is the population of native > pollinators - my asian pears entered full bloom over the last 48 hours - > other years they are surrounded by a cloud of several species of solitary > pollinators, this year that activity is roughly 10% of what I am accustomed > to observing - > > The first apple bloom opened yesterday - 72 hours ago at tight cluster I > considered the amount of bloom as 'full' but not particularly remarkable, now > bloom has seemingly spontaneously generated to an amount that I cannot > remember observing in the past - it's going to be spectacular, but has upped > my anxiety about the potential 'big crop of little green apples' - hope > thinners are effective.... > > > > > David Doud > grower IN > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > apple-crop@virtualorchard.net > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop > > > > > -- > Jon Clements > aka 'Mr Honeycrisp' > UMass Cold Spring Orchard > 393 Sabin St. > Belchertown, MA 01007 > 413-478-7219 > umassfruit.com > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > apple-crop@virtualorchard.net > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
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