indeed - the dandelions are empty - few bumblebees - I have a half dozen hives of honeybees on the property, managed by mediocre bee keeper, but they are flying - I have about 20 acres of tree fruit and have always considered the native pollinators to be adequate to the job, this year may be different -
on the other hand, I don't know that I want a complete pollination job this year - I have been vacillating for the last 36 hours whether to call in some more honeybees - my current thinking is that I'll just ride what I have and count on it being enough - I'm in north central Indiana - D On May 2, 2013, at 1:06 PM, Frank Carlson wrote: > David: > I forgot where you are located. Here in Harvard, MA, we have just been > commenting on the lack of wild bees as we are about to open on McIntosh. > There also are less bumble bees visible . > Frank Carlson > > Franklyn W. Carlson, Pres. > Carlson Orchards, Inc. > 115 Oak Hill Road > P.O.Box 359 > Harvard, MA. 01451 > 617-968-4180 cell > 978-456-3916 office > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Doud > Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2013 11:02 AM > To: Apple-Crop > Subject: [apple-crop] native pollinators > > 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.... > > > > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > [email protected] > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list [email protected] http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
