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["lutesville" <lutesville@cox.net>]

Title: Re: [NAFEX] bumble bee as pollinator

 

That's the most aggressive behavior I've ever heard of in bumble bees.  Are you sure you didn't have a species of underground living wasp?  
-Lon Rombough

Lon,

Actually, I went into my storage building one day some years ago, and several bumble bees swarmed out of a cushion stored there. They chased me over 50 feet, and one stung me on the top of my head which resulted in a systemic reaction (I think they called it) which kept me in bed for over two weeks.

 

As with my honey bees, the bumble bee may be docile by nature, but anything can have a bad day.

 

Honey bees are not always the best pollinators for all crops, sad to say. Orchard mason bees are easy to move and aquire, so they do get a lot of press. The draw back that I see with bumble bees is that they usually nest in colonies of under 50 bees that are located in the ground. That makes them hard to aquire and hard to relocate. Plus it can be hard to get enough to do the job.

 

Joyce