North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Bruce Wittchen" <herenorthere@lycos.com>]

Ginda said, "I get good pollination - mostly bumblebees, but also an 
assortment of tiny flies."

Those tiny flies might also be bees.  I have lots and lots of Halictid and 
Andrenid bees here.  The Andrenids are fairly plain looking and are called 
miner bees.  The Halictids are often metallic green (beautiful little 
insects) and are called sweat bees.  They're considered to be the most 
effective pollinators of tomatoes, by the way.

Both types, like bumblebees, nest in the ground.  If you have reasonably well 
drained, loose structured soil, you can have lots and lots of them.  I try to 
avoid disturbing their favorite nesting areas.  Since they work through the 
growing season and other flowers bloom earlier and later than our favored 
fruit trees, any bee-killing insecticide sprayed at any time can annihilate 
the wild pollinator population.

Bruce Wittchen
Zone 6, 1/2 mile outside Hartford, CT
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