North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

> Bees are not really a possibility because I must spray (not allowed if 
> you have bees) and I have kids.


You might try solitary bees, like orchard mason bees:

http://www.knoxcellars.com/

They are very easy to keep, and they don't sting. Plus, they're supposed 
to be especially good for early-blooming fruit trees. You must still 
avoid spraying while a tree is actually blooming, of course, but that 
would be a relatively short period of time.

I don't know anything about hand pollinating, but it seems like it would 
be a heck of a lot of work.

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. - Gandhi