North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[<dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>]

Our honeybees were a bit slow at the beginning of bloom, but we are now at 
fruit set and we are going to have to agressively thin this season.  We seem 
to have more fruit set that ever!  The bees came through and did the job and 
were joined by the bumblebees.  We too had more bumblebees than we have ever 
seen.

Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard, Zone 5
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
http://www.revivalhymn.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Fruth" <jfruth@tds.net>
To: "NAFEX" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 7:10 AM
Subject: [NAFEX] Honeybees


>    Here in North Central Minnesota, the Yellow Jacket population is way 
> down.  I haven't seen any Bald Faced Hornets and there are more Bumblebees 
> than ever.  They all seem to prefer Gooseberry flowers but there are also 
> adequate pollinators in the pears and currants.
>    I have my own honeybees and most of them are foraging elsewhere but 
> some do compete with the wild bees.  Curiously, my honeybees tend to 
> ignore plum flowers until after the wild bees forage on them for a few 
> days.  I suspect that the plum flowers don't produce nectar until late in 
> their bloom.  My own honeybees are the most help when the raspberries 
> bloom as there is a thousand times too many flowers for just the wild bees 
> to perform the task.
>    My apples are in the pink bud stage.
>
> Jim Fruth
> Brambleberry Farm
> Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
> For jams, jellies & syrups:
> www.bberryfarm.com
> (877)265-6856 [Store]
> (218)831-7018 [My Cell]