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nafex - [NAFEX] Could "Bee Scent" product help? Was: Apple pollinators

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  • From: Heath Flax <8orge.onx@gmail.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Could "Bee Scent" product help? Was: Apple pollinators
  • Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:30:08 -0400

One time some while ago, the first year I allowed bearing to happen
with a new market planting of raspberries, I ventured to spray all
the rows with the commercial pheromone product,Bee Scent. I didn't
think to leave any nontreated "control" rows for comparison's sake,
nor did I have too much previous experience watching raspberries as to
pollinators, and I also was at a site and area new to me.
So, what I can report may be on the "subjective" side, but it sure did
seem like, the first thing I knew after applying the Bee Scent, the
raspberry rows seemed abruptly (an hour later, when I first checked)
"nuts" with wild bees, wasps, flies, bugs and such. The crop came in
fine, needless to say.
Wondering if others have experience to share, as to Bee Scent?
Thinking initially as to whether using Bee Scent might help Betsy's
situation...while reports might also hit home for me: t three of the
past four years, except notably last year, sopping wet and chilly
conditions during blossoming time of my cultivated blueberry
plantation, and as well blossoming of area wild blueberries, which ,
have seemed to respectively decidedly limit bearing (cultivated) and
more or less eliminate any appreciable bearing (wild highbush).

Incidentally, the year I used Bee Scent on raspberries, the bugs,
shall I say, which showed up, included few or no honeybees...not to
say there there necessarily had been any honeybees normally around or
within range...but to instead point to all the non-honeybee bees and
insects which I found so lushly present after application of this
"Honeybee Attractant" (as so termed in the product description, with
nothing further one way or another, as to other bees and bugs)...

Heath
Z 5-6 Massachusetts

Betsy Hilborn wrote:

> I am puzzled about pollinators for my apples this year.  The blueberries
> are blooming and buzzing madly with bumblebees. When the pears bloomed
> earlier, they were full of assorted bees, flies and wasps.  I see that
> fruit has set.
>
> My hollies are blooming now.  The trees are full of honey bees- the most
> have seen for 5 years.   Yet my apple blossoms seem barely visited. I
> watched for about 20 mins. on a warm, sunny afternoon, and saw 1 bumble
> bee and 1swallowtail butterfly briefly visit 2 trees. I observed some
> very tiny flies (< 2 mm), I don't know if they can act as pollinators.
>
> I had very poor apple fruit set last year, and I wonder why the blooms
> are not more attractive...
>
> Betsy Hilborn
> 7a NC
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:15:02 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Kevin Moore <aleguy33@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Apple pollinators
> To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <196251.49050.qm@web46005.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Bees generally will work one species at a time. It could be there is
> something blooming at the same time that the bees find more attractive. Or
> it could be something else. I don't know how to find out what it is unless
> you could somehow cage the bees in with your apple trees so they didn't
> have any alternatives. If they still wouldn't go to the blossoms then there
> is definitely something wrong.
> If you have sprayed them with pesticides, that might keep the bees away.
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: "Hilborn.E@epamail.epa.gov" <Hilborn.E@epamail.epa.gov>
> To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 11:55:51 AM
> Subject: [NAFEX] Apple pollinators
>
> I am puzzled about pollinators for my apples this year.  The blueberries
> are blooming and buzzing madly with bumblebees. When the pears bloomed
> earlier, they were full of assorted bees, flies and wasps.  I see that
> fruit has set.
>
> My hollies are blooming now.  The trees are full of honey bees- the most
> have seen for 5 years.   Yet my apple blossoms seem barely visited. I
> watched for about 20 mins. on a warm, sunny afternoon, and saw 1 bumble
> bee and 1swallowtail butterfly briefly visit 2 trees. I observed some
> very tiny flies (< 2 mm), I don't know if they can act as pollinators.
>
> I had very poor apple fruit set last year, and I wonder why the blooms
> are not more attractive...
>
> Betsy Hilborn
> 7a NC
>
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