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nafex - [NAFEX] Mark's honeybee question answered

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  • From: "Jim Fruth" <jimfruth@charter.net>
  • To: "NAFEX" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Mark's honeybee question answered
  • Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:06:47 -0500

Mark,
A queen excluder doesn't have holes, rather parallel chrome plated wires, I'm guessing...................maybe 1/4" apart. Worker bees have to almost squeeze through. The old style queen excluders did have holes. The thing was a zinc sheet that had hundreds of 1/4" x 3/4" holes that were rounded at the ends.
If you cover your blueberry/blackberry patch with anything that a bee can't fly(!) through, my best guess is that you'll get no pollinating from them. I'm planning on covering my blueberry patch and I'll use 1" mesh chicken wire. Plan B is to fence in the sides and use nylon bird netting on top so it can be rolled up when it is time for pollinating or picking.
Something else to consider is whether honeybees will even visit your blueberries. Honeybees have a proboscis that might be too short to perform the task. My blueberries are visited ONLY by bumblebees.
You say that a honeybee question is "off topic." I don't think so since some of our fruits are dependent on them.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN 56472
For jams, jellies, syrups and more:
www.jellygal.com
1-877-265-6856 (Toll Free)
1-218-831-7018 (My Cell)



  • [NAFEX] Mark's honeybee question answered, Jim Fruth, 07/31/2009

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