Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - [NAFEX] Update on everything blooming at once

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: NAFEX List <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Update on everything blooming at once
  • Date: Fri, 07 May 2010 08:47:39 -0500

A few weeks ago, I expressed some worry about pollination here, since all of my fruit trees pretty well bloomed at once (and so did ornamental trees all around me). It's been an unusual spring for us. And I just haven't been seeing many bees at all.*

But it looks like I didn't need to worry. Most of my trees seem to have set fruit pretty well. I'm still not sure about the peaches. And I must make an exception for the Dapple Dandy and (especially) Flavor Supreme pluots, but I'm pretty sure that they're just naturally shy bearers. (Certainly, the Flavor Grenade pluot is again loaded with fruit.)

But from what I can tell right now, everything blooming at once hasn't been a problem. I just thought people here might be interested in that.


*PS. I've had a terrible time trying to get blue orchard (or mason) bees established here. I keep buying bees and trying it again, but without any luck. But I've had native leaf-cutter bees colonize my nesting tubes, until I must have had 100 tubes or more full of bees at the end of last year.

These bees emerge later than the blue orchard bees, so they're not as useful in pollinating my early-blooming fruit trees. But I was still glad to have them. So I was disappointed to discover that NONE of these apparently survived the winter. I didn't have room in my refrigerator, so I kept them in my unheated, detached garage, and they all died.

It's been frustrating. But despite all this - and despite not seeing many bees of any kind this spring - I still seem to have gotten pretty good pollination. As I say, I'm not sure about the peaches yet, but I really can't complain about anything else.

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

http://garthright.blogspot.com/

--
An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. - Thomas Paine




  • [NAFEX] Update on everything blooming at once, William C. Garthright, 05/07/2010

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page