North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Alexander Brands <abb7@Lehigh.EDU>]

> Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2011 19:52:28 -0700 (PDT)
> From: John S <swim_at_svc@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Bees Don't Like my Kiwis
> To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
>
> Alan,
>
> I had a conversation with a local berry grower that also does kiwis  
> a couple of years back.? He indicated it can take years for the  
> local pollinators to discover and get used to kiwi.

An interesting idea, but I'm skeptical.  This would depend on  
individuals (pollinators) living for several years, wouldn't it?

Perhaps another possibility along these lines would be that social  
pollinators don't easily find it, but once one of them does, it tells  
the others in the colony, ala the honeybee dance.....but this would  
still depend on individuals living more than one season and  
remembering where the kiwis are.

I'm not aware of bees doing this, but I'm no expert, and it wouldn't  
be the first time someone underestimated the insects.

Alex

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