To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Worst Honey Crop onRecord
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:21:06 -0500
I can believe this. When it rains a lot it dilutes the nectar, (which makes
it easier for fireblight to infect blossoms) and then not only do the bees
have to do more fanning to evaporate the water and concentrate the stuff,
but the humidity was chronically high all summer. Trying to dry laundry
outside, or even inside hanging in an open shed, was nearly impossible. I
remember one summer when it was really rainy up north, some beekeeper said
the rain was beating the pollen off the flowers so the bees were suffering
from protein deficiency. Plus he said that pollution from China was falling
down with the rain as well. The latter might have been controversial 6-7
years ago, but I don't think it is anymore. Next spring we may be more
dependent than ever on those little solitary bees that slept through most of
the mess. I had very poor apple set because it rained so much during apple
bloom. My trees are small and the few that bloomed are far apart, but they
did bloom as they weren't part of last year's massive overcropping. Donna