From: pollinator@aol.com (Pollinator) Newsgroups: rec.gardens.ecosystems Subject: Garden Planning Deadline Close (Feb 1) Date: 21 Jan 1999 03:41:14 -0500 Read and Consider in January to prevent problems in spring and summer (northern hemisphere): Many gardeners, unfortunately leave pollination to chance. Some are lucky; others suffer losses that would not be necessary, if they took some positive steps. Some try to "attract" bees, which is an exercise in futility if the bees are not there. Sometimes you have to put them there. Butterflies are valuable pollinators for many wildflowers, but for fruits and veggies, you need bees. How do we know if pollination is lacking? There are many symptoms. Remember that for most fruits pollination requires many bee visits (not just one) to distribute enough pollen to fertilize most of the seeds. At fertilization of the ovules (seeds) the chemicals are released to make the flesh of the fruit grow, so you must have most of these fertilized to get full growth and maximum sweetness. Some symptoms of inadequate pollination: Apples, pears, most tree fruits: With good bloom, few fruits form, or they form but drop before maturity. Fruits small, malformed and starchy, only 3-4 seeds in pome fruits rather than 7-10. Blueberries: Sparse set, or a lot of undersized berries. Strawberries: Undersized berries, one undeveloped (green) side on a lot of berries. Brambles: Undersized berries, drupelet number is small, and center section of berry does not form at all, flower parts remain at "maturity" in the center bottom of the fruit. Squash, cukes: Female blossom drop or fruit starts to grow, then molds and drops off. (The mold is not the cause, it is an opportunist. Poor pollination limits the development.) Fruit that curls excessively, or has an end or middle that is undersized. Slow growth makes them tough. Canteloupes: Blossom drop. Undersized fruit that is not sweet. Watermelons: Blossom drop, Undersized fruit, necked or flat sided fruit. Lots of white seeds. Lima Beans: seeds missing in pods. Basically, if you have honeybees, you have a nearby beekeeper. Wild honeybees are just about gone from the US scene. Find out who he/she is, and do all you can to encourage them. Share some of your produce; they are helping make it possible. If you don't have honeybees, forget about attracting them, instead try to attract a beekeeper. Encourage a young person in the neighborhood to take it up. Insist that your local extension office provide a beginner beekeeping course. Involve 4-H clubs, scouts (the Boy Scouts have discontinued the beekeeping merit badge from lack of interest, just when young beekeepers are desperately needed), garden clubs, etc. Or become a beekeeper yourself. There are two kinds of bees that you can keep. Solitary bees, such as orchard mason bees and Japanese hornfaced bees, are gentle and good pollinators for spring blooms. They do not make honey and they are worthless for later garden veggies. Honeybees are generalist pollinators that are available year around, not just seasonally. They also provide honey. Unfortunately they do sting, which generations of folks have accepted and lived with, but the present generation does not, so you have to plan around this. (Bumble bees and carpenter bees are important pollinators. Bumblebees are available and extensively used in commercial agriculture, but are too expensive for home gardeners. Carpenter bees are hated by many homeowners and killed at every opportunity, because they drill small holes in wood to make their nests. Though the damage is normally only cosmetic, and they are valuable early pollinators, they have been just about eradicated in some areas. Protect bumble bees and carpenter bees as much as you can.) SOLITARY BEE SOURCES Generally the deadline for orders is about February 1, because these must be shipped in cold weather. Don't wait until spring! Here is a newly revised list of those who offer orchard mason and Japanese hornfaced bees. http://www.uidaho.edu/pses/Strickler/SolitaryBees/supply.htm HONEYBEES For honeybees, I recommend nucs from a local supplier, if possible. They will get established and come on faster than package bees. (We sell nucs here in South Carolina to local beekeepers, but nucs cannot be shipped.) Many of the larger beekeepers truck up loads of nucs from the south in the spring and they usually will sell some of them to other beekeepers. But get your orders in early! Many will be sold out by spring. If you cannot find nucs, then the package suppliers I have dealt with (and can recommend) include: Wilbanks Apiaries, PO Box 12, Claxton, GA, 30417 912-739-4820, Weaver Apiaries, Rt 1, Box 260, Navasota, TX 77868-9704 (rweaver@myriad.net), (Weaver sells the Buckfast strain of tracheal mite-resistant bees.) Wooten's Golden Queens 11189 Deschutes Rd. Palo Cedro, CA 96073 530-549-3555 (Wootens may no longer sell packages, but they have nucs, and mighty fine queens.) Again, order early! Many northern commercial beekeepers, or beekeeping supply places also get package bees in the spring. It is more reliable (and probably cheaper) to get trucked in packages, than to get delivery by post office. They are generally moved by someone knowledgeable, and they don't pick up traces of the exterminators' sprays in the post office, or get left in a hot mailbox to cook. OTHER VALUABLE LINKS Hive plans, if you wish to build your own equipment: It is important that you use standard sizes. Plans are available at: http://birkey.com/BLB/index.html An online course in beekeeping is available from Dr. Keith Delaplane at the University of Georgia: http://www.ces.uga.edu/pubcd/b1045-w.html Bee Culture: a darn good magazine for hobby and commercial beekeepers. Available here - subscription info, some archived articles, in the magazine current beekeeping info on varroa mites, african hive beetles, and many other topics of interest, plus ads for bee and equipment suppliers. http://www.airoot.com/beeculture/index.htm McGregor's Pollination "Bible" All the relevant research on bee pollination of cultivated crops (crop by crop) until 1976. This USDA manual needs revision, but is still a valuable resource, now online through the courtesy of Bee Culture magazine: http://www.airoot.com/beeculture/book/index.html A FINAL NOTE Any seedman or nursery that sells you a plant to pollinate, or calls a plant a pollinator is confused. BEES POLLINATE; PLANTS POLLENIZE. A plant cannot be a pollinator and a bee cannot be a pollenizer. A good example is Johnny's Selected Seeds, which is offering a percentage of POLLINATORS with some of their cucumber seeds. I recently asked them if they really meant that they were offering pollenizers (plants to provide pollen), and told them that the primary pollinators for cucumbers were honeybees. They have not responded, nor changed the catalog, so I can only conclude they are offering bees to do the job. Their web catalog is at http://www.johnnyseeds.com/ This is a very generous offer indeed. The standard way to mail order honeybees is in three pound packages, shipped by US mail. Ask them if they really mean this! Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA The Pollination Scene: http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html The Pollination Home Page: http://www.pollinator.com Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles) http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA The Pollination Scene: http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles) http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm