Some comments here on the list about the pollinators along the East Coast led me to another possible problem of
commercial pollinators, where most of the CCD reposts come from. It also answers the question of why we have not
seen CCD in Maine, but it is rampant in Florida.
One truth about blueberries and other crops on the pollination trail is the lack of sufficient nectar to sustain
the bees. Here in Maine, almost all of the time those who pollinate blueberries will go off the crop with less
stores than they went in. Bees usually come off blueberries in terrible shape. Not just lack of sufficient
nectar, but the flowers are killers as they are so small. Bees struggle to get nectar and pollen. They will
literally wear off their hair and end up shiny bright, as if diseased. Plus, EFB is rampant in the fields
because of stress.
In the past, knowledgeable pollinators would go to raspberries to replenish stores, rest their bees and get them
back to health before returning to Florida. But often those were wild berries and not commercial fields, hence
only the bees were benefiting, not the pollinator from pollination fees. The honey was very good, however.
We no longer have that pollination pattern for those who pollinate along the East Coast. Because of introduced
crops (cranberries) and lack of free honeybees because of Varroa for other crops (apples, cucumbers, pumpkins
and other cucurbits), to maximize their profit commercial pollinators move to them. Most of those crops are just
more bad forage.
In essence, bees are led from poor forage crop to poor forage crop all the way back home to Florida. Unless they
are fed both pollen and sugar along the way, they will arrive home in bad shape. So they arrive in Maine in good
shape and back in Florida in poor shape, all ready for (or already showing) CCD (queen, brood and lack of bees).
I have no idea if this fits with any of the CCD puzzle, but it certainly could be a factor. It does fit the
template on how to manage to insure you have problems. It also answers the question of why no CCD in Maine but
plenty in Florida. It definitely fits with the same problems they have found with commercial pollinators, poor
forage and CCD symptoms in Europe (they do not call it CCD there).
Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine
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