"But if there are native bees doing the same work as honey bees on the same
crops, on the scale of modern agriculture rather than backyards, please tell
us the specific crops, acreages, and locations"
According to the Ohio Bee Lab people at Ohio State University using honey bees to pollinate squash and pumpkins is a waste of money in Ohio as the native squash bee gets there first in the morning and does all needed pollination in Ohio commercial operations. Honey bees will sure go after those flowers for pollen later in the day but accomplish nothing of use to the plant.
Dick
" Any discovery made by the human mind can be explained in its essentials to the curious learner." Professor Benjamin Schumacher talking about teaching quantum mechanics to non scientists. "For every complex problem there is a solution which is simple, neat and wrong." H. L. Mencken
--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 5/31/15, James Fischer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Subject: Re: [BEE-L] Pollinator Habitat...
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Sunday, May 31, 2015, 10:50 PM
>> The other "pollinators" are
conservation and ecological issues, not
>> agricultural issues, as these NATIVE pollinators
make their livings off
>> NATIVE plants, not off our imported and extensively
hybridized FOOD
plants.
> As usual, I am not sure whether this is tongue in cheek
or represents some
actual viewpoint.
I'm sorry, perhaps I am unaware of examples of native
species of bees doing
productive pollination of food crops in commercial
agriculture.
(I think I already listed the obvious - greenhouse
bumblebees, the
small-scale successes of specific species with a few
specific crops, such as
alfalfa, and the small-scale use of orchard mason bees in
backyards west of
the Rockies.)
But if there are native bees doing the same work as honey
bees on the same
crops, on the scale of modern agriculture rather than
backyards, please tell
us the specific crops, acreages, and locations, as I am sure
we would all
love to hear that after so many years of disappointment, we
have an
alternative that we can deploy and rely upon.
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