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Tue, 27 Feb 1996 11:22:00 -0800 |
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Re. Fruit Boost
Kevin, the 'fella at Simon Fraser University who has been doing some
work on Fruit Boost' is Dr. Mark Winston.
Winston and Dr. Keith Slessor of SFU were the scientists who isolated
and deciphered the chemical composition of queen mandibular pheremones
(QMP). This eventually led to the development of a commercial
preparation called Fruit Boost.
Fruit Boost has only been researched and recommended as a 'pollination
enhancer' in blueberry, pears and cranberry. Neither Winston nor
Pherotech have ever made wild claims about phenomenol crop yield and
quality increases. Winston and his group focused on a few crops that
have often had pollination difficulties, either because of the crop
itself (pears and cranberries have relative low values of bee
attractiveness) or because prevailing weather at time of bloom was often
poor (blueberry and pear).
The results of years of research has shown that under good weather
conditions, these crops are sufficiently well pollinated and there is
either a non- significant or non-measurable advantage in using Fruit
Boost. Yet, Fruit Boost has shown remarkable differences in crop yields
and quality when pollination had to take place under poor conditions.
I think it is important for everyone to recognize the nature of the
product. Fruit Boost is designed to alter or influence bee behavior and
since behavior is determined by a wide array of internal and external
factors, it is remarkable that the product does what it does under some
conditions. This type of work is at the very forefront of research
and has enormous potential in the control of insect pests. I am
speculating here but the successive stages in the life cycle of Varroa
is also governed by the timely release of pheremones and perhaps in the
future some pheremonal product can be identified and manufactured in the
control of this pest. What makes this so attractive is that pheremones
are naturally occurring, act at exceedingly low dosages, and are target
specific.
For more information about Fruit Boost, you may contact Pherotech at ph.
(604) 940-9944 / fx. (604) 940-9433. Dr. Winston can be reached at,
Simon Fraser University (604) 291-4475
Dept. Biological Sciences (604) 291-3496
Burnaby, B.C., V5A 1S6
regards,
Paul van Westendorp [log in to unmask]
Provincial Apiarist
British Columbia
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