<>From: "Gordon D. Hayes" <[log in to unmask]>
<>Date:         Sat, 8 Apr 1995 04:59:08 -0400
<>Subject:      Re: ABJ Article(s)
 
<>Am looking for recent studies done on the number of colonies/bees per acre
<>of the various crops. But not much out there. I was given the name of a good
<>book on pollination by Wayne Buhler of Purdue University. But he added that
<>it is out of print. The book is entitled, "Insect Pollination of Cultivated
<>Crop Plants"  Agriculture Handbook No. 496 Agricultural Research Service,
<>USDA, written by S.E. McGregor in 1976.
<>If you (or anyone reading this) knows where I might get a copy of this book
<>I would be very appreciative.
 
Hello Gordon,
 
   Can't find my catalog, but Larry Connor, Phd at Wicwas Press,
P.O. Box 817, Cheshire, Connecticut 06410, USA is a good place to
start a search for Sam's Pollination book.
 
   I found this handbook a real asset because it lists some crops I
had never seen or heard of and always wondered where these thing were
grown and what part of the plant we were really using. As for the
pollination numbers of hives per acre. Nothing much new in this area
because no one has really figured out how to measure it. It really is
a function of the value of the crop, accommodations by and for beekeepers
more then hard facts. Much of what is mis-stated as rules is NOT based
on hard science but more on common sense and practical experience.
 
   Example, as a rule in California growers, want one or two hives per
acre for musk melon pollination, cotton growers don't want any. Yet,
when cotton is at it highest range in price the increase in quality and
set by honey bees can be more valuable then the two colonies used in
melon's when the market is low.. Cotton growers are seldom asked by
beekeepers to pay rent, as beekeepers find cotton fields attractive
to bees for summer honey production, and early melon fields are not.
 
   So this leads to the grand plan that melons need bees, but cotton
does not. What is more correct is they both do, but beekeepers need
cotton and don't need melons..as for fact's, bees benefit both. Research
in Arizona showed that in cage tests melons did not produce, in
field research it was found that in more or less isolated areas one
hive per acre was sufficient to pollinate melon. NO fields of melons
were ever found to be isolated enough to exclude bees to test to see
if this would reduce melon set to nothing. Same can be said of Almonds,
the number one crop in value as far a bee's go..
 
   In the summer when I am checking a melon field for bees I try to
check it around 8-9 am if the weather is warm enough for bee flight.
This is when the new male flowers are producing pollen. I also check
for open female flowers as the male flowers start to bloom a few days
before the female. What the grower's want is a good crown set as these
are the melons that will be picked and are usually on the raised beds
and not damaged or stained by irrigation.
 
If I have to really study to find bee's in the field I assume the field
would be helped by bringing additional bee's into the area. This is
seldom the case, but growers still like to see bee hives around their
fields and the majority rent one or two hives per acre. The rent's here
are low, $10- $15, or in many cases nothing if the beekeeper needs
summer pasture for his bees. How many hive are needed to pollinate
melons? In this area with bee yards of 100 or more hives every mile,
NONE. How many additional bee's are rented by melon growers? In this
area one to two hives per acre are rented, because the packing sheds who
finance and pack the growers melons say thats how many the grower should
have. Yields are 100% dependent on the market at picking time. If the
market is hot, yields are great, if the market is cold, yields are poor.
500-600 crates are produced. Which is little more then one melon per
vine.
 
   Anyway hope you find the book, you will find a chapter on the
honey bee & the ecology. I was lucky to know Sam McGregor and to be
able to share beekeeping observations with him and it was I who
suggested this chapter before the book went to print. Even though Honey
Bee's are not native to America they do play a role in the environment
outside of agriculture and I was elated to see Sam include this in the
final draft.
                       ttul Andy-