> If the crops that need pollinating are as economically significant as
everyone says they are then if there is better way than trucking honeybees
across the country to get those crops pollinated someone will find it.
Many many people have looked but the answer has always been the trucking of
honeybees. The only place the native bee has got a foothold has been the
Alfalfa Leaf cutter bee. Bees do not like to work alfalfa. Bees will work
alfalfa and do a good job when certain conditions are met such as irrigated
alfalfa. When only the alfalfa is in bloom and the honeybees are placed
directly on the field after the bloom is started I have had success getting
bees to work alfalfa for seed.
I have had failure even following the above when the field is in an area of
yellow & white sweet clover. The pull of sweet clover is very strong with
bees.
In the archives you will find I did testing of Orchard mason bees on a
fairly large scale. I did exactly as the USDA-ARS in Utah said and my reeds
and bees came from their Utah project.
What happened shocked the Utah people. The bees decided to nest in the huge
trees around my place instead of the reeds. I placed new reeds (and took the
old away as my mentors said)but only a very small percent came back to nest
in the reeds. My population went backwards instead of increasing each
season.
My dream of bringing a pickup load of mason bees and do the work of a semi
load of honeybees did not work out!
The project ran four years. Instead of the numbers of reeds (with bees
ready to pollinate the next season) the number dwindled. I still see the
bees in my orchard in spring so not a total lost but other than learning
about mason bees the project was a total monetary loss.
I was going to try the Japanese horned bee but was never able to get any
for some reason (tried placing the order a year in advance but still the
order was cancelled due to supply)so gave up on those. The USDA-ARS imported
those years ago to replace honeybees but was wishful thinking.
I get calls all the time from growers wanting pollination. Cranberry growers
are especially needing bees but like many crops the bees are needed at the
same time of most main honey flows. We heard this year of shortage in
blueberries and of course strong hives have no problem getting placed in
almonds.
The truth is each year ( I think since 1946 in the U.S.) the number of
commercial beekeepers drops in numbers.
Even if the many problems beekeeping faces are solved unless the numbers of
commercial beekeepers starts going in the other direction pollination may be
a problem in the future. Many beekeepers find a beekeeping niche and want no
part of migratory beekeeping and its hassles.
bob
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