On 3/10/2012 1:27 PM, Peter Detchon wrote:
> Mike in LA asked:-

> Short answer....Yes....and in fact some of us here in Western 
> Australia have done that. But the pollen has to be irradiated, which 
> is expensive, and can only occur at plants on the east coast of Oz, so 
> it has not been the popular choice, especially when there are 
> alternative honey flows to migrate to.

It has been done on the east side too, with dubious results so far. Our 
problem is the reverse of Peter's.  We seldom have meaningful pollen 
surpluses, so get ours from Peter's side where they reportedly have 
pollen coming out of their ears.  There is a 'new' substitute on the 
market, which is claimed to be based on recent research done here.  I 
intend to try it on a pollen deficient flow soon.

At least on the eastern side, or the bit I am familiar with, many of the 
nectar sources are pollen deficient, so we rely on pollen from other 
flowering plant spss.  It seems it is too heavy a strain to produce both 
pollen and nectar in our variable climate.  The few trees that do both 
are not regular flowerers, presumably needing to store up energy 
reserves over a number of years before they can perform the double act.

A more recent problem with patties has been the advent of SHB.  So the 
modern idea is to feed as a dry powder.
>
> PeterD
> In Western Australia, which has approx half the land mass of Oz and 
> less than 10% of its human population, even counting the fly in-fly 
> out miners from the east!
Not to forget the Wise Men From the East.

Geoff Manning from the east

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