Hello Richard & All,
Richard said:
.  All of our apples have bloomed and the bees
> were on them but bloom was retarded a fair amount as a result of rain  and
> cold.

We got one load out of apples yesterday and being worked today ( in light
rain). Two loads still remain and we were told those hives would not be
released till next week. This is the longest time period the  bees have been
in apples. Some of these bees had not been worked before apples so we expect
some swarming losses as the bees in apples were in almonds before apples.
The queens for these splits have been in a queen bank for a week (not
good!).

I run a small orchard mostly as a hobby ( around 65 mature trees) and I
noticed last week the red and Golden delicious had not bloomed. The Golden
delicious being the main pollinators in most orchards ( in mine). I figured
maybe because the only fertilizer I use is composted organic ( from my farm
livestock) maybe was the reason so I called Glenn Davis ( Bell Hill Honey)
and asked if his Golden delicious (in his yard) was blooming. Glenn said no.
I asked Glenn to ask the orchard next time he spoke with the apple orchard
if their Golden delicious were blooming. The orchard said no and was holding
up the release of the hives. I checked this morning and some Golden 
Delicious blooms still had not opened but most had.
The large orchard people could not figure the cause.
Any ideas list?

>Waiting on Black Locust, which is almost here, from what I  can tell maybe
>another four or five days.

Our Black locust is close to bloom but not always dependable.

> An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

We have century farms in Missouri but to qualify the farm *still* has to be
owned by the same family for a 100 years. My small farm I purchased from the
family which homesteaded the farm.

Thanks for the update!

bob

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