This is in the archives, Kristine.
Kind regards,

Ghislain De Roeck,
Belgium.


Subject: [BEE-L] Poor forage

Some comments here on the list about the pollinators along the East Coast
led me to another possible problem of 
commercial pollinators, where most of the CCD reposts come from. It also
answers the question of why we have not 
seen CCD in Maine, but it is rampant in Florida.

One truth about blueberries and other crops on the pollination trail is the
lack of sufficient nectar to sustain 
the bees. Here in Maine, almost all of the time those who pollinate
blueberries will go off the crop with less 
stores than they went in. Bees usually come off blueberries in terrible
shape. Not just lack of sufficient 
nectar, but the flowers are killers as they are so small. Bees struggle to
get nectar and pollen. They will 
literally wear off their hair and end up shiny bright, as if diseased. Plus,
EFB is rampant in the fields 
because of stress.

In the past, knowledgeable pollinators would go to raspberries to replenish
stores, rest their bees and get them 
back to health before returning to Florida. But often those were wild
berries and not commercial fields, hence 
only the bees were benefiting, not the pollinator from pollination fees. The
honey was very good, however.

We no longer have that pollination pattern for those who pollinate along the
East Coast. Because of introduced 
crops (cranberries) and lack of free honeybees because of Varroa for other
crops (apples, cucumbers, pumpkins 
and other cucurbits), to maximize their profit commercial pollinators move
to them. Most of those crops are just 
more bad forage.

In essence, bees are led from poor forage crop to poor forage crop all the
way back home to Florida. Unless they 
are fed both pollen and sugar along the way, they will arrive home in bad
shape. So they arrive in Maine in good 
shape and back in Florida in poor shape, all ready for (or already showing)
CCD (queen, brood and lack of bees).

I have no idea if this fits with any of the CCD puzzle, but it certainly
could be a factor. It does fit the 
template on how to manage to insure you have problems. It also answers the
question of why no CCD in Maine but 
plenty in Florida. It definitely fits with the same problems they have found
with commercial pollinators, poor 
forage and CCD symptoms in Europe (they do not call it CCD there).

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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