> Unicorns might also make good pollinators, but the problems they would pose
> would be identical to that of most solitary bees - we do not know how to
> raise them or care for them to make them sufficiently reliable for even
> regular home garden use over successive years.
>

Agree with Jim.

About every 5 years or so we get a study from the same group here in Maine
about solitary bees or bumblebees and how they "could" be better
substitutes for honeybees pollinating blueberries.

There is a truth to that since they do a better job of pollinating as the
blueberry flower is a beast for bees to pollinate. They literally wear off
the hairs on their bodies.

From that solitary point they advocate replacing honeybees.

They get support from some small blueberry growers who say they rely on
"native" pollinators. With 60,000 + hives being brought in to pollinate
blueberry fields, the "native" pollinators are really bees that someone
else brough in and paid for.

The main flaw in the plan to use other pollinators is exactly what Jim
says.Honeybees are easy to grow in large numbers and they are "portable".
They are also helped along by beekeepers and are fairly well understood
compared to solitary bees, so we know what can ail them and what to do
about it.

Another main driver is simple- labor. In essence, to maintain solitary bees
in an area requires someone to do it and people cost a lot more than hiring
in many pallets of bees which will be there to do their job and be gone.

Add all the other factors, like keeping them out of pesticides and
fungicides sprayed on the fields, as well as getting them alternate sources
of food, and you are well away from it being practical for a blueberry
grower to waste their time to try and provide an alternative to honeybees.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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