In a message dated 96-03-31 00:21:26 EST, [log in to unmask] writes:
 
>Your problem is your bees have not been coaxed to only work the
>orange grove blossom, this is to prepare your bees to a orange flavour
>mixture, just before the trees are to bloom.
 
   Ho, ho, ho!   Bees needing coaxing to work oranges?!!   That was a good
one; it made  April Fool's Day complete, even before it arrived.
 
   Just talk to any Florida vegetable grower who is trying to get his crop
pollinated while his neighbor's citrus is blooming.........
 
   Just in case you are serious, bees will happily work citrus bloom, in
preference to almost anything else, but the citrus has to yield nectar.  That
takes sunshine and warmth, which have been notably absent in Florida this
season.
 
>...in Australia, clover
plants are planted in between each row of trees and watered regularly,
either by spray or flood irrigation.
 
  That's a perfect set up for a pesticide kill.  If the clover is blooming,
 when insecticides are sprayed, somebody is not going to follow directions
(not to spray when bees are foraging in the application area).
 
   Clover should not be allowed to grow within fruit groves or orchards.
 Outside the pesticide application areas, it's a good idea.  This keeps the
bees busy, away from spraying.
 
[log in to unmask]    Dave Green  PO Box 1200,  Hemingway,  SC  29554  USA
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