Tractor-trailer loads of honeybee hives are rolling north along
Interstate 95 to orchards in Pennsylvania, New York, and New England, and
along Route 75 to Michigan, where they are badly needed for pollination of
our fruits.
 
   We've been busting our butts here to get everything the South can spare
(we need more bees here, too, for our melons, squash, & cukes).  But we've
done our best, and we're proud of our contribution.
 
   New York, one of the major apple producing states, needs about 30 thousand
hives for this pollination.  My own guess is that probably less than 20
thousand are available this year.  More and more commercial beekeepers have
been migrating south for the winter, where they can get better survival, then
get an early start on raising queens and starting new hives.  New Yorkers can
produce queens and new hives, but not early enough to pollinate spring fruit.
 
   The major eastern wintering grounds are in Florida and South Carolina.
 Florida has the advantage of an early honey crop -- orange blossom, but this
same crop causes bees to dwindle somewhat, as its pollen is poor quality, and
the removal of that honey makes it a difficult race to get ready in time for
northern orchards.  South Carolina has especially rich spring pollen for
raising queens and nucs (starter hives), but the main honey flow coincides
with northern fruit bloom, so beekeepers traditionally have left just as the
honey flow starts.  The price of honey is soaring, so northern fruit growers
with pollination needs may be in competition with honey production.
 
   It's fingernail chewin' time for beekeepers who may have a major part of
their livestock on those trucks.  An accident, or simply a breakdown, or
irresponsbible trucker who parks for a few hours in the heat, can make or
break the beekeeper.  Bees, once loaded, MUST be kept rolling, so they can
ventilate and cool.  Beekeepers once used a lot of refrigerated trucks, but
the practice has mostly been abandoned, due to reefer breakdowns, or just
weak units that could not cope with the heat production of the bees.
 
   The bees are energised by stored sunshine, sugars produced by plants and
stored in the honey reserves.  When they are loaded on a truck they must be
cooled by water or moving air, as they will begin to overheat, which makes
them excited, which makes them produce more heat, which makes them more
excited, .........MELTDOWN!
 
   Reports keep arriving here, or heavy losses of bees overwintered in the
northeast.  The president of the Empire State (NY) Beekeepers' Association
estimates statewide average losses of around 70%.  Some attribute the
unusually severe winter; some blame varroa mites (though commercial
beekeepers treat for mites).  Others note the unusual honeydew production in
many areas last summer.  Honeydew contains a lot of indigestible material,
and, when bees cannot fly to relieve themselves, can cause the death of the
hives, by dysentery.  The heavy winter losses are sure to stimulate more
beekeeper migration to the south.
 
   Pollination service is becoming more and more critical.  In the past,
large growers used imported bees, but smaller fruit and vegetable growers
relied on wild honeybees, bumble bees, carpenter  bees, and other solitary
bees for their pollination.  Pollinator populations have been dwindling, and
growers cannot rely on pollination by accident. New parasitc mites have
devastated wild honeybees, and pesticide misuse continues to decimate all
kinds of bees.
 
   A survey of California beekeepers last year showed that pollination
service provided more total beekeeper income than honey production.  This is
true in some other fruit or vegetable regions of the country, as well.  Many
crops must have bees.  The  biggest pollination event, of course is the
California almond crop, which needs about 300 thousand hives, and sucks bees
from as far away as Florida.  Brokers have approached me, here in South
Carolina, to ship bees to almonds.
 
   Apples are another biggie and bees must be trucked to Washington, the
Great Lakes and the Northeast for these.  There are never enough local bees
for these big crops.  Then there are cherries, pears, plums, cranberries,
blueberries, kiwifruit, and many other fruits, not to speak of watermelons,
cantaloupes, squash, pumpkins, cukes, and many seed crops.
 
   There is a lot of misunderstanding of the role of the bee.  Many folks
think that the bee goes to the blossom and the fruit "sets."   One bee visit
may make an apple, but it is likely to be a poor, small, misshapen, starchy
apple.  Size, shape, and sugar content are directly related to the number of
seeds set.  Yes, we should refer to seed set, rather than fruit set.  And
good seed set, to produce quality apple, must have multiple bee visits.
  Watermelons are similar.  Many poor quality melons reach the market.
 Small, flat sided, or gourd-shaped melons exhibit the results of only
partial pollination.  White seeds in the melon are unpollinated, and large
numbers of these indicate a melon that never can reach it's potential.
 
   "This farmer used TOO MUCH SODA!"   Consumers know a poor melon when they
taste it, but they don't know the reason.  The farmer had TOO FEW BEES!  The
white seeds tell the story.
 
   Every now and then, the beekeepers nightmare occurs -- an accident on the
highway.
Usually jumpy public officials declare a disaster and kill the bees, rather
than get qualified people to salvage and clean up.  They need to keep in mind
that they are not dealing with $50,000 worth of bees, but a million dollars
worth of apples.
 
   Such an accident occurred a couple years ago where a tractor-trailer
flipped on its side. The bees were strapped and contained within netting.  A
beekeeper with air bags, who could have righted the entire load, was within a
half hour of arrival, when an idiot cut the straps, spilling everything and
causing general havoc.  The bees were destroyed, and some orchards did not
get their bees.  The last I heard,  this was still in litigation.
 
   We recently helped load a truckload of bees for New York apples.  As we
began to load, there were some rumbles, and a shower broke.  Did you know
that wet clothing is about the same as NO clothing, when it comes to bee
stings?
 
   The owner was determined to roll before midnight, and there was no way to
talk him into waiting for morning, so we continued to load into that warm,
wet night, punctuated by my shrieks and running commentary (and I am an
experienced beekeeper, who doesn't mind a few stings).
 
   The mission was accomplished. The bees went on their way to the apples.
 My guess is that the owner took 300+ stings without a complaint.  I thank
God that American agriculture still has people with the kind of committment
to get the job done, when it HAS to be done.
 
   So ...... here's to you,  New York, New England, Michigan, and other
eastern fruit regions.   We send you our best.....    "Y'all send us some of
your best fruit now, too, heah!"
 
[log in to unmask]    Dave Green,  PO Box 1200,  Hemingway,  SC  29554
 
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