> That's a surprising statement.  

There was a stu
Hi Waldemar


> That's a surprising statement.  

There was a study done just a few miles from here that claimed that bumble bees were more effective pollinators for rasps than honeybees due to their patterns of flower visitation, degree of hirsuteness, and enthusiasm for foraging in cool damp Scottish summers.  Yet honeybees do pollinate raspberries, and the local raspberry honey was a favourite in the years when the raspberry industry was bigger than it is now.

The Solanaceae crops are different.  They are designed (no, perhaps I should say adapted!) for buzz pollination in that there is no nectar and pollen only comes out of the pore in the anther in quantity when the flower is buzzed.  Bumble bees know this trick but honeybees don't.

best wishes

Gavin

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