>Can anyone provide some information on carrot pollination, i.e., facts and >sources of facts. I have a seed producer pay $100/hive and isn't sure >that the bees are doing the job. Referring to S.E. McGregor's 1976 "Insect pollination of cultivated crop plants" (the "Pollination Bible"; USDA-ARS Handbook 496): summarizing largely from: Bohart & Nye, 1960. Insect pollination of carrots in Utah. Utah Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. 419 and Hawthorn, Bohart, Toole, etc. 1960. Carrot seed production as affected by insect pollination. Utah Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. 422 he states that carrots were found to attract "334 specis of insects representing 71 families" but that of these, the most efficient pollinators were bees, and of these, only the honeybee was practical for management and manipulation for commercial purposes. Bohart & Nye's recommendations were (1) place enough colonies of honey bees to provide effective pollination (2) avoid the presence of competing bloom (3) restrict plantings of carrots for seed to avoid dilution of pollinators (4) plant in areas with a diversity of native pollinators (5) take active steps to increase native pollinator abundance - though for large commercial plantings, only (1) and (2) are expected to be practical. The recommended density of Apis is 8 bees per square yard, which is what is estimated to be required to achieve saturation. Doug Yanega Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 E. Peabody Dr. Champaign, IL 61820 USA phone (217) 244-6817, fax (217) 333-4949 affiliate, Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Dept. of Entomology http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu:80/~dyanega/my_home.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82