Fruit trees and orchards

[Mark2]

Just to add to my above !!

I smell ‘ nicateenoid cover up’ on that one.

on a different topic being new on here, i’d like to apologise for my spelling !! It’s less than perfect I know ! kept me out of doing an office job ! and thank god for that !

[Paul in the woods]

I'm going by our own observation of our own honey bees. Not all flowers are as useful to bees as others, some produce more nectar or more pollen, and when you look at pollen some has higher protein that others. So, honey bees will be choosy and may well prefer a different plant than your fruit trees. Some may well visit them but the bulk will be on something more useful.

 

With regard to the US, thankfully we don't farm like them but I thought it was crops like almonds rather than apples that have huge hive movements?

 

I'm all for people keeping honey bees but I doubt they are necessary for most orchard keepers to ensure good pollination, in the UK at least.

[Rough Hewn]

@wonky
Bees and orchards!
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[Mark2]

Dam i’m on the run now !!!

??????

[Peasgood]

You don’t get honey bees in orchards because there isn’t enough nectar in apple blossom for it to be worth their while.

Grease bands are for winter moth, not codling and tar oil winter wash is banned now to my knowledge. Codling control in a modern orchard is likely to rely heavily on pheromones rather than insecticides. The latest method is to “blanket” the orchard with pheromones to prevent mating. No mating means no baby codling boring into the fruit. If you only have one or two trees a pheromone trap from a garden centre is probably sufficient control. Better than pulling all the flowers off anyway.

The only neonic that is regularly used in orchards is Calypso, that is said not to harm bees and unusually for an insecticide it can be used while trees are in blossom (doesn’t mean I would).

[Conor Wright]

I'm going by our own observation of our own honey bees. Not all flowers are as useful to bees as others, some produce more nectar or more pollen, and when you look at pollen some has higher protein that others. So, honey bees will be choosy and may well prefer a different plant than your fruit trees. Some may well visit them but the bulk will be on something more useful.
 
With regard to the US, thankfully we don't farm like them but I thought it was crops like almonds rather than apples that have huge hive movements?
 
I'm all for people keeping honey bees but I doubt they are necessary for most orchard keepers to ensure good pollination, in the UK at least.

I believe all you said there is true.. watching our hives (all 2 of them!) On the move the last few days has been surprising.. still finding ivy, some long lasting marigolds and borage and even heading off towards the bog, presumably for Heather.. honey bee treatment in the US is shocking and it happens for all types of crop from oilseed rape to oranges, apples, almonds..

[Mark2]

Peasgood thanks for that info some of that is correct some not. My favourites are garden/hygiene to break the breeding cycle, encouraging garden birds, the amount of pests a pair of feeding parent birds can deal with is huge!

plus keeping your tree strong and healthy by pruning ! Like us humans it’s when we’re weak we fall prey to illness. A moribund tree will fall prey to pests and diseases!

regarding bees v nicatenoids don’t forget bees will travel miles to good source crops and down wind of arable crops will be contaminated ! bees to! restrictions have been put in place ! But it’s  a proven fact bee colony calapse is a sereous issue! Most of our fruit and veg are dependent on bees pollination! wild or honey ? bee !!

[Mark2]

Peasgood thanks for that info some of that is correct some not. My favourites are garden/hygiene to break the breeding cycle, encouraging garden birds, the amount of pests a pair of feeding parent birds can deal with is huge!

plus keeping your tree strong and healthy by pruning ! Like us humans it’s when we’re weak we fall prey to illness. A moribund tree will fall prey to pests and diseases!

regarding bees v nicatenoids don’t forget bees will travel miles to good source crops and down wind of arable crops will be contaminated ! bees to! restrictions have been put in place ! But it’s  a proven fact bee colony calapse is a sereous issue! Most of our fruit and veg are dependent on bees pollination! wild or honey ? bee !!

[Wonky]

34 minutes ago, Conor Wright said:

1 hour ago, Paul in the woods said:

I'm going by our own observation of our own honey bees. Not all flowers are as useful to bees as others, some produce more nectar or more pollen, and when you look at pollen some has higher protein that others. So, honey bees will be choosy and may well prefer a different plant than your fruit trees. Some may well visit them but the bulk will be on something more useful.
 
With regard to the US, thankfully we don't farm like them but I thought it was crops like almonds rather than apples that have huge hive movements?
 
I'm all for people keeping honey bees but I doubt they are necessary for most orchard keepers to ensure good pollination, in the UK at least.

Read more  

I believe all you said there is true.. watching our hives (all 2 of them!) On the move the last few days has been surprising.. still finding ivy, some long lasting marigolds and borage and even heading off towards the bog, presumably for Heather.. honey bee treatment in the US is shocking and it happens for all types of crop from oilseed rape to oranges, apples, almonds..

Yeh this yr has been mild so far to last yr, I’m wondering if my bees will run short of honey, as I nicked a lot from my bees.?? I guess I can give them some home made candi to keep them buzzing ??

[Peasgood]

Which of what I wrote is incorrect?

 

Regarding being dependant on bees, I think that is massively overhyped. I think pollination is far more dependant on insects other than bees. Put a net over a strawberry plant to with mesh that excludes bees but allows smaller insects in and see if you get fruit or not.

I do everything I can to look after bees but I do think they get more credit than they deserve. Hoverflies are probably better but not so sexy. In the same way as a nest of wasps will clear more grubs than a pair of feeding birds.