Re: HYB: questions - bee babies

Got an offlist comment that I think is probably true:

<Healthiest, most vigorous plants produce most blooms and pollen,
particularly most viable pollen.
 Therefore, pollen most apt to be carried by bees would be from such
plants.>

Maybe not the most blooms, but at least the most viable pollen.

Manual squishing has made a big dent in the cucumber beetle population,
and other pollen eaters don't seem to be nearly as voracious.  This
year, I've been using their presence in a bloom as an indication of at
least a little viable pollen.  When they aren't there, even if the
pollen looks ok, it always is bad (clumpy/gummy).

JENNIFER REBECCA had a lot of pollen this year for the first time.
She's way too unhealthy here for me to expect her to carry a pod, but I
did put pollen from her on a lot of things.  Too soon to tell how
successful that was, but at least a few started to expand pods.

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
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online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

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