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let's bee friends

Good morning Chris and Chris,

Hey guys I'm not putting down honey bees.  I keep two hives just for the
purpose of pollination and, although I am sorely criticized by bee-keeper
friends, I don't remove any honey but leave it for their winter food.  I
have to feed them much less sugar water that way and, from what I can
observe, they are healthy and hard working.  But I'm afraid the bumblebee
is an old and dear friend of mine.  What's more fun than to watch a couple
of pollen-covered bumbles staggering around a sunflower too loaded with
nectar to fly who will stand still and let you scratch their backs.  Old
Bumble may not work with the same mindless, persistent, precision of the
honey bee but he works longer hours (bumblebees fly at lower temperatures)
and does good work in the garden.  It's tough to get honey bees interested
in pear trees, for instance, but, even yesterday in the light rain, I saw a
couple of young bumblebees skipping around one of our pear trees.  About
the tomatoes, if you're waiting for the wind to pollinate them you'll have
a light crop.  I grow tomatoes in a greenhouse and pollinate by hand daily.
As I mentioned before, I have a friend who runs extensive commercial
greenhouses producing B.C. Hothouse tomatoes and long English cucumbers.
He buys bumblebees who live in his greenhouses and pollinate his tomatoes.
Before getting the bumblebees he employed people for the same job.  He
claims his production increased with the bees.

To bee or not to bee,
Don Maroc
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