Garden Planning Deadline Close (Feb 1)


From:	pollinator@aol.com (Pollinator)
Date:	21 Jan 1999 03:41:14 -0500


(US Gardeners) Read and Consider in January to prevent pollination problems in
spring and summer:

   Many gardeners, unfortunately leave pollination to chance.  Some are lucky;
others suffer losses that would not be necessary, if they took some positive
steps.  Some try to "attract" bees, which is an exercise in futility if the
bees
are not there.  Sometimes you have to put them there.  Butterflies are
valuable
pollinators for many wildflowers, but for fruits and veggies, you need bees.

   How do we know if pollination is lacking?  There are many symptoms.
Remember
that for most fruits pollination requires many bee visits (not just one) to
distribute enough pollen to fertilize most of the seeds.  At fertilization of
the ovules (seeds) the chemicals are released to make the flesh of the fruit
grow, so you must have most of these fertilized to get full growth and maximum
sweetness.

    Some symptoms of inadequate pollination:
Apples, pears, most tree fruits: With good bloom, few fruits form, or they
form
but drop while still small.  Fruits small, malformed and starchy, only 3-4
seeds
in pome fruits rather than 7-10.
Blueberries: Sparse set, or a lot of undersized berries.
Strawberries: Undersized berries, one undeveloped (green) side on a lot of
berries, small number of achenes.
Brambles: Undersized berries, drupelet number is small, and center section of
berry does not form at all, flower parts remain at "maturity" in the center
bottom of the fruit. 
Squash, pumpkins, cukes:  Female blossom drop or fruit starts to grow, then
molds and
drops off. (The mold is not the cause, it is an opportunist. Poor pollination
limits the development.) Fruit that curls excessively, or has an end or middle
that is undersized. Slow growth makes cukes or summer squash tough.
Canteloupes:  Blossom drop. Undersized fruit that is not sweet.
Watermelons:  Blossom drop, Undersized fruit, necked or flat sided fruit. Lots
of white seeds in standard varieties (okay in seedless hybrids).
Lima Beans: seeds missing in pods. 

   Basically, if you have honeybees, you have a nearby beekeeper. Wild
honeybees are just about gone from the US scene. Find out who he/she is, and
do
all you can to encourage them. Share some of your produce; they are helping
make it possible.

   If you don't have honeybees already, forget about attracting them, instead
try to
attract a beekeeper. Encourage a young person in the neighborhood to take it
up. Insist that your local extension office provide a beginner beekeeping
course. Involve 4-H clubs, scouts (the Boy Scouts have discontinued the
beekeeping merit badge from lack of interest, just when young beekeepers are
desperately needed), garden clubs, etc.  

   Or become a beekeeper yourself. There are two kinds of bees that you can
keep. Solitary bees, such as orchard mason bees and Japanese hornfaced bees,
are gentle and good pollinators for spring blooms. They do not make honey and
they are worthless for later garden veggies. Honeybees are generalist
pollinators that are available year around, not just seasonally. They are
excellent for almost all fruits (exception: southern rabbiteye blueberries),
cucurbits, lima beans, and many other plants. They will sometimes do tomatoes,
eggplant and peppers, but they prefer other flowers, so they may not.

    Honeybees also provide honey. Unfortunately they do sting, which
generations of folks have accepted and lived with, but the present generation
does not, so you have to plan around this.

   Carpenter bees are important pollinators. Bumblebees are available and
extensively used in commercial agriculture, but are too expensive for home
gardeners. Carpenter bees are hated by many homeowners and killed at every
opportunity, because they drill small holes in wood to make their nests.
Though the damage is normally only cosmetic, and they are valuable early
pollinators, they have been just about eradicated in some areas. Protect
bumble bees and carpenter bees as much as you can.) 


SOLITARY BEE SOURCES

   Generally the deadline for orders is about February 1, because these must
be
shipped in cold weather.  Don't wait until spring!

    Here is a newly revised list of those who offer orchard mason and Japanese
hornfaced bees.
http://www.uidaho.edu/pses/Strickler/SolitaryBees/supply.htm


HONEYBEES

For honeybees, I recommend nucs from a local supplier, if possible. They will
get established and come on faster than package bees. (We sell nucs here in
South Carolina to local beekeepers, but nucs cannot be shipped.)  Many of the
larger beekeepers truck up loads of nucs from the south in the spring and they
usually will sell some of them to other beekeepers. But get your orders in
early! Many will be sold out by spring.

    If you cannot find nucs, then the package suppliers I have dealt with (and
can recommend) include: Wilbanks Apiaries, PO Box 12, Claxton, GA, 30417
912-739-4820, Weaver Apiaries, Rt 1, Box 260, Navasota, TX   77868-9704
(rweaver@myriad.net),  (Weaver sells the Buckfast strain of tracheal
mite-resistant bees.) Wooten's Golden Queens 11189 Deschutes Rd. Palo Cedro,
CA
96073  530-549-3555  (Wootens may no longer sell packages, but they have nucs,
and mighty fine queens.) Again, order early!

   Many northern commercial beekeepers, or beekeeping supply places also get
package bees in the spring. It is more reliable (and probably cheaper) to get
trucked in packages, than to get delivery by post office. They are generally
moved by someone knowledgeable, and they don't pick up traces of the
exterminators' sprays in the post office, or get left in a hot mailbox to
cook.

SOME OTHER VALUABLE LINKS

Hive plans, if you wish to build your own equipment: It is important that you
use standard sizes. Plans are available, as well as other beekeeping info, at:
http://birkey.com/BLB/index.html

An online course in beekeeping is available from Dr. Keith Delaplane at the
University of Georgia:
http://www.ces.uga.edu/pubcd/b1045-w.html
He also has the Georgia Pollination Guide
http://www.ces.uga.edu/pubcd/b1106-w.html

Crop pollination in the north -   Bee Pollination of Ohio Crops, Dr. Larry
Conner
http://ohioline.ag.ohio-state.edu/b559/index.html

Info on solitary bees, Dr. Karen Strickler
http://www.uidaho.edu/pses/Pollination_ecology.htm

Bee Culture: a darn good magazine for hobby and commercial beekeepers.
Available here - subscription info, some archived articles, in the magazine
current beekeeping info on varroa mites, african hive beetles, and many other
topics of interest, plus ads for bee and equipment suppliers.
http://www.airoot.com/beeculture/index.htm

Pollinators are one of the most important environmental issues of today
Forgotten Pollinators - a campaign to save our pollinators:
http://www.desert.net/museum/fp/

McGregor's Pollination "Bible"  All the relevant research on bee pollination
of
cultivated crops (crop by crop) until 1976. This USDA manual needs revision,
but is still a valuable resource, now online through the courtesy of Bee
Culture magazine:
http://www.airoot.com/beeculture/book/index.html

Bee Gardens by Dr. Stephen Buchmann
http://198.22.133.109/na/bgardn.html

Bibliography and internet links on Native Bees
http://www.anet-chi.com/%7Emanytimes/page29.htm

Plants of Interest to Bumblebees
http://www.anet-chi.com/%7Emanytimes/page31.htm

Research on pollinators goes on at the Tucson Bee Lab. 
Visit G.E.A.R.S. award winning site at at http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/

The best beginner book on honeybee keeping, Cornell Press:
The Beekeeper's Handbook  by Diana Sammataro, Alphonse Avitabile, Roger A.
Morse 
Diana's Home Page  http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/d/b/dbs8/

A FINAL NOTE

Any seedman or nursery that sells you a plant to pollinate, or calls a plant a
pollinator is confused. BEES POLLINATE; PLANTS POLLENIZE.  A plant cannot be a
pollinator and a bee cannot be a pollenizer. These terms are as precise and
different as uterus and ovary. How much would you trust a gynecologist who
used these terms interchangeably?

   A good example is Johnny's Selected Seeds (not to pick on only one
seedsman), which is offering a percentage of POLLINATORS with some of their
cucumber seeds.  I recently asked them, if they really meant that they were
offering pollenizers (plants to provide pollen), and told them that the
primary pollinators for cucumbers were honeybees.  They have not changed the
catalog, so I can only conclude they are offering bees to do the job.  Their
web catalog is at http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
The standard way to mail order honeybees is in three pound packages, shipped
by US mail.  This is a very generous offer indeed.  Ask them if they really
mean this!

Pollinator@aol.com     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
The Pollination Scene:  http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
The Pollination Home Page:    http://www.pollinator.com

Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop    (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles)
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm
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