The Pollination Year For Apple Growers

The Pollination Year
For Apple Growers*
by Dave Green**
Copyright 2000 by David L. Green

January:
1.Evaluate last year's pollination, block by block, if possible, from your seed count notes at harvest time. If you didn't do this, do you still have apples in storage? Apples with low seed counts did not realize their potential; they are incompletely pollinated, and represent losses for you. Pay especial attention to blocks with problems. Remember that Red Delicious, and their offspring, Empires, as well as triploid varieties, will show up pollination problems more quickly. Do you need to increase pollinators in some blocks, or move bees to more favorable sites? Are your pollenizers adequate?
    Refresh or improve your pollination knowledge. (The Pollination Home Page: http://pollinator.com   is a good place to start.) Good bee management for pollination is much different than for honey production. Make sure your beekeeper knows how to pollinate. You don't want to be just a way-stop on the way to another honey crop. The usual adages apply: you get what you pay for...let the buyer beware, etc.
    There are many debatable questions: overwintered bees or southern bees? Bee attractants or no?
2. Make preliminary contact with your beekeeper to check on hive availability, condition, etc. Many pollinators are in winter bases in the south. If you don't have a beekeeper, there is a list of pollinators at the pollination page.
    Beekeeping is generally in even worse economic shape than fruit growing. Lending institutions sneer at beehives for collateral. You might get a good discount on pollination prices, in exchange for an early deposit on your bees. It's probably not smart to give him all the money up front, though.
    There has to be trust - both ways - for an effective pollination relationship. Last year, a grower ordered 200 hives from me, then actually got them from another beekeeper at the last minute, without a word to me. The bees could have been placed elsewhere, and the loss was a heavy one, to my business. Dirty tricks like that can make it very hard to get bees. Beekeepers also have their own credit-reporting network.
3. Check out and consider using orchard mason bees as a supplement to honeybees. The sellers sometimes hype this as a better bee, but mason bees have their own problems, too. At this point, I cannot recommend replacing honeybees. But it's good to have a backup in case of poor weather, bee truck wrecks, or other unforseen problems. Check for info and a list of mason bee suppliers, under Alternative Pollinators at pollination page. These bees must be shipped in cold weather, and Feb 1 is a common cutoff point for orders.
4. If you are planting new orchard, plan your pollenizers carefully. Cummins Nursery and Raintree Nursery have provided excellent lists and can be found at the nursery page http://pollinator.com/pollenizer_pollinator.htm      Careful pollenizer planning at planting can save a lot of remedial work later.

February/March:
1. Check for winter bud damage. Will this affect pollination plans?
2. Make second contact with your beekeeper. Will he need pallets or is he already palletized? What kind of shape are the bees in? Honesty and communication are necessary, but also have a good contract to protect you both. To look at 5 sample contracts: http://pollinator.com/sampcntr.htm There are two basic premises: he supplies good bees, and you don't hurt them. Everything else is qualification/listing of responsibilities.
3. Chose sites for bees. Make sure they are not exposed to cold winds; you may have to put up some apple bins or other windbreaks. Places with early sun exposure are best. Clear out prunings that could block access. Repair mudholes in orchard roads. If the bees are coming on a large truck, think about low limbs and lines on the route. You don't want midnight problems!
Don't insist on one hive here, one hive there. Bees don't walk to the flowers! They can be grouped 8 - 24 hives, depending on the size of the blocks. Remember also that the bees often have to come off the truck ASAP, once nets are pulled. Bee power can be wasted, if too much time is taken in distribution. Some foragers will be lost, some will die trying to enter other hives, and you want to keep this to a minimum.
4. If you got mason bees, keep them refrigerated, and put them out, as recommended according to the anticipated bloom date.

April/May:
1. Keep in close contact with your beekeeper, letting him know the budding progress. Get bees in for king bloom. Don't risk losing this, by waiting until you see bloom to call him. Be prepared to assist, as much as necessary. Remember that orchard pollination is very intense and stressful. Hundred-hour weeks, bad weather, and mechanical breakdowns are common, and can cause very short fuses! Some growers add to the frustration by failure to communicate.
   Another reason to get the bees in on time, is that you gain a slight edge on frost protection after pollination. Admittedly it's a small difference, but in many cases a small difference here is a huge difference in the final result.
2. Get your pink spray on before bloom opens. There is no danger to bees, because unopend blossoms will not have contaminated nectar/pollen. But do make sure no pesticide-laced water holes are available for bees to drink.
3. Many authorities recommend mowing dandelions as bees are placed. Phil Torchio, a well-experienced, retired US bee researcher disputes this, and I'd like to get an article out of him on this subject. Dandelions provide very high quality pollen, and high quality pollen keeps queens laying. You want colonies with as much open brood as possible, as these bees are in the best stage of build-up for pollination.
4. Check a few hives with the beekeeper. Roughly, you want bees that are filling about 2/3 of the available space and growing fast. Too weak hives won't have enough foragers, and too strong hives will have their minds on swarming, which interferes with their foraging. A quick check that can be done with the beekeeper just lifting the lid, and you, watching from inside a vehicle to see how many frames are covered with bees. More at http://pollinator.com/evaluate.htm A beekeeper with nothing to hide, should be willing to open a few hives.
   You can also look for good flight and lots of pale yellow pollen pellets on returning foragers. A fraud sometimes perpetrated, is to place an empty hive on a pallet with a little honey in it. You may get furious flight from this for a few days, as bees rob the honey, but they will not be carrying pollen, and they will be acting nervous and ornery.
5. Getting bees out can be problematic. Good relations can be preserved by not treating the previously-welcomed beekeeper as Typhoid Mary. If you plan to spray before full petal fall, you are spraying illegally, and can be killing native pollinators, and bees in neighboring orchards. If spraying is done right, bees won't be affected anyway. Some orchards have bees in the hedgerows during the entire growing season, without hurting them. This kind of spraying should always be practiced, anyway. There is a flow chart at http://pollinator.com/cotton/flowchart.htm This is designed for cotton, but works for any crop.
    Some growers won't release the bees until every petal falls. This can also be foolish; if the king bloom is well done, you don't need (or want) the secondary bloom. Many times bees could be removed immediately after king bloom petalfall. Only if bloom is very weak, or winter/spring frost damage has occurred would there be an advantage to saving the last blooms.

June/July/August:
1. Evaluate pollination with seed counts, paying special attention to June drop. Some is normal, but excessive drop may be an indicator of insufficient pollination. Seed-counts are diagnostic. Time spent here is profitable, especially if you keep good notes...
2. Practice careful orchard floor management. Beekeepers are your neighbors. The kinds of soils that are best for apple orchards are also the best for summer honey production, so beekeepers have one good reason not to move to poorer areas. Besides, beekeepers who move away from orchards can still be clobbered by pesticide misuse on sweet corn, alfalfa, or mosquito applications. If you have clover or other attractive blooming weeds in your orchard floor, you are legally responsible (pesticide label directions) for the bees that forage on it. The best long-range solution is to remove all clover with herbicide. Other solutions to comply with the label, are close mowing just before insecticide application, or use of non-residual materials after bees are done flying for the day.

September/October:
1. Keep good seed-count notes by block and variety for long term plans.
2. Invite your beekeeper to visit the farm, look over the results, talk over sucesses, failures, and future plans. Share some apples; betcha he shares some honey with you...
3. If you have a farm stand, your pollinator is the best possible honey source...

November/December:
1. Give thanks for the fruits of your labors...and the bees...and the beekeepers.
2. It's not too early to contact your beekeeper about the next season. He may soon be on his way south, and it's easier to talk in person than on a phone.
3. Beekeepers are a strange bunch (just like apple growers in many ways) - independent, tough, hard-headed, and hard-working. Take a little time at your library to pick up a copy of Following the Bloom, the story of migratory beekeeping, or the National Geographic feature: "America's Beekeepers: Hives for Hire," May, 1993 You'll find it quite entertaining and informative. For more info: http://pollinator.com/books.htm

(Commercial: in case you want to skip this) We have a Y2K calendar with a gorgeous picture of "The Farmer's Best Friend," a close up of a pollen covered bee. You can have your orchard name included, and use them for gifts, as well. For orders: http://pollinator.com/calendar/calendar.htm )

* Dates are representative of northern USA and may need modification for other apple growing regions.
** Dave Green is a commercial beekeeper who specializes in pollination service.

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