Some Observations on 2018 Bloom and Bees
Bloom period on cherries has been exceptionally prolonged. On top of that, cherry bloom has not been uniform from tree-to-tree, nor even from top to bottom within the same tree. I’ve seen some trees side-by-side that are as much as a week apart in bloom stage. This staggered and extended bloom period will very likely result in checkerboard maturity. Keep this in mind when time comes for GA applications as this could very well be a year when split applications could be critical to cover the different stages of maturity at that time. The photo above was taken today of two trees side-by-side of the same variety, rootstock, and orchard. In fact, the trees were about 3 feet apart.
Hive activity has also been more variable than normal this year. I see a lot of sets of 4 hives where 3 of them are active, and one is a dud. Not dead, because there are a few bees entering and exiting the hive, but certainly not full strength. I’m not sure what’s happening here, but I’m seeing more of this than normal. In the photo above, compare bee activity between the hive on the left and the hive on the right. There was about a 3-fold difference in the number of bees entering and exiting the hives. In the photo below, one of the hives is noticeably more active than the others.
I was reminded today just how effective Bee-Scent can be at stimulating bee activity. I was working in a cherry block this afternoon when an adjacent pear block was sprayed. I recognized that nice Lemon Pledge smell, and knew they were spraying Bee-Scent. I had been walking past sets of hives between the cherry block and pear block all day, and the difference in bee activity after the Bee-Sent was applied was remarkable.
If fruit set in Anjou pears is a challenge, a program of Bee-Scent at bloom followed by ReTain at 10 mm might be worth considering.
The photo above was taken before the Bee-Scent application. The photo below was taken after the Bee-Scent application. Same set of hives. Quite a difference in activity.
