Wednesday 21 April 2010

Bees and apple blossoms

Last Tuesday the man from Blossom Trail Bee Ranch, which is quite near our farm, brought four hives for us to rent so the apples can be pollinated. The blossoms lasted only a short while last year, then a big wind blew them away. And because it was quite chilly, very few bees got out to pollinate them. This year we wanted to be sure they got pollinated. The bees are busy, but we still don't see as many as we imagined we might. But the blossoms are changing appropriately, so they must be getting the job done..

Most types apples can't pollinate themselves, by which I mean the same type of apple can't pollinate itself. That's why we generally have only 2 or 3 rows of the same type together, so the bees will move from one type to the other and cross pollinate them.

So below are two of the four bee hives and a few blossoms:

The bees come out the bottom of the hives.