bees on countryfile NOW

[drstitson]

trial of OSR pollination to increase yield.

 

[Poly Hive]

Hmm well.. When Bernard put his bees on the OSR at Craibstone in the early 80's the Farm Manager reported a 10-15% increase.

A useful piece though for us. I just hope the result of the trial is positive which it should be.

PH

 

[drstitson]

i suppose in the fragile UK farming economy a 10-15% increase yield achieved simply with no chemicals and bonus of payback for the beekeeper too can only be a good thing.

just think - 1 farm - 9 hives - 2-3 supers each during OSR season - 5-600 lbs = £1.5k-£2k honey income.

 

[TOBY-3652]

The manager on a farm near me said that osr is self pollenating so dosent need bees to do the job

 

[aberreef]

The manager on a farm near me said that osr is self pollenating so dosent need bees to do the job

From what I've read, OSR is self pollenating but when worked by bees the seed is larger, giving a higher yield

Not much use to me though, there's no rape for miles around

 

[drstitson]

yes - OSR is 70% self pollinating but anything to increase yield per acre sorry Ha must be a good thing.

likewise - a nice polish study showed that provision of active pollinators significantly increased yield of blackcurrants (interesting to us as our blackcurrant plot - 64 plants this year - is first crop in our bee's flightpath)

 

[Alabamaeee]

There are about 12 different types of OSR in UK, Some are self pollinating and chosen for higher yield, but apparently not so attractive to the bees.

Least that's what a friendly farmer told me at my apiary

 

[oliver90owner]

Don't know where the results were but apparently coffee crops around the margins of forests benefitted remarkably from insect pollination - whether it was mainly/all honey bees or not which did the deed was not quantified.

However figures I have seen have mentioned OSR as 90% self pollinating, so there does not appear to be an awful lot in it, with or without bees, unless the cross pollination yield is that much better (the 'plumper' seeds).

I would have thought the statistics would amount to a wide margin of error/variability and so not demonstrate conclusively a benefit to the crop.

Now, strawberry pollination by bumble bees in a polytunnel would yield a much more conclusive result!

Comment: Poly Hive's report from the 1980's might have reflected a) earlier, non-F1 OSR sub-species, b) smaller fields, c) later crops or d) more bee pollinators (pre-varroa). The difference may well not be so obvious in todays more intensive agricultural environment, but hope it is.

RAB

 

[woodyapex]

Osr

I'm slowly getting really peeved with countryfile ! Its inaccuracies , bad timing and lack of real matters are getting very bad imo.
Promting me to write in twice over the last few month ( not to mention the love of my life julia is now pregnant ! and it's not mine !!!!

But one week the not only make Barnsley out to be a place that you'd be suprized there is ( OMG ) " countryside in "
and then refer to wentworth castle being in sheffield ! when its less then two mile from barnsley town centre ( in barnsley ).

then the week after show a pair of mating toads ! and keep refering to them as frogs many times !!

Then today clearly show the OSR crop still in full bloom when its mostly lost its flowers quite a while ago , and the chuffing blue bells have all gone to seed! at least drooped up here ! so if they have up here they certainly have down there !!!!

Any how rant over ! just a bit bitter over julia !!! but it is nice to see coverage of the bees on tv !!

woody

 

[Skyhook]

I'm slowly getting really peeved with countryfile ! Its inaccuracies , bad timing and lack of real matters are getting very bad imo.
Promting me to write in twice over the last few month ( not to mention the love of my life julia is now pregnant ! and it's not mine !!!!

woody

Sorry Woody. I honestly didn't know she was in a relationship.

 

[For want of a better word]

SHOULD THEY take the COUNTRY out of COUNTRIFILE and file it under waste of time?

BA in English lit ... strikes again... surely they could find an editor with a scientific training to EDIT !



( all the good ones are snapped up by the BBC)