Pear Tree waiting for the bees but they are going t'other way to the ****

[Gilberdyke John]

Poor timing but not something I can control

 

[pargyle]

Poor timing but not something I can control

Yeh ... drives you mad doesn't it ? Pear trees really need good pollination to get a good crop and the blossom is so short lived the window of opportunity is very short. My pear tree came into blossom last year just as we got three days of continual wind and rain ... pear crop - nothing. It's been much better this year and the blossom has been out for the last week when it's been calm and dry - I'm hopeful that some of my girls will have found it - but, if they find a more productive/energy efficient source of forage (like ****) around at the same time then it will be down to the other pollinators to help out.

 

[Nige.Coll]

I get a call every year from the farmer about his fruit trees and putting a hive in his little orchard. Haven't the heart to tell him the 70 acres of **** over the hedge will be more popular.
Keeps him happy and the least I can do for him.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

 

[Erichalfbee]

Poor timing but not something I can control

Time to get the paintbrush out

 

[Plenty of honey]

Poor timing but not something I can control

Yes its annoying, i have about 40 fruit trees, lots of bees in the garden and three apiaries nearby and also Tons of OSR, however, if you wait and watch, there lots of other small wasps and tiny insects, not to mention solitary bees that do like a nice pair (tree)

 

[JWF]

My bees seem to have totally ignored my cherry and pear trees this year, but the bumbles seemed to show some interest at least

 

[thibault]

1 pear tree full of flowers, 4 plum trees same, totally ignored though they are literally surrounding the hives, I don't know what better source they have found.

 

[Hivemaker.]

...

Pear flowers produce relatively large amounts of pollen but little nectar. The sugar concentration is low and hence not very attractive to bees. For this reason, pear pollination with honey bees can be difficult.

Because of the low amounts of weak nectar, bees introduced for pollination are readily attracted to flowers surrounding the crop.

 

[thibault]

...

interesting, what about plum flowers?