A couple of cold mornings did not seem to harm the blossoms on the trees. The yellow Shiro Plum has so many blossoms the limbs are hidden. Unfortunately, I didn’t prune it this year. I’ll do some of that when the bees are done and fruit is set. It will need fruit-thinning.
I drive through numerous orchards when I go to the vineyard (grapes self pollinate via wind) and wonder how many bees are among those many thousands of trees. High density plantings are now the norm. The two images below show the many spring flowers (happening this week) and the result in the fall just prior to harvest.
On average there are about 800 trees per acre with 179,000 acres pf apples: that’s 143,200,000 trees. How many bees? Seems this is a large and unknown number. However, here is a WA bee site:
At the bottom of the page “Interesting Bee Facts” is worth the click but may be too much information for some.
Migratory beekeeping helps meet the seasonal demands of agriculture across different areas. Bees from WA are moved to CA and elsewhere for the blossom seasons and then back to WA for the season here.
Acres of other fruits (Pears, Apricots, Plums) are smaller, but still significant.
Carrying this investigation further: Ask what happens to bee’s honeycombs after the honey is extracted?
https://www.dadant.com/a-deep-dive-into-the-science-behind-beeswax-its-uses/
So much to read and so little time. I have plants to water and brush to cut.
Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John