Wild plum trees are the first white-blooming trees
seen in the forest in the early spring. The white blossoms of plums and pear
trees often mark abandoned pioneer home sites. These are the first of a number
of flowering fruit trees to bloom in the Mid-South. Their bloom is an important
milestone on the beekeeper’s calendar. With the start of the fruit tree bloom,
beekeepers expect to find prolific expansion of the bee colonies. Abundant
nectar and pollen from plum, pear, apple, peach, cherry, and crabapple blossoms
along with other emerging wildflowers stimulates the queens to lay eggs. Many
of these fruit trees rely upon honey bees to cross-pollinate the blossoms with
pollen from similar tree varieties to produce fruit. The peach, as in today’s
photo, is an exception. Most peach varieties are self-fruitful; they produce
fruit without the assistance of honey bees. This is fortunate today, as cool
weather keeps the bees in their hives. The peach tree I find today, growing on
an old farmstead, has no bee visitors. Early spring weather in the Mid-South is
often unsettled. Effective pollination of fruit trees may be limited by cool or
rainy days that prevent bees from flying.
The New York Times reports honey bee colony losses
in 2012 at 40 to 50 percent, an increase over recent years. See http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/science/earth/soaring-bee-deaths-in-2012-sound-alarm-on-malady.html?_r=2&.
Colony losses at this level seriously affect commercial beekeeping and fruit
production. The majority of honey bee colonies in North America are used for
crop pollination service. Many beekeepers suspect the systemic neonicotinoid
insecticides in widespread use to control insect pests on crops as contributing
to honey bee colony losses. The insecticide manufactures deny that their
products are responsible for the bee die-off. Independent testing will be
necessary to prove the safety of this new class of insecticides. Further study
is also needed to determine the effect on bee health resulting from the
interaction between the many environmental chemicals from pesticides to herbicides
to fungicides encountered by foraging honey bees.
--Richard
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