It should be a good day for pollination. Temperatures above sixty and low wind.
Honeybees become active at fifty F but they are not very active. Bumblebees can be seen flying around at forty F.
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| Want to catch some flying insects? Use fly ribbon! |
The early pears are in full bloom and the later pears are on the verge of breaking open. I decided to see if I could catch some of those itty-bitty pollinators and get some photos.
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| Close-up. Nothing fancy. I pulled out about 12" (300mm). I want to sample the pollinators, not wipe them out. I attached it to a limb that is about 6' above ground. I hung it on the south side of the tree. |
Then, I decided to make it a bit of an experiment. I hung three ribbons in three separate places. I hung them at 9 AM.
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| Also six feet above ground, 12" of ribbon and on the south side of the tree. |
I hung the second one in a Liberty apple tree. The buds are a couple of days away from opening. It is my perception that apple blossoms are much more attractive to pollinators than European pear blossoms with Asian pears somewhere in between. Part of the attraction might be fragrance. European pears are almost fragrance free. Asian pears smell putrid. Apple blossoms smell nice and tend to be more densely packed on the tree.
The third ribbon is the control. It is in my garden, fifty feet from the nearest tree. The leaves in the background are atop the row of asparagus. Ground cover is mostly nettle, grass and bare dirt.
If all goes according to plan, I will saunter out at about five and take some pictures.
My plums are in full bloom and smell just great. Cherries just starting and peaches almost there. Apples and pears not so much yet.
ReplyDeleteThe plums are covered in pollinators. Some honey bees but mostly orchard bees and something that looks like a sweat bee. I usually have loads of bumble bees in the Summer but only the queens flying around now.