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Old 09-04-2011, 04:10 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible
Thos Thos is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: May 2009
Posts: 50
Default What pollinates apples, besides bees?

Good grief. This kind of response is ridiculous.
Neither apples or honeybees are native to North America

Really??
There are bees pollinating plants and crops everywhere.
How in the world did Thomas Jefferson manage to pollinate his gorgeous
gardens almost 200 years ago? Yes, the bees were brought from Europe, but
they adapted with no problem. There are bees, and yes people use pesticides
but there are other insects that pollinate as well. Not just honeybees.
You can actually hand pollinate also, but not knowing the size of your
trees, that may not be possible.
Becoming a bee keeper is completely another discipline, and falls into the
category of "the more you learn, the more you learn you don't know". My
advice would be to just plant the trees and let nature take it's course.
Don't overthink it.
What zone are you in?

"Steve Peek" wrote in message
...

"Ted Shoemaker" wrote in message
...
What pollinates apples, besides bees?

I'd like to plant apple trees -- only a couple -- in my yard.

If I must have honeybees, then I'll look into the details of that.
But honeybees, who wander far, are likely to run into insecticides. I
live in a city, next to lots of neighbors and even a school. There's
no way to prevent them all from using bug-killer.

Thank you!

Ted Shoemaker


You're going to need honeybees. Neither apples nor honeybees are native to
North America, so there's no specific pollinator for the apples. Other
insects will work the blossoms, so pollination may occur but I would
expect the fruiting to be spotty.