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Pollination, some observations
I am a beekeeper and have been for longer than I care to
remember. Much is spoken about honeybees and their contribution to world food stocks, but is this really the case? Now that my years are advancing, I seem to have more time to sit and observe, and the results of this have been something of an 'eyeopener'. I grow cherries, raspberries, strawberries, a victoria plum and various apples. all are in flower or recently flowered and I have not seen a single honeybee on any of them, despite hours of observation. My hives are strong and the garden is full of bees, but the only bees on my fruit are bumblebees. If there were no honeybees within ten miles of me, I would still have the same amount of fruit set. The most important world food crop is cereal, whether it be sweet corn in America, rice in Asia or wheat and barley in the temperate regions. This is wind pollinated. Other important food sources such as potatoes and yams are vegetative and none of these food sources are dependant on honeybees. So how important are honeybees? Ancient agricultural civilisations kept bees, but for their honey and not for any advantage to their crops. We see honeybees in our gardens and assume that they are 'doing good', but at the moment my bees are much more interested in the clover, dandelion, daisy and buttercup in the field on the other side of the fence; but they are opportunists and will gather where the feeding is best. There is also the fallacy that honeybees are 'busy'. This is totally wrong, honeybees are lazy little gits. They rarely come out of the hive before 10.00am. and finish their work around 4.00pm. Bumblebees are working from around 6.00am. and are still going strong at about 9.00pm. - more than twice as long in the day as honeybees. I love my bees as pets, but I really don't think that they contribute much to my garden - or to world food sources! |
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