Quote from Midwest Blueberry Production Guide:
"Flowers with short corollas are more easily pollinated than those with longer corollas. Some attribute the consistent fruit set of Bluecrop to its shorter corolla, and poor set of Earliblue to its longer corolla. "
Did you have a distinct experience in this regard and at which variety?
It also says at the guide above that the honeybees forage less when the temperatures are cool, the day is overcast, or the wind speed is high. How about the humidity? does high humidity have a negative impact on pollination.
What else would you recommend to keep the pollination rate at normal level.
we don’t have wild honeybees here. too cold. all my blueberries are pollinated with mostly bumbles and masons. seen them out and about as low as 50f. i have northblue , earliblue , razz, northland, an brunswick blueberries. some produce better than others. but fruit set seems fairly consistent. weather factors seem to impact fruit set the most. esp. very windy springs where the bumbles have a hard time getting around because their size. you might try making a few mason houses and putting them out near your plants. here in Maine, masons have been identified as the most critical pollinator for our commercial blueberry crop. there is a lot of info. on collecting and protecting mason cocoons. i also buy some of them and leafcutter bees cocoons from mountainwestmasonbees.com. cheapest place i found. can never have enough pollinators.