Peaches are in popcorn and opening, maybe 15% open so far and I haven’t seen a single honey bee. The lady who we were buying local honey from closed up shop and her hives are no more i’m not sure why she closed up. It seemed to me she had a good little business selling honey. Her bees would cover our fruit trees during bloom. Her hives were about 3/4 a mile away as the bee would fly. So we were getting very local honey.
My wife wants honey bees. I told her if we do get honey bees, it’ll be your job to tend to them. She is cool with that. I would rather get mason bees but honey is a benefit to honey bees. Maybe we’ll get both?
I recall reading and I dont remember where (probably here) that peaches are wind pollinated. Is that true or false or partially true? It sure would be nice to see some bees on the trees though.
Most all peach cultivars are self-pollenizing. They have perfect flowers, and the male and female parts inside the individual flowers can pollinate themselves.
It really doesn’t even take much wind for them to pollenize themselves, though some wind does help.
The worst thing for peach tree blooms, in terms of pollination, is constant wet weather, imo.
There are a few cultivars which are supposed to be self-sterile - JH hale, Indian Free, and a few others.
Also technically, peach blooms don’t have a popcorn stage. Popcorn refers to blooms like apples where the blooms are showing white (like popcorn). Technically, peaches showing pink are just called pink.
But I’m not the language police. I knew what you meant. Just thought you might want to know the “official” name for the stage of bloom your peaches are in.
I have seen zero bees on our cherries. I’m in a semi-urban environment, I believe we get heavy pressure from gardening chemicals. Bee hives have a hard time thriving here. But my wife also wants to get bees now. I’m extremely allergic to wasps, and I suspect likely bees too, tho I’m careful and the bees are careful and I’ve never had a chance to find out. My favorite hike/escape takes me past a tree that’s a favorite spot for bees, there’s often a hive. Most of the hives have been friendly and I never had any issues walking by or even closely peering at them for extended periods. Only one hive did not seem to like it, tho they never hurt me, only buzzed me to let me know (so I let them be). This experience gives me confidence that I’ll be ok, and quite frankly, I want fruit. So I’ve agreed to it. Now I’m looking into planting a whole lot more bee plants because I want to encourage them to not stray to the chemical-laden yards of the neighborhood.
It’s a little eerie to stand in front of a gloriously blooming tree and see no bees.
Its very unusual for us to not see bees on our flowering trees that’s for sure. Our sugar magnolia is finishing up bloom and I haven’t noticed a single bee on it. Not that I continually watch it either.
I hoping for some wild bees to show up, but none yet. My wife wants to try and lure in a swarm of local wild honey bees. It’s quite common from what she tells me and the hive is more likely to thrive and survive since it originated locally.
i’m not sure why she closed up. It seemed to me she had a good little business selling honey. Her bees would cover our fruit trees during bloom. Her hives were about 3/4 a mile away as the bee would fly. So we were getting very local honey.
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