jan-feb-2020

hives where morning sun can warm the hive and flooding is not a concern. In dry bloom weather, place water stations in the orchard for bees. Consult with your beekeeper about water station options. Bees drink standing, so they will need some way to walk to the water. Protect bees from bloom sprays. Bees cost roughly $400 per acre and are critical to setting a good crop. Here are some recommended “do’s” and “don’ts” to help bees do the best job possible. Adding any insecticide (except B.t.), adjuvants, or nutrients can harm adult bees and the brood in the hives. Avoid using these materials at bloom. There are other times to use nutrients or insecticides. A well-calibrated spray job shouldn’t benefit from an adjuvant at bloom. Do not directly spray hives with anything (herbicide, fungicide, insecticide, nutrients), period. Time fungicide spraying until mid-afternoon. The pollen released each morning should be stripped from the flowers by that time with good bee activity. To tell if pollen is “gone for the day” watch to see if pollen- harvesting bees (the ones with the yellow pollen packed on their back legs) are only doing “touch and go” landings in flowers and not working them over to pick up pollen. The key point is to avoid contaminating pollen with spray material, pollen that will be carried back to the hive and fed to the brood. Clean, healthy pollen is critical to the hive health. See links to Almond Board of California’s honey bee best management practices at www.almonds.com. Bloom Protection Flowers should be protected from disease with one or two fungicide sprays unless conditions are unusually dry (no dew). Since it is hard to guarantee no dew and the stakes are so high, at least one bloom spray is recommended by Dr. Jim Adaskaveg, UC Riverside Professor 4 1 J A N U A R Y – F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0