January 16

Through My Eyes

Thursday January 16

" Wooden "nesting blocks" can be provided to encourage Osmia lignaria, known as the blue orchard mason bee, to claim your orchard as home.

"Ozzie" is a very efficient pollinator. As few as two hundred female blue orchard bees are needed to pollinate an acre of fruit trees. The same job

given to honeybees requires a full hive consisting of twenty thousand or more bees total ( Wow! Having a big hive of bees sounds pretty neat though.)

Like bumblebees, Osmia are better at reaching the pistil of the fruit blossom than honeybees resulting in less of those misshapen apples due to

incomplete pollination. Retired entomologist Phillip Torchio in Utah can supply a starter kit of blocked bees and an instruction sheet. Or if you'd

like, ( We'd like! Sounds interesting to try doesn't it?) use a 7 mm drill bit to make holes six inches deep in the end of a 2x; face the block toward the southeast in the crotch of a fruit tree and secure it at least three feet above the ground; and see if any native solitary bees plug a hole with mud.

Holes that are shorter tend to produce mostly male progeny, as do holes drilled in wood that is not protected from soaking rains. Moisture swelling narrows the diameter of the holes, again increasing production of smaller sized males. The eggs behind this plug will hatch the following spring if parasites don't wreak havoc on them. Bringing nesting blocks into an unheated shed or spare refrigerator for autumn and the ensuing winter increases survival rates. Nesting blocks should be moved out to the orchard ten to fourteen days before anticipated bloom. "*

( And so we continue to read. By the way, Rudolf Steiner was the founder of Biodynamic agriculture , we can learn more of this later! Biodynamic agriculture seems very worthwhile because it takes the earth and the entire cosmos into consideration in agricultural decisions. )

please continue here

Through my eyes

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* Still the "The Apple Grower" by Michael Phillips. It's sort of restful to read at the end of the day isn't it? My day job seating area has gotten a little bit more

frenetic recently with another new arrival to the cubicle behind me . She seems a reasonable human but it's a burden for me as usual. Like many, I greatly

prefer offices with walls when I'm trying to work! ( I figure you've been seeing along with me long enough to hear a little whining on my part.

Please continue to bear with me as usual.)


	Through My Eyes Thursday January 16 " Wooden "nesting blocks" can be provided to encourage Osmia lignaria, known as the blue orchard mason bee, to claim your orchard as home. "Ozzie" is a very efficient pollinator. As few as two hundred female blue orchard bees are needed to pollinate an acre of fruit trees. The same job given to honeybees requires a full hive consisting of twenty thousand or more bees total ( Wow! Having a big hive of bees sounds pretty neat though.) Like bumblebees, Osmia are better at reaching the pistil of the fruit blossom than honeybees resulting in less of those misshapen apples due to incomplete pollination. Retired entomologist Phillip Torchio in Utah can supply a starter kit of blocked bees and an instruction sheet. Or if you'd like, ( We'd like! Sounds interesting to try doesn't it?) use a 7 mm drill bit to make holes six inches deep in the end of a 2x; face the block toward the southeast in the crotch of a fruit tree and secure it at least three feet above the ground; and see if any native solitary bees plug a hole with mud. Holes that are shorter tend to produce mostly male progeny, as do holes drilled in wood that is not protected from soaking rains. Moisture swelling narrows the diameter of the holes, again increasing production of smaller sized males. The eggs behind this plug will hatch the following spring if parasites don't wreak havoc on them. Bringing nesting blocks into an unheated shed or spare refrigerator for autumn and the ensuing winter increases survival rates. Nesting blocks should be moved out to the orchard ten to fourteen days before anticipated bloom. "* ( And so we continue to read. By the way, Rudolf Steiner was the founder of Biodynamic agriculture , we can learn more of this later! Biodynamic agriculture seems very worthwhile because it takes the earth and the entire cosmos into consideration in agricultural decisions. ) please continue here Through my eyes home * Still the "The Apple Grower" by Michael Phillips. It's sort of restful to read at the end of the day isn't it? My day job seating area has gotten a little bit more frenetic recently with another new arrival to the cubicle behind me . She seems a reasonable human but it's a burden for me as usual. Like many, I greatly prefer offices with walls when I'm trying to work! ( I figure you've been seeing along with me long enough to hear a little whining on my part. Please continue to bear with me as usual.)