How to Choose Fruit Trees

**Rick** · 03-24-2008, 01:41 PM

When buying fruit trees, check whether they are self-fertilizing or cross-pollinating. Cross-pollinating types need another variety of the same type of fruit nearby so that pollen can be exchanged.

If you plant a cross-pollinating cherry tree on your homestead property and you are 50 miles from the nearest cherry tree, you won't have much luck with cherries!!

**canid** · 03-25-2008, 03:40 AM

i feel that anybody who keeps an orchard [and is not allergic] keep an apiary. after that bumper crop of fruit, there's honey to go with it.

**bulrush** · 03-25-2008, 11:04 AM

Apiary = honey bees right? Not apes?

Will wild bees (the queen) go into an empty homemade nest box? Or do you have to buy a starter queen the first year?

**crashdive123** · 03-25-2008, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by bulrush

Apiary = honey bees right? Not apes?

Will wild bees (the queen) go into an empty homemade nest box? Or do you have to buy a starter queen the first year?

You can buy bee fermone to attract bees to a new or temporary hive. This will attract the swarms, and often, depending on the area that you live, you can get an africanized swarm. A swarm can and will develop into a producing colony. It is difficult to attract a colony to a new hve if they are tending to their brood. To get a productive, honey producing colony I think your best route would be to purchase a colony from an established bee keeper.

**beerrunner13** · 03-25-2008, 05:35 PM

Bees are an excellent idea. Here we have had a bee shortage in my opinion becuse of all the spraying in the groves, but it really affected my grove as we were trying to stay organic. All the old timers that are left here say the bad crops here are becuse of the lack of bees, although the frezzes didn't help. And there is nothing like orange blossem honey. I always wanted to try bee keeping.

**crashdive123** · 03-25-2008, 05:53 PM

Bee populations are actually down in most areas. It's called colony collapse disorder. There are a lot of brainy people getting a lot of grants to study it. I've talked to a couple of entomologists at the Universities of Florida and Georgia about it. There is just no clear cut explanation yet as to why.

Anybody want to fathom a guess as to what happens if all of the bees die off?

**nell67** · 03-25-2008, 05:54 PM

They tried to blame cell phones for killing off the bee's...

**trax** · 03-25-2008, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by nell67

They tried to blame cell phones for killing off the bee's...

Well that's just silly, bees don't even carry cellphones.

I know what happens if all the bees die off because I saw the Bee Movie (see! here's me being an expert!) and man if bees aren't out there pollenating, kiss it goodbye way before your economic collapse, global warming or Junior Shrub can wipe everyone out.....no plants...no oxygen....

only Jerry Seinfeld can save us.

**crashdive123** · 03-25-2008, 06:00 PM

Yeah. Not real good for mankind. Here's a bit of info on it from wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder

**trax** · 03-25-2008, 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by crashdive123

Yeah. Not real good for mankind. Here's a bit of info on it from wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder

Whaddya need wiki for dude? I told you I saw Bee Movie! yeesh, insulting my expertise like that

**crashdive123** · 03-25-2008, 06:04 PM

Um, err, sorry. Haven't seen the Bee Movie - I will bow to their expertise.

**crashdive123** · 03-25-2008, 06:11 PM

Sometimes bees get where they don't belong. This is where the electrical service is coming into a doctors office.
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The hive was in a cinderblock wall, so I wasn't able to save this colony. Sometimes they can be removed and a bee keeper will take them.

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**Rick** · 03-25-2008, 07:28 PM

Trax-How do YOU know bees don't carry cell phones? How do you think they find their way back to the hive? Huh, Huh? GPS, Dude. And inside the hive you'll find...what? cells...that's right. And why cells? You guessed it. Cell phones. Little, tiny friends and family share plan cell phones. I could drone on and on but I'm just busy as a bee at the moment. Now you know.