How to Pollinate Apple Trees Without Bees
Bees are important for the pollination of many foods. Two honeybee hives can pollinate a whole apple orchard. But the bee population is declining because of insecticide use and a mystery "bee disease" that researchers are still trying to identify. Growers are scrambling to find another way to pollinate their crops in the absence of bees. Though many rent hives, some are testing other methods. Even though they aren't as effective as bees, these methods are better than losing all your crops. Since apples cannot grow without pollinating the fruit trees, if you don't have access to bees, try these methods. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Encourage wasps and flies to live near your trees. They pollinate apple trees. Bats, birds and butterflies may also assist in pollination.
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Choose self-pollinating rather than cross-pollinating trees. Apple trees need another type of apple or crabapple tree nearby to pollinate with in order to bear fruit. Now you can buy apple trees that have branches of another type grafted to the tree. The live branches in these self-pollinating trees can cause them to bear fruit.
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Hand pollinate your trees. You will need a lot of help, so you might have to hire some people if you don't have enough volunteers. You'll need 20 to 25 people to pollinate apples in 1 day. Anthers are picked from the flowers when they are partly open and dried by spreading them out in the sun for a few days until the pollen grains are released. The pollen grains are stored in a cool, dry place. You have 3 days to use them. Mix them with skim milk powder or a little white flour. Within 2 days after the main variety of flowers open, apply the pollen grain mixture to the flowers with the filter side of a cigarette or a pencil eraser. Repeat 3 times in each season to make sure late flowers are pollinated.
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Count on the wind for some pollination for trees that are close to each other. Though many people don't believe the wind plays a part in pollinating apple trees, a lot of apple pollen was found in the air of some orchards in a study done by R. T. Burchill. (Burchill, R. T., Rep. E. Mailing Res. Sta. for 1962, 109, 1963) (Hirst, J. M., Ann.App. Biology, 39, 251, 1952)
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Try battery machine pollination or spray machine pollination. Hand pollination was found to be more effective than either in studies done in Japan, but not as much labor was needed. (Journal Title: Bulletin of the Akita Fruit-Tree Experiment Station, Vol.:NO 27, Page 1-13, 2001.)
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