# Bees no Longer Required to Pollinate Almonds.



## Shouse (Jul 1, 2010)

Well it has been a good ride, but it appears that bees are no longer required to pollinate almonds. :ws:

Take a look at the latest new method to pollinate almonds!

visit: www.pollen-tech.com and watch the video of how your bees are going to be replaced. 

Well it's time to go fishing!


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Shouse said:


> Well it has been a good ride, but it appears that bees are no longer required to pollinate almonds. :ws:
> 
> Take a look at the latest new method to pollinate almonds!
> 
> ...


Interesting. I wonder where they found "over 200 acres" to test of almonds that don't have any bees nearby to interfere with the testing though.


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## Shouse (Jul 1, 2010)

jwcarlson said:


> Interesting. I wonder where they found "over 200 acres" to test of almonds that don't have any bees nearby to interfere with the testing though.


Very Good Observation! 

There were only over 1.6 million hives in the area during that time of the year!


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

This reminds me of another fad - hype bandwagon that blew through several years ago.
Maybe some of you that were pollinating almonds about 10 years ago will remember this:
Anyway, I returned to California to start loading bees out of almonds and to my shock and surprise, every hive entrance had this really goofy 1" x 1" notched reducer looking thing in place.
I really don't like people messing with my hives and that is CLEARLY spelled out in our contract. 
So I called my grower and asked what the ?????
He had stumbled onto some company that sold bags of pollen and entrance reducers that you poured pollen into each morning so that the bees had to crawl through the pollen in order to fly to the blooms.
I later learned that the system was VERY EXPENSIVE, and the grower could have just rented more hives for less money and hassle.
Fortunately, that fad passed, at least in my region down there.


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

Just sounds like another "non beekeeper" trying to cash in on the almond pollination sweepstakes.


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## Ben Little (Apr 9, 2012)

Interesting enough they have Comb as a background on their webpage and say they are better than bees in the video...


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## Shouse (Jul 1, 2010)

Ben Little said:


> Interesting enough they have Comb as a background on their webpage and say they are better than bees in the video...


That is TOOOOO funny! :banana: Another very good Observation!


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## JWChesnut (Jul 31, 2013)

The webpage says they get pollen from Firman Pollen.
This is same company that makes the square entrance pollen dusters
Viz: http://www.firmanpollen.com/Insert To Do.htm

Look at the pricing chart just for the pollen: http://www.firmanpollen.com/pricing.html

The use case might be unusual spring weather that washes the pollinator variety off the tree, while leaving the target crop flowers unaffected. Don't see it replacing hives on a wholesale basis under non-exceptional conditions.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Did anyone notice during his narration that he mentioned only 1 farmer that had went with their solution. Seems to me maybe this farmer didn't have the cash for bees and went for this instead. Probably a field trial to verify that it would work. Most likely a free service to the farmer....


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## Shouse (Jul 1, 2010)

HarryVanderpool said:


> This reminds me of another fad - hype bandwagon that blew through several years ago.
> 
> He had stumbled onto some company that sold bags of pollen and entrance reducers that you poured pollen into each morning so that the bees had to crawl through the pollen in order to fly to the blooms.
> 
> Fortunately, that fad passed, at least in my region down there.


Harry,

That guy still has a booth each year at the Almond Board Conference. He must get takers because he keeps coming back every year. I spoke to him and he say's he guarantees 900 pounds EXTRA per acre. ???


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## loggermike (Jul 23, 2000)

I found those in one orchard a few years back. Figured it was some kind of experiment to increase production. Since it didn't seem to be doing any harm , I let it slide. I figured if the farmer wanted to screw around the entrances of those extra strong, extra pissy hives, he would learn something!


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

Maybe we should have our own booth this year at the Almond Board Conference and convince them that the pollen does a much better job when placed INSIDE the hive?
We can have Keith there as our representative......


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## Blackwater Bees (May 7, 2012)

"The test is conducted on almonds Prunus dulcis that are pollinated with honeybees Apis mellifera 1.75 hives per acre and nine frames of bees per hive."

Double dipping.


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

HarryVanderpool said:


> Maybe we should have our own booth this year at the Almond Board Conference and convince them that the pollen does a much better job when placed INSIDE the hive?
> We can have Keith there as our representative......


Now were loggen, put some Nutra Bee in there, but then we would have a surplus of bees.


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## merince (Jul 19, 2011)

Soooo, how do they get the pollen?


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## tommyt (Aug 7, 2010)

merince said:


> Soooo, how do they get the pollen?


Sundance pollen trap via the bees down the road:thumbsup:


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