"Expiration Date" on apple blossoms

[bornagain62511]

Hi all, I was just wondering if there is an "expiration date" on apple blossoms, or any fruit blossoms for that matter, if we have cool wet weather while they are in full bloom and the bees are not active to pollinate them? In other words, when blossoms fully open, if they don't get pollinated within a certain number of days, do they "die" or lose their ability to be pollinated and produce fruit? Some of our apple trees have had blossoms in full bloom for almost a week now and all that time the weather has been way too cold, cloudy, and rainy for the bees to even come out of the hives. We have plenty of bees here with about a dozen good hives, but the weather forecast doesn't look like the bees will be working until Wednesday of this week at the earliest. Will the blossoms remain viable if they have been fully opened for a week to 10 days without having been pollinated until we get warmer sunny weather so that the bees can do their work?

thanks

 

[Turkey Creek]

Yes blossoms have a determined life. Weather does play a role to some extent as to how long they are viable. Trees with long periods of bloom (time from when 1st blooms open to when last blooms open) are nice for that reason. I believe I have read that 48 hrs is about the length of time most blossoms are at the peak of fertility. I would say on average many of the varieties where I live have a 7- 10 day bloom period.

 

[Maya]

^^^^ What TC said.

Also keep in mind that in a good established orchard w/ a decent population of bees around, whether they are natives or honey bees, it doesn't take much of a window to pollinate them. I know friends of mine that have big commercial orchards, and have bees trucked in, are just looking for one good hour!

A neighbor of mine has honey bees, but I also have a ton of bumbles and masons. So long as I have a short period of lighter winds, the bumbles and masons are all over my orchards. Honey bees are a little lazier and want more warmth along w/ very light wind too.

 

[bornagain62511]

thanks to both of you!

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I have read somewhere in the past that you can use a feather duster to go around and "dust" the flowers of several trees, and that it does a decent job of transferring the pollen. Has anyone done this? Or would this not work?

 

[Turkey Creek]

^^^^ What TC said.

Also keep in mind that in a good established orchard w/ a decent population of bees around, whether they are natives or honey bees, it doesn't take much of a window to pollinate them. I know friends of mine that have big commercial orchards, and have bees trucked in, are just looking for one good hour!

A neighbor of mine has honey bees, but I also have a ton of bumbles and masons. So long as I have a short period of lighter winds, the bumbles and masons are all over my orchards. Honey bees are a little lazier and want more warmth along w/ very light wind too.

Is the guy with the bumbles and mason bees supplementing his wild population with bought bees? I have looked into it a bit. I typically have a lot of bumble bees around, but they dont seem to be active as early as my trees are blossoming. I have a seen a few mason bees and will probably seriously consider purchasing a small number next year. Conditions rarely seem ideal for honey bees during the apple bloom time here.

Also for the original poster keep in mind you are not looking to turn every blossom into a fruit to do so puts you in a predicament of having to thin fruit then or having small fruit on a biannual producing tree.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I have read somewhere in the past that you can use a feather duster to go around and "dust" the flowers of several trees, and that it does a decent job of transferring the pollen. Has anyone done this? Or would this not work?

I pollinated some with a tiny paint brush and pollen I collected off of some flowering crabapples this year for the reason I just mentioned above. Obviously it works but is not practical for a individual with large numbers of trees. I should have marked the branches that I pollinated by hand to get a feel if I did any better than what occurred naturally, but I did not. You can buy pollen as well, some orchards pollinate by machine now as well.

 

[Apple Junkie]

We've had a long period of cold and rain here in NY while many trees are in full bloom. I had the same worries bornagain did, so it's nice to hear pollination is not likely to suffer too much.

 

[chummer]

We were 55 and pouring rain yesterday. I looked out the window to my apple tree in full bloom and to my surprise a big bumble working every flower.

 

[Knehrke]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. All of the trees were on the tail end of full bloom this weekend, but the weather in WNY has been horrible. The flooding on Lake Ontario is unreal. And I woke up to 35 degrees this morning.

 

[bornagain62511]

after a week of cold rainy windy weather that had the bees all huddled up inside their hives, we've now had a few days of nice sunny warmer weather here in southern Wisconsin, and more to come in the next week. Some of the apple blossoms are at peak bloom, but many are still just starting to open and will be at full bloom over the next week. Here's a post with some photos and video of our farm and apple trees http://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/apple-trees-in-bloom.7463/#post-141364