At the mercy of the climate
The orchards are full of blossom at the moment and bees (hopefully) are busy. But all may not be well with the threat from too few pollinators and climate change
The orchards are full of blossom at the moment and bees (hopefully) are busy. But all may not be well. I have just watched a Countryfile Spring report on fruit trees, pollinators and the threat of climate change. The item resonated with me as we have a chapter on orchards in the Climate Change Garden book and it’s not good news. Our fruit trees are so dependent on insects to pollinate their blossom and there is such a narrow window of opportunity – it’s just a week of so for insects to find and pollinate the flowers before they die, so wind and rain at the wrong time means the pollinators are not out. Or it could be that the blossom opens too soon before the bees are active and this is happening a lot. As we see earlier springs, the chances of a mis-match between blossom and bees increases. The result – less home-grown fruit from the UK, more imports and more costly food.
But there’s another problem. Fruit trees are put in pollination groups, from early to late flowering so when you p…
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