I live in Oregon on the banks of a river festooned with blackberry bushes, and I raise tomatoes, melons and roses. This year was horrible when it came to bees pollinating my plants...there were virtually none flying around, maybe ten or fifteen compared to literally hundreds and hundreds in years past.
Ed
[This year was horrible when it came to bees pollinating my plants...there were virtually none flying around, maybe ten or fifteen compared to literally hundreds and hundreds in years past.]
Interesting.
There were bees all over my yard and the nearby hills. My first observation is that there are no virtually no commercial agricultural operations nearby where I live.
I've thought about putting out a hive; but I don't want to increase competition for the wild bees - and especially don't want to introduce a bee-born pathogen into their, apparently healthy, environment.