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LinkedInPosts Tagged: almond pollination season
Hear That Buzz? Almond Pollination Season Is Approaching
Hear that buzz? California almond pollination season is approaching. The season usually begins around Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, but we usually see the first-of-the-year almond blooms in mid-January in a hot spot near the Benicia marina. That's where we saw them on Jan. 23, but they've...
An almond blossom graces an area near the Benicia marina on Jan. 23, 2021. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee packing her pollen on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, before returning to her hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bee hives in front of an almond orchard on March 8, 2019 in Dixon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
California's Almond Pollination Season: Just Buzzin'
Did you hear that buzz in California's almond orchards? It takes about two colonies per acre to pollinate California's 1.2 million acres of almonds. That's about 2.5 million bee colonies trucked here from throughout the country. And now the 2020 almond pollination season, which began around...
A honey bee pollinating an almond tree on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Up over and around...a honey bee circles an almond blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bottoms up! A honey bee foraging on an almond blossom on an older tree on Bee Biology Road. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Meet the President of the American Honey Producers
January is cold in Bruce, S.D., where the average nighttime temperature dips to 3 degrees. Beekeeper Kelvin Adee, who hails from Bruce, isn't experiencing any of that right now. He's in California--and so are his bees for the almond pollination season. Adee is the president of the American...
Beekeepers are gearing up for the California almond polination season, which usually starts around Feb. 14. Here, in this file photo, an industrious bee forages on an almond blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Not Just Honey Bees Pollinate Almonds
It's beginning to look a lot like...almond pollination season in California. Almonds usually begin blooming around Valentine's Day, but it's often earlier, depending on where you look or live. Take Benicia, Solano County. Its little hot spots near the Carquinez Strait--think trees growing near...
A yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, forages on almond blossoms in Benicia, Calif., on Feb. 2. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, peers up at the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Flight of the bumble bee. This is a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Coming right at you! Bombus vosnesenskii departs one blossom to find another. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Five Reasons Why All This Rain Is Bad for Almond Pollination Season
It's not a good time to be a California almond grower or a beekeeper. And it's definitely not a good time to be a honey bee. The wind-whipped storms that are ravaging California are wreaking havoc on the state's almond pollination season, says honey bee guru Eric Mussen, Extension apiculturist...
During a sun break on Feb. 12, 2017, a pollen-laden honey bee heads for more almond blossoms in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Adjusting her load of pollen, a honey bee buzzes toward another almond blossom on Feb. 12 in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee with "saddlebags" of pollen foraging in an almond tree on Feb. 12 in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
