Do You Recognize This?

Do you know a bee truck when you see one? 

Most motorists on California's roads don't realize they are following tens of thousands of "livestock" that create that critical link between flowers and fruit!

Project Apis m's most-watched video is "Transporting

Bees to California." Click here to watch the video.

More growers of our pollinated crops realize bees are live animals and require care in order to do their job. Blooming flowers mean bees are needed, but for the grower, it often may mean bloom sprays are

Project Apis m. enrolled 150 almond growers in our 'Seeds for Bees' Project in Fall, 2014.  Those growers planted 3,000 acres of forage for honey bees, targeting pre- and post- almond bloom flowers to cover those periods when bees have little to eat.  Over the years, we've found that members of the Brassica family are ideal for pre- almond bloom, producing many highly attractive flowers per square foot of planted ground.  After bloom, clovers work well as they feed bees and fix nitrogen in the soil.   We'll show our clover pictures in our April and May enewsletters.

We Hit the Target This Year!

A combination of distributing seeds earlier and a little rain at the right time has resulted in acres and acres of Brassica's blooming prior to almonds.  This is helping bees over that hump when little food is available prior to almond bloom.  There's nothing like natural sources of pollen and nectar.  Supplements can't possibly provide all that a bee needs.  If you are an almond grower and have some between-row or perimeter areas where you can plant PAm Mustard Mix, email ProjectApis@gmail.com, and we'll get your name on the list for Fall, 2015 plantings.  Get those bees to stick around your orchard for almond bloom rather than wearing out their wings looking for food or going to your neighbor's orchard!

Buds and Bloom

This is what we'd like to see more of - Brassica's blooming prior to almonds to begin building bees for almond pollination (background yellow).  The almond tree branch in the foreground has buds that will be ready for bees in a week or so.  This is a winning combination for healthy productive bees for crop pollination!