Dear Apis-L Subscribers:

I have made it to Aix-en-Provence for the start of my sabbatical. It is cold now and the bees are still in their hives waiting for the first warm weather. Some almonds are blooming which mean the pollination season will soon be nigh. I attended the annual meeting of the two GRAPPS (Groupement des Apiculteurs Pollinisateurs Professionels) Midi-Pyrenées and Mediterranée as they were briefed by Dr. Bernard Vaissiere and colleagues at the INRA (French equivalent of USDA ARS) research station in Avignon on pollination research. I reported on the activities and makeup of these groups in the October 1995 APIS. My French may not have been totally up to the task of getting the most out of themeeting but here is what I got out of this information. First, there is a lot of research going on with Kiwi fruit pollination. Although it requires buzz pollination, the fruit definitely is helped by honey bee foraging. The kiwi market has been really dominated by Italian growers; when French growers got into it, the price dropped considerably. Thus, kiwi groing is not an expanding enterprise any more in France.

Research on Pollinuse, a product here that is a pheromone based (nassanoff pheromone) attractant did not provide more significant bee activity or pollination increase on melons; this parallels other research I have reported in July 1995 APIS on these materials. They are usually not effective unless some "pollination problem" exists. Research on strawberry and pear pollination is also continuing. Finally, bee activity in greenhouses was discussed. It seems that there is no common factor here; some bees work really well in greenhouses, but others do not. Research is continuing.

A concern of mine is that all of a sudden I am seeing traffic on the Apis-L list which is not related either to the APIS newsletter or its content. The general questions and answers I am seeing on equipment availability and other issues should be put to the Bee-L list. Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.

Tom Sanford

©1997