Blossom update 6th May

We are literally in the hands of Nature at present. To date the hands have been unusually favourable for the fruit trees. Just one problem, lack of insect activity.

April having been relatively dull and damp has slowed down the activities of hive bees, in particular, also insects generally are few and far just now – unusual for Crapes. Some Bumble bees are working around the edges of the orchard – they don’t mind an element of damp or chilliness not tolerated by hive bees. In recent days temperatures have shown an upward trend in between some hefty showers.

Fortunately we grow a wide range of varieties here and so the blossoming overlaps/coincides amongst them. We also have a considerable range of aged trees, not to mention a range of rootstocks. Our Cox on EMLA 9 have just a few king flowers open, whereas the old Cox on MM106, now over sixty years old are approaching full bloom.

James Grieve and Egremont Russet pollinate the EMLA 9 Cox but have blossomed ahead so their usefulness has been minimised. This morning we gave dotted around some tubs of water with specially cut branches of blossom at a similar stage,as bouquets, to boost pollination during the next few days. Worcester Pearmain has been used for this.

This humidity will help the multiplication of many insects, other than bees. Some have a short lifespan of just days or hours but providing they are nectar or pollen seekers that is all to the good!

There are plenty of wild flowers between the trees at the moment, dandelion, speedwell, forget ne not, daisies and more. There are also prunings waiting to be pulverised as the land was too soft during April for using a tractor. Now we will wait until after blossom, giving priority to every insect just now.

Kidd’s Orange Red

Well open blossom of James Grieve in immediate foreground with EMLA Cox immediately behind. Discovery top right.