I wouldn;t think blueberry flowers could be effectively pollinated by shaking or even vibrating like tomato. Because of the shape/orientation of the flower, and its pollen is large and sticky, and probably needs to be physical transferred by bees. Yeah, bumblebees and blueberries are a perfect match, I wish there were more native bumblebees around. Maybe Emerald is not self-fertile to any extent. I don;t know, interesting problem.

Thanks Dave. Don't remember you posting here before but sure hope you will again.

I'm just very happy it's the Sweetcrisp that are setting self fertile. They have much better fruit than Emerald. I'll limit Emerald to blooming when I'll have a hive of bumblebees in place.

Fruitnut,

On youtube that guy in Japan (fukuberry) hand pollinates rabbiteyes. He gets a tunning fork, hits it on the table and catches the pollin in a baby food jar and then brushes with a little paint brush to the other flowers. The tunning fork acts like a bumble bee vibration and its looks to be very effective.

blueboy:

Days must be much longer in Japan!!!! OK I know they are very dedicated over there. I'll hand pollinate pluot but not blueberry, you've got to draw the line somewhere!!!

I'm thinking that it's probably not normal for Emerald to need bees for fruit set. I've never seen it before but have had bumblebees most years in the greenhouse. Maybe it's my conditions.

If honeybees don't work others should be concerned. Doubt there are that many bumblebees most places.

LOL, you know I thought the same thing when I saw him doing that! Hes got more time than me!

My Emerald has set fruit since Nov with no bees to speak of but Ive been pulling them off. So far Ive eliminated well over half of the buds. They are still breaking as we speak but I think im going to let them go from here on out. If we have a freeze I will cover it with a big plastic bag and alittle heater. My plant seems to be very much self fertile. Any other conditions you think might be effecting the plant?

Fruitnut did I understand from an earlier post that you purchase bumblebees, where do you buy them?
Dan

Each year as bloom starts I order a class C hive from Hydro Gardens in Colorado Springs. The bees are shipped overnight from MI I think. They have always arrived in good shape. They have lasted 6-8 weeks. Approx cost $150.

It's actually several times more bees than I need, probably 40-60 bees to start. They are very active when young. More are born over time. I usually kill some off and lock them in for part of the day or whole days. I've only been stung a couple times and by males that really wanted out. They want to fly off to mate.

They sell an outdoor hive but it's $300 plus shipping. The one I get could be covered and protected outdoors. Not sure how many would fly off.

Fruitnut, given any thought to growing raspberries in winter in your greenhouse? Your bumblebees could do double duty. Would your area provide enough chilling? Or maybe you could artificially chill. Just a thought, assuming you like raspberries or had a market for them.

Dave:

I could grow winter raspberries in pots and have ordered plants of about 18 varieties. I was thinking of a summer crop on them but a fall/winter crop would be nice. I'm not sure how long into fall the everbearing types would fruit given it would never freeze. That's what I'll find out. And I do have in my head a method of getting chilling in summer using a freezer set at 40-45F if that is needed.

Do raspberries need insect pollination? My blackberries don't.

Raspberries and blackberries don;t technically need insects, but all varieties will benefit with better fruit size, etc. There's seems to be alot of different opinions on this though. Maybe some of that is mistakenly equating 'self-fertile' with 'self-pollinating'. And there's diffs between varieties. I'm sure that some varieties benefit more than others. Probably would want bumblebees in a greenhouse situation. I think that's what's done commercially.

Here is a link that might be useful: rasp pollination

Fruitnut,

Interesting.......they should be self fruitful and if the other two types are setting normally one has to wonder why the Emerald isn't. Are you sure the Emerald got enough chill?

We have a very nice honey bee population here and they completely ignore my BB as well.

Before I forget what would you say you are averaging for buds per limb on the sweetcrisps? My big surprise this year so far is the absolutely nuts number of fruit buds on the Sunshine blues.

Dave:

Thanks for the pollination link. There is also information there on pollination of blueberry, see below. I need to study that more. I think there is info on other fruits as well. Very nice site.

bamboo:

The Emerald is growing like a weed. I'm sure it got enough chilling. It got the same as Sweetcrisp which is setting just fine.

Lack of chilling didn't inhibit fruit set on Jewel. It got almost no chilling and is just now pushing a few new shoots. It's got so much fruit it's getting top heavy, at least 5 lbs fruit on 3 gallons potting media.

My Sweetcrisp have adequate fruit buds, more than expected. It may only be half some others but that's still plenty for me. I'd be expecting at least a cup, maybe two off the very small 7 month old plant and 4-5 lbs off a large second year plant. There is probably more fruit than that.

When I've actually weighed fruit I've been amazed at the total. Last year 18 lbs off a potted Star. That's from about 12 gal potting media. I would have guessed half that.

Here is a link that might be useful: blueberry pollination

Fruitnut, thanks. I think you mentioned that Emerald started flowering a little earlier. Maybe the temp/humidity was any different during those days before the other varieties bloomed. On Emerald, is possible that the flowers that were the earliest to open set less than later ones on the same plants? Assuming there are still some fruit that haven;t aborted, it might be interesting to cut some of the fruits open and count the number of seeds.

Fruitnut,

The reason I asked is as we know the sweetcrisps produce less fruit buds per limb, just one of their traits. Mine are averaging about 4 fruit buds per limb tip..was just curious if that is what you are seeing as well.

bamboo:

My older Sweetcrisp probably averages about 4 big fat fruit buds per twig at this point. It ranges from 2 to 12. The wood I was tipping all summer has less than wood that set a terminal bud early last summer. Blueberries seem to dredge up fruit buds from nowhere later in bloom so there may be more to come. I'm really pleased with the look of the plant as bloom is starting in the greenhouse.

Dave:

The Emerald that isn't setting has been blooming a month and started a few days before Sweetcrisp. So they have mostly bloomed together.