California Honey Bee Sampling 2010 Gigapan #2 by Dennis vanEngelsdorp

Image by Mike Andree and Rob Snyder

This panorama is of another honey bee holding yard in California. Beekeepers like the one that owns the hives in this image descend on the San Joaquin Valley each year for pollination services in almond orchards. The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton. Although most of the valley is rural, it does contain urban cities and suburbs such as Fresno, Bakersfield, Visalia, Stockton, Tulare, Porterville, Turlock, Hanford, Modesto, Madera, Atwater and Merced.

Although the almonds do not start blooming until the end of January, beekeepers from colder regions of the country will bring them to holding yards like this one to over winter until the bloom begins, at which time they sytematically move their bees by the truckload into the orchards. This particular beekeeper told us he had put 156 truckloads of bees within a six mile radius of this site. 156 truckloads of bees translates to 72,000 honey bee colonies. 80% of the worlds almonds are produced in California.

Because of the huge demand for a moveable pollination force in California for the almond bloom it is an ideal place to conduct disease and pest surveys. This is because with one trip to the San Joaquin Valley during the almond bloom scientists can look at bees from states across the country. The survey we are conducting here aims to survey diseases and pests before, during, and after the almonds bloom.

I do have to say that this was a memorable monday...with very little sleep over the last couple of days Rob and I were starting to wonder if maybe we had a little too much fun at the Gigapan Conference? Nah...onto the next apiary!!!

for more on the sampling trip see California Honey Bee Sampling 2010 Gigapan #3