With climate change and the decline of honey bees, Northwest farmers are looking for more reliable ways to pollinate cherry and apple trees.
Washington State University scientist Matt Whiting recently sprayed “bee goo” on rows of tightly-trellised cherry trees north of Pasco, Washington.?
Bee goo is tree pollen kept suspended and alive in a proprietary liquid. The viscous droplets are slightly charged when they leave the tractor sprayer so the goo sticks better to the pin-head-sized stigmas -- the blooms’ receptors. ?
“If you were to add a few additional pounds per tree of fruit in here, the potential returns would be tremendous,” Whiting said.
The science team will have to wait until early June to count cherries and find out how they did.
