Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/473131
38 MARCH 15, 2015 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com Consider for your next planting: • BRUCE PONDER • SUSAN WILKINSON • ADAM WEIL • DAVE WEIL 503-538-2131 • FAX: 503-538-7616 info@treeconnect.com www.treeconnect.com BENEFITS: • Disease tolerant • Cold hardy • Adapts well to all cherry-growing districts • Forms flower buds and comes into bearing quicker than Mazzard with a better distribution of flower buds Now booking orders for 2016 Call Tree Connection: 800-421-4001 Dwarfing Cherry Rootstock Krymsk ® 5 Krymsk ® 6 [cv. VSL-2, USPP 15,723] [cv. LC-52, USPP 16,114] "Krymsk ® 5 and Krymsk ® 6 cherry rootstocks have proven to be the best rootstock for our orchards. They are yield efficient, grow and adapt well, and are cold hardy." —John Morton The Dalles, Oregon the Caucasus Mountains in the Republic of Georgia. There were advantages and disad- vantages to closing the U.S. borders to foreign bees back in 1922. An invasion of tracheal mites, which kill by infesting bees' windpipes, was averted. However, after 1922, variation in the American hon- eybee gene pool declined significantly. Over the years, wild European honeybees remaining in the American South did provide vitally unconven- tional genetic traits bee breeders used to improve American honeybees' adaptive abilities. But a 1987 invasion of varroa mites (Varroa destructor) across the South wiped out the wild bees. The genetic bottleneck was effec- tively sealed. Then, in 2008, the USDA issued the WSU bee geneticists a permit to import bee semen. The Caucasian mountain honeybees have several desirable and adaptive traits the WSU geneticists hope will help American honeybees survive and thrive. The Caucasians are adapted to cold mountain climates; they'll fly in the chilly conditions of early spring in the Pacific Northwest as well as during California's almond bloom. Also, the Caucasians produce huge amounts of propolis from plant resins they collect. Propolis serves these bees as a vital form of self-medication against pathogens. "Bees are agriculture's canary in a coal mine." —Trevor Tauzer