I got this brief email from an old friend in Kahala. We’ve been friends since our days at Kahala Elementary School.
He dropped a bag with a few mangoes for us over the weekend. We were in Kaaawa, but he left them by the front door. When I emailed to thank him, I mentioned our meager mango crop this year. We only got a handful of mangoes from one tree, none from the other.
This was his reply:
This was a weird mango year. Tree full of blossoms and not a single honey bee. Used to be that you could hear the buzzing, but this year nothing. So smaller crop.
I called the bee hotline and was informed that the wild hives have been eradicated. Guess we took wild bees for granted.
Yes, we certainly did.
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Eradicated? Who would do such a thing? It makes places like Kamilonui Valley, where at least one farmer is putting in special area for bees, even more important.
Our lilikoi vines which used to produce huge quantities of fruit are no longer being pollinated … this year so far 2 tiny fruits. Even the carpenter bees have disappeared!
The same bee hotline told me last year that a number of the wild hives were infected with the varroa mite & such so they had to be eradicated or at least not allowed to spread to the human-managed hives.
Apparently mangoes are not strictly reliant upon bees for their pollination.
“Flower fertilization is highly successful when night conditions remain mild, preferably above 55 degrees. Pollinators flourish in warm temperatures, but the common bee is not a main mango tree helper. In fact, flies, wasps, moths and even ants help pollinate mango flowers. As they visit each flower, their bodies become covered in pollen. The grains work their way into other flowers as insects continue their nectar-seeking travels. Their movements on the flowers also enhance self-pollination on the perfect flowers — mango trees use both cross- and self-pollination techniques for successful fruiting. For a high fruit yield, plant two mango trees within 200 feet of one another for busy insect activity and pollen transport.”