With summer weather finally putting in an appearance the annual battle of bees has begun. The Lewisias are in full bloom and that means pollen for me and pollen and nectar for the bees. While the bees can harvest at random and flit from plant to plant unto anything that takes their fancy, I have to be more selective.
Lucky for me the mornings are still cool and the bees do not start until there is some warmth in the air, so I have no problem in beating them to the flowers. It does mean getting up at 5.30 am though, which is a little earlier than I normally rise. The flowers or coarse do not open until the sun is up, but by emasculating the flowers that does not cause much of a problem, and it also has the advantage of fooling the bees. The nectar guides are always on the petals, and when the petals are removed the bees cannot see where the nectar is and ignore the flower, therefor leaving the stigma unpollinated.
The secret of success it to remove the anthers from the flower that has been selected for the seed parent so that it will not self-pollinate. This I usually do with the aid of a small pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass. If the plant is self-sterile the removal of the anthers is not really necessary. I usually put the pollen from the seed parent into a small box to use on other plants as I have lots of different combinations going on at any one time. To help combat the problem of the bees I remove all plants that are not required for seed parents to the other alpine house. That means that if I am quick enough and get all the anthers removed before the pollen ripens, then there is nothing in the hybridising house to pollinate the plants. That doesn't mean that the bees cannot fly from one house to the other, for they are only six feet apart, but it does cut the odds a little.
I do have mesh on the door but they can still fly in through the ventilators, when they do not see any Lewisia flowers with petals they usually ignore the lot.
