Still Harvest time

Still collecting apples of the trees this week I collected a couple of kilos of apples various variety's. I am ever so please with this years harvest. Some of the plums aren't doing at well this year. They have maggots in some of them and the wasps are in possession of some of the trees. Its the sugar in the plums that is attracting them. They seem to only like the ripe fruit and sucking out the sugar from the fruit. You can still find some very tasty fruit but you do have to pick them carefully and ensure that its good maggot free. In some cases I have bitten into and only after the second bite realized that a maggot is nesting with the plum.

I'm not sure how to deal with the maggots in the plums, they seems to burrow down to the stone and then eat around it and contaminate the fruit. I have to do some research into this.

I have started the apiguard treatment for the bees, the weather was nice and they didn't seem to mind me going into the hives. I had over the previous weeks seen that they had put lots of honey around the super areas of the hives and they have started to bring it down into the brood boxes.

I had to make some space and placed the apiguard treatment into the hive. I actually bought it from John Madgwick at the Birmingham honey show. I normally use Api Life Var and had changed the product for two reasons. 1st because John didn't have enough Api Life Var and 2nd a slight change to the treatment so that the varroa mites don't get accustom to the treatment.

Lots of mushrooms around on the grass.

The orchard is looking great to me. The place is now looking more like a traditional orchard.

The guys who own a livery are still practicing in the orchard. I have spoken to Chris and he has promised me that if its rained he won't bring any horses into the orchard. His daughter recently had a tournament in abroad which was on grass and they wanted to practice on grass. They are meant to deliver a pile of well rotted manure in the next couple of weeks.