Comparison of the Importance of Insect and Wind Pollination of Apple Trees

Abstract

MOST workers conclude that wind plays little or no part in pollinating fruit trees^1,2. However, the early methods used to collect air-borne pollen in orchards were probably very inefficient³, and Burchill⁴, using a volumetric spore trap⁵, found much apple pollen in the air of orchards containing Cox's Orange Pippin and Bramley's Seedling. Moreover, although the rapid decreases in fruit set with increase in distance from pollinizer varieties which sometimes occur in fruit orchards^6,7 were to be expected from investigations on bee behaviour⁸, similar decreases occur in wind-pollinated crops^9,10. The work recorded here attempts to determine the relative importance of insect and wind pollination of apple trees.