Greetings, First of all i’m writing this message from Turkiye and i’m not a native speaker of English. Sorry for spelling mistakes and bad English. i have been beekeeping for 6 years. My apiary is located right on the edge of a forest, which is highly populated by strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo). Generally this time of the year is the time fort the strawberry trees to blossom, which is and additional polen and nectar source for wintering bees. But yesterday i took a small stroll through the forest and recognised that almost all strawberry trees have failed to blossom. There were no panicles. Apart from the flowers, there were very few fruits and the fruits were rather brownish. In the previous years there used to be more red fruits and thousands of white panicles. But in an other apiary which is nearly 20 kms far from my apiary, the situation was far more different. That apiary is also surrounded by strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo). And the strawberry trees there have blossomed and clear red fruits can be seen. What i want to learn is; why do the strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo) fail to blossom? Though the mentioned regions are close to each other and have similar climate, what other thing may be the cause fort this failure (both flower and fruit)? And later this year, maybe in december, may the strawberry trees blossom? And comment will be highly appreciated? Regards Alper P.S.: i enclose a photo of a strawberry tree that i took with my mobile phone in the forest yesterday. May be this photo may give you an idea about the reason.
Looks like the stand was damaged by something, maybe frost or drought, that it has not grown back all the way from yet.
