Cherry Tree Disease

Bees surprise passers-by, swarm on downtown Portland tree

A swarm of honeybees followed its queen Thursday to a branch of a cherry tree outside the Pacwest Center at the corner of Southwest Fifth Avenue and Madison Street.

The collective drew curious humans who watched the cluster grow on the tree branch from nothing to about 2 feet long inside five minutes.

The swarm hung over the Fifth Avenue sidewalk right near the MAX stop, so low that more than one skateboarder rolling by just missed getting a face full o' bees.

Carver beekeeper Deb Wheelbarger said the bees are doing what comes naturally.

"They are trying to further the species," she said. "It's perfectly normal behavior. They're trying to increase the size of the population."

Wheelbarger explained that when a hive becomes overcrowded, the queen will produce another queen to rule the hive.

Then the old queen takes 60 percent of the hive population and leaves in search of a home.

The queen will alight somewhere and the followers form a "bee ball" around her.  

This condition simplifies the task of collecting the swarm, Wheelbarger said. "I would shake them into a box, so that they would rain down into the bottom of the box, or I would clip the branch and bring them home."

The U.S. bee population is in critical condition, because of diseases such as colony collapse that have wiped out all the wild hives in the country. "The only bees around now are 'managed' bees," or bees that are tended by a keeper, Wheelbarger said.

Where I stood, trying to help a cherry tree - Leannderthal

You are correct that the sprouts, or epicormic branches, are signs of stress! The curled leaves are most likely from an insect, but not the ladybird beetles (the orange spotted ones in the last photo). Those leaf-curing insects may be the carriers of a particular cherry tree disease, or they may be there because the tree is stressed from disease/nutrient/or water deficiency. I’ll be in town on Friday, perhaps Ben and I could stop by and have a look?

So sad – I have a rot problem with our large apricot tree. My friend, who is a landscaper, mentioned there may be something to put in the soil…I didn’t pursue it… I don’t like putting stuff around in the ground where wildlife is and I didn’t plant the tree. Wish we lived closer, cause I don’t do much with my cherries since moving here and we have tons if you used them.

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