Review: Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis

Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis by Rowan Jacobsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had heard about colony collapse disorder before reading this book. I knew that the bees would disappear from the hive with no trace. That is about all I knew. Its was so interesting to read about the investigation into colony collapse disorder. I thought that there would be an identified cause. Maybe there is now but, not when this book was written. If I were a beekeeper and my bees disappeared without a trace that would scare me.
For me this book was a page turner. I liked reading about Kirk Webster and how he went from using chemicals to breeding Russian honey bees. I also enjoyed the appendix about some beekeepers using 4.9 millimeter cells instead of 5.4 millimeter cells. In that same appendix the author wrote about Dennis Murrell and how he used top bar hives and had less Verroa mites and diseases such as chalkbrood or was it Nosema or was it diseases. The discussion about California almond orchards was also interesting.
I was not sure that this book would be that interesting to read when I got it to read. After reading Fruitless fall I can say for certain that I am glad I read it. Bees are amazing.

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