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Syndicate
Years ago I was stung four times around my left ear while walking to work in the bush one morning. My ear throbbed all day long in 90 degree heat. I realized later that my smart ass ubervisor stirred up a nest of them about three minutes ahead of me. And I was the one who suffered the blowback. It was a sword operation I'll never forget. I got him back though. He went to work the next morning with a dead battery for his walkie talkie and no tetra juice packs! Ha!
On about the 1st October, it was a hot day and green bees were out in numbers. Fairly large with bright green abdomens. Lots of them were going between a crack between 2 concrete slabs. Maybe to hibernate together? Not that many flowers left now. It is interesting because about 10 ft away is the place where the digger bees have their biggest nesting area. Perhaps something in the soil attracts them? Easy to burrow or something. It just illustrates the successional thing again for me. Different species come out depending on the time of year. And all are needed.
On a very serious note, Bayer has being caught redhanded directing research (and researchers) away from the clear pesticide link to colony collapse disorder.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/08/news/honey_bees_ny_times.fortune/index.htm
A very strong case of he who pays the piper.
as the wax melts...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzg1PO_WKMU
I have this huge bush shrub in my yard which grows and spreads like crazy. Not sure what is exactly, only that it's related to bamboo. For the most part it's quite annoying as it needs constant chopping to keep it from taking over some paths. I had been debating trying to get rid of most of it until it flowered this year. It flowers late and is nothing special in terms of human asthetics but holy heck it's a pollinators banquet. As I approached it one day a buzzing filled they air. It was loud! On closer inspection it was full of insects. Bumblebees, commercial honeybees, wild honey bees and numerous others that I know are types of bees. I counted over a dozen different types insects and a few that I've never seen before. I've never seen such a variety of flying critters on just one type of plant.
I won't be getting rid of it now.
Sounds like it could be japanese knotweed. Great story!
Ugh. Yep that looks like what it is. Great. Now I get to decide between an noxious invasive vs a bee banquet plant. Looks like it's tons of trouble to eradicate it too.
...or replace it with something else that they love.
They love my whole property it's full of seasonal succession of wildflowers already so I guess I won't worry about it that much. Been doing some more reading about this plant and it looks like unless I go on some sort of full on chemical warfare strategy it's not going anywhere anyways. Especially since I avoid chemicals anyways and most if not all of the chemical that will get rid of it are now illegal. So I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and keep it cut back. Looks like the spring shoots are edible too so I may try snacking on it as well.
@ ElizaQ
THat's why I like milkweed. It pops seeds all over the place, but it is easy to control with a hoe, and I am still surprised that I managed to eradicate my sunchoke patch with just a shovel.
I have not been so lucky with other things, like my west coast nightshade, and it took three years to control my valerian, which I am now careful to top when it goes to seed.
(edit)
and I am not sure if I said so already upthread, but it has been an okay year for bees (all over our sunflowers) but no wasps and only a handful of hornets, which is very strange.
This is pretty ironic. Here you are eradicating sunchokes and controlling valerian where I'm planning a large sunchoke patch for next year and plant valerian all over the place. :D Did you ever eat your sunchokes? They a great perennial veggie that is actually gaining in popularity because it easily multiplies and care for. Just kind of does it's thing and you get food.
As for milkweed I have about half and acre of it along with Joe Pye Weed and Boneset. In the summer it's butterfly central. Last year I planted some swamp milkweed which is native to this area as well.
Oh yes, that's why I put it there, and I like it.
I just re-thought it because I wasn't getting enough food out of it for the space it was taking up, I found the stalks hard to compost, and it is very invasive, and was right in the middle of the best spot in my garden. Plus, I have an urban lot, so space is at a premium.
And valerian is great, although as I am sure you know it is best against a fence because it has a tendency to blow down, and it spreads like crazy if you let it go to seed, and the roots are hell to get out.
And yes, I have a couple of patches of Joe Pye. Odd that it doesn't spread because it sure makes a lot of seed.
Ah okay that makes sense. :) I don't have an issue with space so my future sunchoke patch can just have at it. I'm putting it in it's own area.
My valerian grows to enormous size (everything does here) so I do have it against a fence. I also have it along a path where I walk because I love the smell and the bees go crazy for it when it flowers. I've never had a problem with the roots though (I dig them for medicine) so maybe it's just a difference in the soil where it's planted. Most of my soil is really good and friable and pretty much anything comes up really easily.
More about Bayer and their assault on science, bees and food production is at
http://www.businessinsider.com/colony-collapse-disorder-still-unsolved-l...
Science if pathetic sometimes. Everything has to be proved 100% (even though that is not possible in science). The new nicotine like insecticides were brought in just before the bees started disappearing but there is still no proof that the nerve poison that causes bees to lose their sense of direction is causing the bees to lose their sense of direction! Even the bayer sponsered bee expert notices "drunk" behaviour from the bees.
(Which is one characteristic of insects poisoned with this nerve poison).
Are ordinary people that stupid? If it was a jury, wouldn't Bayer executives be sent to prison on circumstantial evidence?
Wouldn't Bayer be fined for the environmental catastrophy they are causing? People are afraid to comment because it has not been proven?
Well guess what folks, that is the nature of science. Nothing is ever proven 100%
Sometimes we will have to accept 90% as proof enough. and we need to act real quick. Agriculture uses (and likes) these things because they kill insects really well. People need to get off their backsides and lobby now.
The University of Montana and the Army have determined that there are 2 factors involved in colony collapse disorder.
They deliberately chose not to look at pesticide links. And my link noted that the 2 "Factors" predated ccd by at least a decade.
Well, your response shows that you didn't read my link. Victory for the propagandists.
People from percy Smeiser's organization were telling me about the new insecticide link about 3 years ago. And the bee keeper organizations are certain about it too. Germany and France have banned some of the insecticides after sudden catostraphic loss of bees happened at the same time as the insecticides were introduced. This is not brain surgery. Some beekeepers refuse to use their bees with certain blueberry farmers due to the insecticides that they use. Because when they did, the bees flew away and never came back.
You fire the gun (introduction of that insecticide), a couple of weeks later, bees fly away and never come back, and there is MYSTERY?
It is plain as day what is causing the CCD.
There is a general bee decline that has been going on for years (This is part of a decline of all insect types). However the bees flying out and getting lost is due to the neurotoxin in the insecticide. The company is trying to link the general decline to the new "bee getting lost" decline. There is no link. Bees getting lost is due to the effects of the new insecticides.
"In 2006, once thriving bee colonies across America suddenly vanished, leaving behind empty beehives. The bodies of the bees were never found. Scientists soon gave a name to the mysterious phenomenon: colony collapse disorder (CCD)
From 2006 to 2009, over one-third of beekeepers reported colonies collapsing accompanied by a “lack of dead bees," according to a survey conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA)."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/colony-collapse-disorder-still-unsolved-lead-researcher-had-connections-to-bayer-2010-10#ixzz12JUA67x1
Yup, my bad, I jumped the gun.
Some literary criticism: your breathless writing style lead me to respond without reading. Entirely my fault, but I was lead into temptation.
For plant information and sources see
North American Native Plant Society
http://www.nanps.org
For local groups and local information click on
resources, then native plant societies
For seed and plant sources, click on
sources, then other sources.
Consider joining nanps.
And don't forget http://www.xerces.org
The book "Butterflies of Canada" has information on preferred food plants for species. Many libraries have it.
In general, wild strains of plants will be better nectar and pollen sources than cultivars. Flower cultivars are selected to put more energy/resources into bigger, longer-lasting, gaudier, more profuse flowers. Something has to give.
Sorry, I didn't even know I had a writing style. Anyway, I am just an amateur blasting off against Bayer. (Who have an overwhelming amount of money for their PR and disinformation department). I am on a bee buzz this year and the cob and stem bee houses has been super successful for me and it has spread. I think the new insecticides will kill all those thousands of species of native bees too and hardly anyone will even notice until they are all gone. They are struggling way more than honey bees.
It totally is the kind of thing that demands profound outrage, but I do understand how it that outrage head-on can be confounding even for those who aren't just your average canola oil eater. Many people I talk to are just shocked to learn there are bees that live in the ground rather than large wax balls suspended from a tree....Thus the original post that simply focused on the awe inspiring aspects of the bee world.
I think what he's saying is that anything unrelated to elephants is irrelephant.
Von frisc showed bees have a long term memory and could see in colour. Before this I believe it was doubted in the scientific community that most invertebrates were capable of these feats let alone such minuscule invertebrates. It represented a veritable revolution in thinking at the time.
And it's still been fairly revolutionary for me to be confronted in a very physical way with the uniqueness of the bee's experience of things because it serves as a constant reminder how limited my own experience of things is.
It's all for the love of honey.
http://planbeecentral.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/new-dutch-study-links-imd...
"Imidacloprid is the most widely used insecticide in the world and Bayer´s best-selling pesticide (2009 sales: €606 million). The substance is often used as seed-dressing, especially for maize, sunflower and rapeseed. The beginning of the marketing of imidacloprid coincided with the occurrence of large bee deaths, first in France, later on also in many other European countries, Canada, the US and Brazil.
After huge bee mortality in Germany in 2008 which was shown to be caused by neonicotinoid pesticides the Coalition against Bayer Dangers accused the Bayer management of downplaying the risks of imidacloprid, submitting deficient studies to authorities and thereby accepting huge losses of honey bees in many parts of the world."
"Dr. Henk Tennekes on his results: “The risks of the neonicotinoid insecticides imidacloprid and thiacloprid to arthropods in water and soil may be seriously underestimated. The acceptable limits are based mainly on short-term tests. If long-term studies were to be carried out, far lower concentrations may turn out to be hazardous. This explains why minute quantities of imidacloprid may induce bee decline in the long run.” Because of their high persistence significant quantities of neonicotinoids may remain in the soil for several years. Consequently, untreated plants growing on soil previously exposed to imidacloprid may take up the substance via their roots and become hazardous for bees".
First thing. Some AMAZING news about a type of digger wasp! (If confirmed but it looks very likely to be correct).
I have to say that the article is heavy reading .
In plain english- INSECT PHOTOSYNTHESIS!
And not only that, photosysthesis without chlorophyl!
These little digger wasps have a structure on their backs that does a version of photosynthisis! to augment the energy from their food
but instead of chlorophyl they use Xanthopterin
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9254000/9
My thing about building your own bee houses from cob, raspberry canes, etc is at
http://www.instructables.com/id/Save-the-bees-from-extinction-You-CAN-do... It is a collaboration so feel free to make it better.
It has been very successful and as far as I know, people have started this on 3 continents.
Someone from an organization linked to Percy Smeiser told me that nicotine related chemicals were killing bees about 3 years ago.
Now the proof that they knew it would kill bees but they released it anyway. I am pretty surprised that nobody beat me to this.
I guess we really do not care about our environment. I wonder if it is killing us too?
http://animals.change.org/blog/view/wikileaks_uncovers_government_bee_ki...
This evidence online against Beyer is mounting up in such a way that it's probably best practice to point to neonicotinoids used in agriculture as one of the most significant causes of the bee die-offs.
On a more positive note. Our urban beekeeping co-op collected about 1000lbs of honey(skip to 25:50) this year or 50lbs a hive from wild-flowers and residential gardens in an area where pesticides are mostly banned. Our bees seem to be doing quite well.
From the link below
"That's disingenuous at best. Bayer has already admitted that the misapplication of clothianidin was responsible for killing two-thirds of beekeepers' bees in the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany". Read it again! A chemical that is applied to seeds that get put under the ground killed 2/3 of the beehives in Baden-Württemberg in spring 2008 but Bayer is claiming that they are not killing bees in the USA. Thats how quick. 3 months 2/3 of the bees gone from one chemical! And thats a state that is half the size of Ireland that includes the very large black forest. Thats trees with virtually no agriculture. And they STILL managed to kill 2/3 of the bees in 3 months! With a seed treatment.
Thanks to wikileaks for the info that the US EPA passed the chemical for USA use without it having passed its tests.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1710746/bayer-our-bee-toxic-pesticide-is-actu...
Bees in Free Fall
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/04-10
"The abundance of four common species of bumblebee in the US has dropped by 96% in just the past few decades, according to the most comprehensive national census of the insects. Scientists said the alarming decline, which could have devastating implications for the pollination of both wild and farmed plants, was likely to be the result of disease and low genetic diversity in bee populations."
"Scientists said the alarming decline, which could have devastating implications for the pollination of both wild and farmed plants, was likely to be the result of disease and low genetic diversity in bee populations."
"Likely" to be.....?
Jesus.