Are you seeing bees?

Well, leaving water out for the bees is working. Out back I have a big bowl full of rocks and water, and the bees are all over it when I visit daily. In another garden where I have multiple bowls, bees were drowning in them all the time, so I threw some sticks and large wood chips in so they can scramble out.

Doesn't look like they're working for the birds, but it's hard to tell. I do know that two green tomatoes on two different plants, each about a foot away from one of my large water bowls, have holes dug into them. So if they're digging into my tomatoes just for moisture, they're either really stupid or they ... just like tomatoes and the moisture is a bonus.

TxGramma wrote:Marc, you could leave the ones you have for the birds and add in some for the bees and butterflies. Get some shallow bowls/trays and put a few rocks in them, you could use whatever you have around the yard or pick up a bag of river rocks. A few small ones on the ground would also provide water for frogs and lizards too. You could even use the shallow tray bird feeders, fill in any drain holes, if you wanted to hang them up. There's lots of different designs and ways to do it. If you check the internet for setting up pollinator habitats you will find lots of neat ideas to help keep pollinators around. Not only do they need flowers and water but they need homes and areas to hide from predators. Things that we don't always think about when we want them to come help us out.

Water is critical for bees, and often in short supply in the summer. Another good thing is, if you have an air conditioner that drips on hot days, put a pan with a lump of clay under it. This will provide needed mud for mason bees.

It will also provide it for potter wasps, mud dauber wasps, organ pipe wasps - and you want them, as well. They are your pest patrol for the garden.

slimbolen99 wrote:For the first time since we've lived in this house (over five years), I am seeing multiples of honey and bumble bees in the garden.
I attribute that mostly to my increasing our flower selection and lack of using pesticides and herbicides.  I'm not sure where they are coming from yet, but imagine they are traveling a little ways because I haven't seen any swarms.

By giving them feed and an appropriate environment, you are helping to build up bumble bee and other wild bee populations. Honey bees probably are a result of a beekeeper. Maybe you have a new hobby beekeeper in the neighborhood, or a commercial beekeeper has moved bees back in after a winter's absence.

Protection from pesticides is critical to the effort to build populations back to normal. A yard-fogging neighbor, or an area-wide mosquito spraying can undo all your best efforts, so you have to be aware of what happens beyond your property lines, and do some educating.

BTW, herbicides ARE pesticides - so saying "pesticides and herbicides" is kind of like saying "Christians and Baptists." Other pesticides are insecticides, fungicides, miticides, rodenticides, etc.

Pollinator wrote:

slimbolen99 wrote:For the first time since we've lived in this house (over five years), I am seeing multiples of honey and bumble bees in the garden.
I attribute that mostly to my increasing our flower selection and lack of using pesticides and herbicides.  I'm not sure where they are coming from yet, but imagine they are traveling a little ways because I haven't seen any swarms.

By giving them feed and an appropriate environment, you are helping to build up bumble bee and other wild bee populations. Honey bees probably are a result of a beekeeper. Maybe you have a new hobby beekeeper in the neighborhood, or a commercial beekeeper has moved bees back in after a winter's absence.

Protection from pesticides is critical to the effort to build populations back to normal. A yard-fogging neighbor, or an area-wide mosquito spraying can undo all your best efforts, so you have to be aware of what happens beyond your property lines, and do some educating.

BTW, herbicides ARE pesticides - so saying "pesticides and herbicides" is kind of like saying "Christians and Baptists."  Other pesticides are insecticides, fungicides, miticides, rodenticides, etc.

+1

Camprn, it must be an unusually good season for bees around here. I so rarely see a bee in my garden that I normally have to pollinate by hand. But this season, my cuke vines are growing like crazy with lots of blossoms, and I've got bees out there every morning doing their thing. What a beautiful sight!  Perhaps the cuke blossoms attracted them.

dstack wrote:Camprn, it must be an unusually good season for bees around here. I so rarely see a bee in my garden that I normally have to pollinate by hand. But this season, my cuke vines are growing like crazy with lots of blossoms, and I've got bees out there every morning doing their thing. What a beautiful sight!  Perhaps the cuke blossoms attracted them.

More likely you have a new beekeeper in the neighborhood, or an established beekeeper moved bees around, so you now have honey bees.

Marc Iverson wrote:Well, my tomatoes are getting pecked by birds again.  I put a couple of round, foot-wide bowls from the dollar store out in hopes they would just drink from there instead of going for the moisture in my crops, but if it's working, it's not working all the time.

However, every time I check the garden almost, I see a dead or dying bee in the water.  Anybody know if there's a way I can have bees find water that doesn't also make them plunge in completely and kill themselves?  

Slip a piece of wood in the bowl so it either floats or actually comes up out the water they will use it  as a landing stage/drinking counter.

I've been doing that with both wood and rocks. It's been working great. I often see bees drinking out of my various bowls now. Sometimes quite a few at once. So much so that I think I'll get more bowls out, just so they're especially easy for bees to find.

Sure wish I could satisfy the birds, though. Buncha jerks.

Marc Iverson wrote:
Sure wish I could satisfy the birds, though.  Buncha jerks.

  
We have a lot of birds around here because we have woods on 3 sides of the house.  I have never had a bird bother my garden.  Chipmunks yes but no birds.  Chipmunks like my strawberries and sweet potatoes.

You're really lucky. I find turkey feathers in the garden all the time.

A little late this year  BUT  I saw the first honey bee in the garden today.  We've had various wild bees and small flies pollenating since spring but it is also good to have H.bees.

Marc,

Do you compost the turkey feathers?

Yes!  Finally!  Lots and lots of bee types. 

Unfortunately we also have Yellow Jackets.  And they stung my mother 9 times when she accidentally ran the hose over their space.  Then they stung my neighbor 3 times while she was up on the front porch chatting with me.  One followed her all the way down the road.  

I hate doing it...actually I've never done it before now...but the death sentence has been pronounced.  

I searched and found 3 holes in 3 completely different but dangerous places, waited until sunset, covered all bee favored plants, and squirted the heck out of those holes.  Three nights now I've squirted with 2 different products of wasp spray and all 3 times they've come back. Then I did it again this morning before sunrise, but they were back at lunch time.

I guess we'll have to call an exterminator, unless anyone has any other ideas.  (not the bottle one due to it catching all the other insects)

CC

donnainzone10 wrote:Marc,

Do you compost the turkey feathers?

Yes, but I don't get huge clumps or anything. Just a feather here and there. I can't say it adds up to real volume.

CC give it a few days for the insecticide to work. You don't need to spray any more for a while I think.

Marc,

Why waste any of the feathers?  A few can't hurt.

That's what I figure. I just throw them in the pile.

Turkey feathers are useful for brushing bees off of frames.

camprn wrote:Turkey feathers are useful for brushing bees off of frames.

Excellent idea.

CapeCoddess wrote:
...I searched and found 3 holes in 3 completely different but dangerous places, waited until sunset, covered all bee favored plants, and squirted the heck out of those holes.  Three nights now I've squirted with 2 different products of wasp spray and all 3 times they've come back. Then I did it again this morning before sunrise, but they were back at lunch time.

I guess we'll have to call an exterminator, unless anyone has any other ideas.  (not the bottle one due to it catching all the other insects)

CC

Save your money, CapeCoddess. You don't even need the pesticides (which, as you can see, are ineffective, anyway, and will contaminate your soil). Just get a bucket of hot water, put 4-5 good squirts of dish detergent into it, and pour it down the hole after dark (when they are all home).

If you use a flashlight, use it very briefly to locate the hole, but keep in mind that the guards will come at the light, if it's used more than a few seconds. I prefer to do it, when there's just barely enough light to see where they are at, so I don't need a light.

You won't see any more from that nest, unless there were a couple foragers out that didn't find their way home before dark. Every wasp touched by the soapy water is dead almost immediately.

The pesticide companies don't want you to know about this, because they can't patent it, and charge high prices. And it does no more damage to the environment than a regular rural septic system.

This is good news, Pollinator. Thank you very much. Is there a difference between detergent and soap? Can I use Ivory dish soap instead of detergent?

CC

Use soap not detergent. Dawn dishwashing liquid is detergent. You want to use soap.

In my area I am seeing a ton of bumble bees.  They are loving everything I have in bloom (including my eggplant blossoms... they go crazy over those).

I have not noticed any honey bees yet.   

Today my zucchini sprouted two gorgeous yellow flowers.  Perhaps that will attract some honey bees?  I'll keep you posted. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bees-needs-public-urged-to-support-pollinators

camprn wrote:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bees-needs-public-urged-to-support-pollinators

Thanks for that camprn.  I read and watched.   I was surprised to learn that the UK has only one type of honey bee.
 
I have a guilty secret.... I keep our front and side lawns pretty well manicured.  However... I often let the back grow a little wild.     Now I have further justification to do so (oops... lol)    

I am doing my best to grow flowers that are loved by bees (even if by accidental reseeding).

I really am trying to minimize use of neem oil.  I always avoid blossoms.

And... I just asked my wife what she thinks about our possibly raising honey bees.  We have two friends who do so and sometimes we get some of their local honey.  However... three reservations:  1.  Neither my wife nor my daughter have ever been stung by a bee.  My wife is concerned that they may be allergic.  2.  We are not sure if our residential area would permit us to keep a hive.  Even if we are permitted to keep a hive... I would not do it unless my immediate neighbors were ok with it.  3.  The obvious one... expense.

I found this pretty cool website called "Beesource:"

http://www.beesource.com/

I'm betting you've all heard of it though.