Syrphid or Hoverflies

**sanderson** 5/6/2014, 12:11 am

I may not have bees for pollination, but it seems the syrphids are enjoying going from one tomatillo flower to the next. I'm hoping that they help with the pollination of my tomatillos.

Jmichelle 5/6/2014, 10:30 am

sanderson wrote:I may not have bees for pollination, but it seems the syrphids are enjoying going from one tomatillo flower to the next. I'm hoping that they help with the pollination of my tomatillos.

the newbie says "What is a syrphid?"

**sanderson** 5/6/2014, 2:47 pm

The Syrphidae family of flies look like bees or wasps. A pretty good disguise to keep predators from eating them. What a Face

They eat the nectar from flowers and are fair pollinators, not great like bees, but better than nothing if one doesn't have bees.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/196/bgimage

Jmichelle 5/6/2014, 3:05 pm

Thanks for the link. I need to get over the "ick" factor and take a look at the bug guides so that I know what I'm dealing with in the garden. *bleh*

Windmere 5/6/2014, 4:26 pm

Ahhh.... so that's what those "little bees" are. I see them all the time and we fancied them to be baby bees (yes, I know the hatching cycle of bees... it's just nice to call them that Wink

)

Pollinator 5/6/2014, 7:44 pm

Syrphid flies can be identified as flies by the single pair of wings (bees have two pairs), and the short stubby antennae. They are minor pollinators (not as fuzzy as bees, so pollen doesn't adhere as well), but are more important in their other role - their young eat aphids, mites and other small pests.

**sanderson** 5/6/2014, 11:04 pm

"Minor pollinators" is more correct than my ambiguous "fair pollinators." Thanks, Pollinator

**walshevak** 5/7/2014, 7:39 am

I've seen 2 carpenter bees this year and that's all. And I had a yard full of flowering weeds. The crop duster has been in the air almost every day since last Sat.

Evil or Very Mad

Kay

**walshevak** 5/7/2014, 7:52 am

Crop duster is in the air. GRRR

Kay

Pollinator 5/7/2014, 10:41 pm

walshevak wrote:I've seen 2 carpenter bees this year and that's all. And I had a yard full of flowering weeds. The crop duster has been in the air almost every day since last Sat.

Kay

What crop are they spraying? What time of day? Can you get some video? I'm a little surprised they are spraying this early - unless they are doing something else, like applying fertilizer (or herbicide) on forest trees.

**walshevak** 5/8/2014, 7:02 am

Pollinator, The fields are full of potatoes about 2 feet high and corn about 8 inches high.

I'm hoping that some of the reason I hear and see him so much is that I live near the airport. But last week he was circling the potato fields about 1/4 mile away, swooping in low, coming up over the house and then heading back for another run. Seems to be out there early to mid morning. Could they be be spraying fertilizer?

Kay

**sanderson** 5/8/2014, 12:06 pm

Kay, Can you ask the farmer about the application?

Sponsored content

Syrphid or Hoverflies

Syrphid or Hoverflies

?

Re: Syrphid or Hoverflies

Okay!

Ahhhh

Re: Syrphid or Hoverflies

Re: Syrphid or Hoverflies

Re: Syrphid or Hoverflies

Re: Syrphid or Hoverflies

Re: Syrphid or Hoverflies

Re: Syrphid or Hoverflies

Re: Syrphid or Hoverflies

Re: Syrphid or Hoverflies


	Hello Guest! Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum. There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.