Pollinators

[Pedaling Fool]

To clarify this statement, "Randy Oliver was lacking about the larger dangers of Neonics" I was referring to impacts of systemic neonicotinoids PESTICIDES like Clothianidin, Imidacloprid, Thiacloprid, etc including but looking beyond impacting bees. These are all chemicals I know to some degree through professional use who has changed his stance on their use since I'm now heavily involved in practicing more environmentally sound Integrated Pest Management(IPM). IPM, as it applies to ornamentals and food agriculture, relies on a more ecological wide spread more sustainable pest management approach not heavily reliant on chemicals thereby reducing pesticide risks. It seemed like that is what you were advocating in your yard? I am no "expert" on Neonics though. Maybe, but highly doubtful, are you? You sound like you are more of a hobbyist. I made my comment by observing a larger ecological perspective beyond pollinators to include soil organisms like earthworms, beneficial insects like lady beetles, parasitic wasps, other invertebrates(arthropods, etc), aquatic life, and all in the food chain including humans. Since Neonics are a systemic pesticide it is taken up by plants. Insects and animals like humans that feed on these plants containing pesticides, although always stated to show no significant safety risk(???), adds to the toxic load in the environment, including honey bees and humans must contend.

Studies have shown that Neonic PESTICIDES do adversely affect honey bees and a whole lot more. For anyone to imply Neonics have NO adverse affect on honey bees is not the case. Study the science not second or third hand mainstream media accounts .

Are Neonics the magic smoking gun causing CCD in itself some make it out to be? In my mind, as yours, I don't see that being absolutely the case. I'm not a pathologist, entomologist, or full time apiculturist either. And, I thought Randy Oliver was making the same case.

Passive aggressive? I didn't know I was going to be assigned a behavioral disorder from a Clinical Psychotherapist when I logged onto WB today.

If you ever decide to accept PMs we(I) would be able to clarify before going down these roads of seemingly endless disagreement. We have more in common than how it may seem. We are commenting on different tangential topics which are connected but are often on different pages in the same book. No doubt, we don't see eye to eye on everything though which is GOOD.

Now, back to the therapist's leather couch.

Where can I get some of that hallucinogenic honey?

"...neonicotinoids are still out there, so all the stories linking them with CCD were obviously just agenda-driven news, not to mention the research that showed this..."

You obviously don't know what your'e talking about because the scientific research is clear about this - There is a considerable and growing body of evidence that neonicotinoids and other systemic chemicals are harming bees, other wildlife and also our soil and water quality. You're brushing under the carpet the effects of Neonic Pesticide use, the most widespread category of pesticide use globally.

http://dev.ejfoundation.org/sites/de...nicMyths_1.pdf


Seriously, you need to study some more science on the subject of Neonicotinoid consequences. This group of pesticides ABSOLUTELY affects honey bees, butterflies, other pollinators and other life forms. Don't say that isn't so.

"Passive aggressive? I didn't know I was going to be assigned a behavioral disorder from a Clinical Psychotherapist when I logged onto WB today...Now, back to the therapist's leather couch."

No problem Dogwood, I'm looking after you. Here's a little more evaluation....It seems like neonicotinoids is a Trigger word that spurs on these passive-aggressive episodes -- you may want to work on that.

They're going to be around until something else replaces them, could be a very long time; I hate to see these little spaz attacks eat you up....

[rocketsocks]

Niagra falls...slowly I turn

[Pedaling Fool]

Good news from the Pacific NW

http://entsoc.org/press-releases/rar...aking-comeback

The Nosema parasite might have been a factor in the bee's decline, but whether it's the sole factor remains an open question. Trying to better understand the impact of Nosema onBombus occidentalis is difficult because laboratory studies are difficult to do.

"When we try to raise the bees in captivity, they die, so we can't do a lot of experimental work to show that this is really the thing [killing bees]," Dr. Strange said. "We have a lot of correlation, but we can never get the species without the pathogen. We can't clean this pathogen out."

The study's findings raise the question of why the population decline appears to have stopped. Dr. Strange's answer is "evolution." The pathogen's virulence may have simply declined, or some individuals of Bombus occidentalis may have developed resistance to the pathogen.

[ALLEGHENY]

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wil...read-by-humans
"Domesticated honeybee colonies are hugely important for our agriculture systems, but this study shows the risks of moving animals and plants around the world," says co-author and University of Sheffield biologist Roger Butlin in a statement. "The consequences can be devastating, both for domestic animals and for wildlife. The risk of introducing viruses or other pathogens is just one of many potential dangers."

[Dogwood]

Ugg, go search for some hidden wasps in your backyard to agitate.

[Pedaling Fool]

Ugg, go search for some hidden wasps in your backyard to agitate.

Yes, it's true, my yard is a wasp sanctuary



In other news....The Monarch butterfly seems to be making somewhat of a comeback!! Everyone that provides habitat can give themselves a pat on the back

Rip out all your grassy areas, they are nothing but desert to many pollinators and so many other animals.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/27/world/...k-mexico-irpt/


Excerpt:

Here's a little bit of happy news for the environment.After a period of decline, the monarch butterfly population has made a big comeback in Mexico, where they migrate during North America's winter season, according to a new report.

Researchers at the Mexican National Commission of Protected Natural Areas and the World Wildlife Fund said they observed a 225% increase from 2015 to 2016 in common habitat areas.

The butterflies are typically found in pine and fir forests in several Mexican states. It takes monarch butterflies about two months to make their way from North America to Mexico. Once they arrive, they cluster in small areas. From 2015 to 2016, the Monarch butterfly's population -- measured by the acres they occupy -- covered about 10 acres in the area, compared to 3 acres in 2014.

"The good news coming from Mexico makes me enormously enthusiastic," Dan Ashe, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a press conference this week. "It indicated that we have the capacity to save the Monarch butterfly of North America."

The news comes on the heels of a United Nations report released this week warning of the implications of an decrease in pollinators such as butterflies, bees and beetles. The report took two years to complete, with experts around the world poring over 3,000 scientific papers to compile the findings.

[Traveler]

Niagra falls...slowly I turn

LOL! A great quote with diminishing appreciation

[greensleep]

LOL! A great quote with diminishing appreciation

I miss the stooges too.

[Pedaling Fool]

Interesting little study on starving the larvae of honeybees...Kind of reminds me of starving on a thru-hike and how efficient the body becomes...

https://asunow.asu.edu/20160330-disc...tronger-adults

Excerpt:

Interestingly, Wang and her colleagues also found that when bees experienced starvation as larvae, they could reduce their metabolic rate, maintain their blood-sugar levels, and use other fuels faster than the control bees during starvation. This increased the probability of their survival under a starvation situation.

“These studies show how the fundamental physiology of animals separated by hundreds of millions of years of evolution maintain central, common features that allow us to learn more about ourselves from studying them and about them by looking to ourselves,” said Rob Page, University Provost Emeritus and co-author of the paper. “They reveal key features of honeybee physiology that may help us find solutions to the serious problems of bee health worldwide.”

[Pedaling Fool]

Always trying to find the most effective plants to attract pollinators, I've found that honeybees seem to love plants in the Mint family the most.

When I first started this, one of my most prolific plants was the sunflower and I notice that all the bees loved that flower; however, what I failed to realize was that there was not much else for the bees to choose from (this is when I use to weed out my gardens). But since allowing weeds to grow I found that the honeybees much prefer the Florida Betony, which is in the Mint family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stachys_floridana

I've also noticed that they love so many other plants that I've gotten over the years and many were in the Mint family.

I've finally broken down and bought some Bee Balm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarda because I've heard how crazy the bees go after it; and of course, it's in the Mint family. I'm really curious to see which they love more, Florida Betony or the Bee Balm.



Bottom line, if you want to attract pollinators and help them with habitat loss, just let your weeds grow.




P.S. That's not to say that honeybees go exclusively after things in the Mint family, but it just seems like that's their preferred plant, but the jury is still out... They also love flowers of the citrus trees and another weed, which is very common around the Appalachians, Spiderwort, which neither are in the Mint family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradescantia


P.S. to the P.S.: Oh, and they also love the Spanish Needle plant, which is also a common weed and not in the Mint family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidens





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[Pedaling Fool]

I'm starting to see hummingbirds. Two easy vines to grow (and they grow fast) and attract humming birds:

Cardinal Climber http://awaytogarden.com/cardinal-cli...ird-favorites/

Cypress Vine http://floridata.com/Plants/Convolvu...0quamoclit/582


Some more ideas.... https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw059

[Pedaling Fool]

Dill is a host plant for the Black Swallowtail. I probably read this sometime ago, but forgot about it...This is my first year growing Dill, I just did it because I liked the look of the plant and flower head. (see below image, cool looking plant).


I was just out in the garden and watched a Black Swallowtail fly around feeding off various flowers, but then when she got to the Dill, I noticed that she wasn't going for the flowers and as I watched her it looked like she was laying eggs. Sure enough, Dill is one of the host plants for the Black Swallowtail http://butterflies.heuristron.net/bu...allowtail.html
























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[Pedaling Fool]

Really cool story here: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-t...f-wasps-2016-5

Wasps don't exactly win popularity contests. So why is the federal government releasing millions of wasps into 24 states — on purpose? First of all, these aren't what you think of when you think of wasps. They're tiny, they aren't yellow, and they don't sting humans.

These wasps are actually on our side: a bug army deployed in a desperate attempt to save our dying trees.

The US Department of Agriculture hopes these special wasps will be a key ally in the fight against emerald ash borers, invasive beetles whose larvae have destroyed trees across vast swaths of northern and eastern Americain just a few decades.

Scientists don't want to douse half the country in pesticides, so they're trying a craftier approach by enlisting the emerald ash borers' natural enemies. This isn't the first time the government has tried this clever strategy, but the effort has never reached across so many states at once.

Wasps (not just the parasitic variety), contrary to popular belief, are pollinators, their hunting is mostly for their larvae http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com...ldlife-garden/


Some flowers to attract parasitic wasps http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/ga...arasitic-wasps

http://www.farmerfred.com/plants_tha...ct_benefi.html

They really love the sweet smelling Alyssum http://gardeningwithcharlie.com/grow-alyssum.html

[zelph]

Hope to see Monarchs soon on my Butterfly Weed(not a cultivar) Grown from seeds collected in a natural prairie in Kansas.

It was really windy today when pics were taken. No butterflies flying today. Hope to see them tomorrow.

butterfly weed.JPGbutterfly2.JPG