This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: pollinators?

-----Original Message-----
From: Connie Hoy <coneh@uswest.net>
Subject: pollinators?


> ...Are any others experiencing a loss of bee pollinators?
> ...
>Connie
>
The past few years, we had seen a significant decline in the honeybee
population (Phoenix AZ) such that cucurbit pollination, not only in home
gardens but also in the surrounding farms, was sporadic.  But this year in
January our African sumac trees were covered with thousands of bees - you
could hear the buzz 100 feet away from the trees.  Later, this spring, I was
also prepared to hand-pollinate the summer squash but bees were plentiful,
especially in the early morning shortly after sunrise.  And this year we had
the best squash crop ever without having to hand-pollinate.  Our wild honey
bees are probably all "Africanized" but the managed hives are advertised to
be free from the Africanized gene.  Most, if not all, homeowners will remove
any wild beehives found on their property - many also spray foraging bees
but we have found they are beneficial and not aggressive.  We continue to
have incidents, sometimes fatal, of attacks by bees while defending their
hives.  As to paper wasps, we also have lots in the garden but I haven't
observed their pollination habits.  We have had very few insect pest
problems in the garden since we started feeding wild birds a few years ago.
But the down side is we have to cover newly seeded areas with Remay to keep
the doves from finding the seeds and also need to cover the lettuce and
mesclun greens to protect from sparrows.

olin
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index