Information on Bees

Thanks for the article, Lady. I ruffled some feathers over on BYC. Someone was asking if it was okay to put sevin dust on their chickens... I replied if I wanted to eat poisonous food- I would just buy it in the grocery store...I was at the feed store yesterday, and a fellow customer was complaining of all kinds of bugs and worms in her soil. She was in the poison aisle looking for a cure... I feels so helpless...
 
Ladyhawke1 said:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/26-6

I implore you to think again about using BT. Taking the quote I am a experttrust me .is just not good enough anymore. Look at who is telling you this product is safe and who sponsors them in their endeavors. BT is not specific. :rolleyes:
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Mostly I agree with leaving things alone to cure themselves but it's very difficult to get any of the cabbage family to harvest without BT. Loopers will eat it up.
 
Have you tried planting aromatic herbs next to your cabbage? Supposed to repel the moths that lay those larvae. I bet even marigolds would serve this purpose well.
 
Concise article... I think the CCD the commercial guys see is exacerbated by the stress of moving the colonies such far distances (in addition to the pesticides and everything else). There's a lot to be said for local adaptation and the vigor that comes along with the genetics that are developed from it. For the distances they are shipping these bees, there is a big change in regional ecology, which undoubtedly stresses the bees.

Biodiversity in those big ag areas is also lacking. Seems no one can tolerate a hedgerow anymore. As a forager, I know a lot can be harvested from those brushy roadsides, but the state road feels the need to spray them down with herbicides every spring. You have to get way out on the backroads to find roadsides that haven't been sprayed. They kill off a lot of valuable forage for the bees (and other wildlife).

I feel lucky where I live because most of the land is untouched or lightly managed and my bees have a wide variety of food sources to make use of. The wild blackberries are in bloom right now and last nearly a month. The hayfields up the road are heavily bordered with them and the bees are hitting them hard right now. I sit and watch the hive and nearly every bee is headed in the same direction--up the road. They are ignoring my garden and I'll need to get my borage and other herbs and flowers tucked in the corners to help entice them to stay close to home!

ETA: Hoodat, I have the same problem. Also with tomatoes, I spray once in the summer when the stinkbugs hit or they will cover nearly every green tomato skin with pithy damage just before it ripens. I don't have to spray anything else, but I get disappointing harvests if I don't spray those two things. Any bugs I can pick off by hand I do. Many things will cause only minor damage and for those things I just let the bugs have "their share". I wanted to try the floating row covers on the brassicas this year (to keep the moths from laying), but I didn't get to it in time.
 
:frow

journey & hoodat,

Here in the UK I use a very fine polyethylene mesh netting over my brassicas to keep the cabbage white butterflies off them. I also use row cover fleece against carrot fly. They works perfectly as long as there are no gaps....!!

I also have another pest which will decimate my brassicas & which the netting prevents.......PIGEONS......:barnie. The netting is VERY strong & is UV stabilised. I fix it over hoops so it is a tight fit. Even my chickens have not been able to break in although they perch on the metal hoops & look longingly at the cabbages etc below......:lol:

Here is a link to the UK company I buy it from -- they specialise in non chemical solutions to pest control in gardening. Maybe you can find something similar over there.

http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/product/Best+Sellers/GDN-056.htm



:rose Hattie :rose
 
I have been investigating "tulle as a crop covering. They use the stuff as wedding veils etc. :ep I have not had a chance to go to the fabric store yet. However, some people are using this with success.

I did call and get the yardage and how much it costs....however, I am embarrassed to say and I do not know where that info is right now. :barnie I know it was CHEAP. :celebrate I if I remember correctly, I think it comes in different widths. One width was 56 wide.

So much to do so little time. :hit
 
journey11 said:
Concise article... I think the CCD the commercial guys see is exacerbated by the stress of moving the colonies such far distances (in addition to the pesticides and everything else). There's a lot to be said for local adaptation and the vigor that comes along with the genetics that are developed from it. For the distances they are shipping these bees, there is a big change in regional ecology, which undoubtedly stresses the bees.

Biodiversity in those big ag areas is also lacking. Seems no one can tolerate a hedgerow anymore. As a forager, I know a lot can be harvested from those brushy roadsides, but the state road feels the need to spray them down with herbicides every spring. You have to get way out on the backroads to find roadsides that haven't been sprayed. They kill off a lot of valuable forage for the bees (and other wildlife).

I feel lucky where I live because most of the land is untouched or lightly managed and my bees have a wide variety of food sources to make use of. The wild blackberries are in bloom right now and last nearly a month. The hayfields up the road are heavily bordered with them and the bees are hitting them hard right now. I sit and watch the hive and nearly every bee is headed in the same direction--up the road. They are ignoring my garden and I'll need to get my borage and other herbs and flowers tucked in the corners to help entice them to stay close to home!

ETA: Hoodat, I have the same problem. Also with tomatoes, I spray once in the summer when the stinkbugs hit or they will cover nearly every green tomato skin with pithy damage just before it ripens. I don't have to spray anything else, but I get disappointing harvests if I don't spray those two things. Any bugs I can pick off by hand I do. Many things will cause only minor damage and for those things I just let the bugs have "their share". I wanted to try the floating row covers on the brassicas this year (to keep the moths from laying), but I didn't get to it in time.
Click to expand...
There is a corrrelation btween those wild blackberries and the stink bugs. That's probably where they are multiplying.
Did you ever accidentally bite into a stink bug on a blackberry while picking them? I did YEEECH!!:sick
 
At www.fabricdirect.com you can buy a 40 yard bolt of 72" wide nylon netting for $26, or 50 yard bolts of 50" wide tulle for $26. The tulle is a closer weave than the nylon netting. At my local store, either fabric is under $2 a yard.

To me, the choice is cabbage with poison on it, or cabbage with worms on it, or cabbage with a 'wedding veil' on it. I'll take the wedding veil stuff, please.
 
That's a lot cheaper than the row covering made for gardens and if it is kept out of the sun between uses it ought to last for years.
 
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