erins327
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Where are the bees?

Maybe I'm just jumping the gun here, but where are all the bees?

I always let my cilantro bolt and flower to which the bees love it. I also planted some lavender and bee balm. However, all I have right now are wasps!

Are the bees competing with the wasps at all? Is there anything I can do to attract bees instead?

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

It depends on where the bees live. Most wild bees are having a hard time fighting off varoa mites and little hive beetle. Eventually, once a hive gets infected it becomes weaker and dies out. Wild hives are resupplied usually from the swarms of managed hives. During the winter many managed hives will die and so will wild hives. Bees don't have a lot to eat during winter and depend on their honey and pollen stores. Managed hives may have to be fed. Bee numbers are at their lowest in winter and they don't build again until more forage is available and the honey flow starts soon after. Swarming season has started for me in Hawaii. In colder areas, the bees swarm when it warms up and there is more forage.
Bees forage up to 2 miles from their hive.
To attract bees
1. You can start keeping bees, you need to check with your local codes on setback requirement. If you have neighbors nearby, it is best to check with them too.
2. Plant a variety of flowers to attract bees and beneficial insects. Bees like small flat single flowers that provide a landing place. Most of the composite and asters fit. Be careful now, there are some varieties of newer flowers that are seedless like sunflowers so make sure you get the ones that do make seeds. Sunflowers, asters, single marigolds, cosmos, single zinnias, false heather, achillea, bee balm, joe-pye-weed, goldenrod, rudbeckia, Mexican sunflower, coneflower, sedums, lavender (carpenter bees), verbena, phlox, sage, butterfly bush, alyssum (also attracts butterflies), penta (pollen for bees, nectar for butterflies and long tongued bees, as well as other benefial insects), Queen Anne's Lace.
Plants and herbs- most fruit trees require bee pollination to fruit. Let some of the herbs and vegetables flower. Basil, fennel (attracts all kinds of beneficials, including lady bugs, but needs to be planted by itself about 10 ft away from other plants.), bee balm, creeping thyme, vervain, Mexican oregano (lippia graveolens), perilla, coriander (let it bloom), let carrots bloom (relative of Queen Anne's lace), Asian greens ( choi sum, bok choy), brassicas ( broccoli, kale, cabbage), lettuce (aster family), fava beans, lima beans, sweet pea. Cover crops = alfalfa, and buckwheat.
The xerces society publishes native plant lists for every region in the U.S. to attract bees and other pollinators.
https://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/plant-lists/

There are all kinds of bees not just honey bees. Many of them are solitary but are also pollinators like squash bees, sweat bees, and yellow faced bees. Other pollinators and beneficial insects are lady bugs, parasitc wasps, flies, midges, beetles, ants (up to a point), lacewings, dragonflies. Other helpful creatures toads, frogs, geckos, insect eating birds.

Create a habitat to invite in beneficial animals
You can make artificial hives for solitary bees by making bundles of 1/2 inch pvc pipe about 10-12 inches long and hanging them in trees. Leaf cutter bees need a block of wood with 1/4 inch holes drilled in them. Bats need bat houses. Insect eating birds need bird houses designed to attract them. Leave bare ground for ground nesting bees and wasps. Provide habitat for frogs and toads. Hollow logs, piles of rocks, broken crocks turned on the side or turned over, trees and shrubs for shelter, and avoid using pesticides as much as possible. Water needs to be provided. A small pond for frogs and toads or a shallow saucer filled with pebbles (as landing places) and water. Water plants early in the morning. Bees will come and lap up the water from the leaves while they are foraging.
https://xerces.org/2017/03/17/bring-back ... tive-bees/

Fennel is a trap plant and attracts aphids, it is one reason why it needs to be planted alone. Because it does attract aphids, the lady bugs will lay their eggs on the plant and the aphids provide food for ladybug larvae. Get to know what they look like so you don't kill them. Fennel blooms for a very long time and the flowers provide nectar and pollen for parasitic wasps, adult lady bugs, lacewings, hover flies, and the occasional bee.

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applestar
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Honeybees are not the only pollinators, though they are the quintessential representative and always a delight to see.

I used to get a lot more honeybees coming to my garden but two more nearby farms have been sold and bulldozed into suburban house developments, and here, you can't keep bees in residential zones. :(

I suppose in Texas, all of the honeybees with your garden in their territory and foraging range should be out and about by now -- here, they are only just recently being allowed to start flying I think. I see more of the wild cousins. I did see a few honeybees the other day in my garden -- it's good to know they made it through the winter. And at my Mom's two towns over, her earliest blooming cherry tree is in full bloom and was buzzing with visiting bees -- honeybees as well as smaller native bees -- when I went to see her on Wednesday.

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rainbowgardener
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Here's a little article about attracting bees to your garden: https://www.thespruce.com/bee-plants-1401948

note number one is USE NO POISONS. And be careful, if you buy plants from an ordinary nursery or especially big box garden departments, the plants have often been treated with neo-nicotinoid insecticide, which is highly toxic to bees. If you are buying plants, get them from a good local nursery and check to be sure they have not been insecticide treated.

Haven't you heard about colony collapse disorder and the disappearance of the bees? Since 2006, beekeepers have been losing 30- 90% of their bees each year. They have been succumbing to diseases, mites, micro-parasites, etc. However, since the decline of bees is recent and the diseases and parasites have always been around, it appears that the bees immune systems have been compromised, by some combination of over-exposure to a variety of chemicals (testing hives that bees have disappeared from, they regularly find the presence of 30 or more different herbicides, pesticides, etc), climate change, and other stresses.

When we talk about the disappearance of bees, we are usually talking about honeybees, since they are an agricultural commodity. However, the same forces are attacking native bees and other pollinators.

john gault
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My secret to attracting bees and all other pollinators is to allow weeds to grow. Weeds are actually valuable plants for pollinators, many times I see the bees going after them before any of my cultivated plants. Here's an interesting video that speaks to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTmuDcEzTOw

BTW, wasps are pollinators and they provide the extra benefit of carrying off plant-eating insects; I have a soft spot for wasps, but I know a lot of gardeners have only derision for them. Another benefit of weeds are that some varieties bloom very early in the season, providing a much needed food source for the pollinators as they emerge from winter.

I have tons of pollinators every year, all year around. I don't get all this talk about pollinators being in trouble. :-() :mrgreen:

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rainbowgardener
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If you make protected spots for pollinators with no poisons and the nectar and pollen they need, you will see more of them than otherwise. But still many of us have noticed the decline, especially of honeybees. I lived in Cincinnati for forty years. I remember when my lawn full of clover blossoms would be full of bees, way too many to count, but several per square foot. These days, there would still be bees, but maybe one per square yard or less.

I think one of the many things that makes it harder for us to understand what is happening to our planet is that we are such a mobile people. I could see the climate changes that happened in Cincinnati, because I remembered what it was like in the 1970's. But now I have moved to Chattanooga and I have no idea what normal is here. I can look up the records, but emotionally that is not the same as having the feel of it and all those memories. Not only the temperatures, but when things bloomed, how many bees there were. I was married on Earth Day in 1994 in Cincinnati. All the wedding photos are full of daffodils and other early spring flowers in bloom. These days all the daffodils and even tulips would be long gone by that date. And I didn't grow up in Cincinnati, I only remember it back to when I was a young adult. It seems like there are few of us who stay in one place long enough to have that continuity of understanding.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Most of the wild bees disappeared in 2011 when the varoa mite arrived. But, they are making a comeback because of more people who are interested in beekeeping and and the city rules allow bees if you have enough setback (25 ft). People often keep them on the roof. The managed hives do repopulate the wild hives every year when they swarm. It is mostly through educating people here not to try to kill the bees but to call the bee hotline ASAP before the bees get established if the swarm can be saved. There are people willing to go out to capture swarms but they have to be accessable and they cannot have been sprayed with insecticides. Removal of unwanted established swarms can be costly.

Someone in our bee group said he caught 2 swarms last week.

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jal_ut
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"It depends on where the bees live. Most wild bees are having a hard time fighting off varoa mites and little hive beetle."

I am a beekeeper. Have been keeping bees for many years. Most beekeepers during swarming season will check their hives every ten days and cut out swarm cells. This is to prevent swarming. If the colony can be kept together they will make the beekeeper some honey. Once the clover blooms, a queen excluder and honey super are added to the colony.

Here in this country the wild colonies don't make it any more. Since the varoa mites came they drag down the wild colonies till they can't make winter.

Yes, it if great to find a large prime swarm and go capture it and take it home and hive it. I suggest that you look for an active beekeeper in your area and have his number to call if you happen to find a swarm.

A fresh prime swarm hanging a a tree or bush is a great find. A bunch that has set up housekeeping in an old building or hollow tree, not worth the bother. Get the Hornet spray.



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