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Bees

Check out the report from ISU's Mary Harris on neonic seed coatings. Recently there has been 800 studies on the subject and the scientists all came to the same conclusion. Very interesting, maybe someone here that is more computer savy could post a link. Makes me think as conservationists, rather than the "kill em all" approach towards pests, we need to be more proactive scouting our fields and target only the pests that are actually harming specific fields. Maybe easier said than done though. That's the direction I'm going to go, it has to be all about the bee in the big picture
 
What was the conclusion on the seed coatings? I've heard a lot but not about all these studies.
 
The way I understand it, when planting the seed coating combined with flow type powder lubricant create dust, become airborne and land on adjacent plants. Post it up Skip.
 
HorseDoctor said:
On the other hand; bees & white clover food plots are a definite WIN/WIN combination! Do it! :)
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I've grown fond of the wildflower honey from a local source. It is much darker in color than the clover honey...not sure that means anything good or bad exactly???
 
Not good or bad. Just different. Darker honey often includes honey gathered later in the season and includes goldenrod and aster nectar. Buckwheat also makes dark honey but not so common in local honey. Darker tends to be a headier & stronger flavor & we just collect the lighter early season honey &leave the rest to winter the bees. Some prefer the darker, some don't. In general, the lighter early season honey is preferred by many but not all. Years when the linden (basswood) bloom lasts a while we try to separate that. It has a tiny bit of a minty taste at least to my taste buds. It's all good, just some better. ;)
 
Good to know!!!

Rain garden is coming along. Going to lay out limestone all around the rose mallow. Swamp milkweed is growing in the limestone circle. Looks like it may bloom the first growing season too.

This spot catches rain from all the yards uphill, always done that since I've owned the place. Might as well make lemonade since I already had the lemons was my reasoning.



 
Going to be lots of sunflower blooms soon too!!



My perennial prairie (showy) sunflowers r doing great also. Bring on the bees!!! :D

 
This reminds me... a couple weekends ago I was riding down a dirt road on the four wheeler and up ahead I see a swarm of something on the road. I start slowing down bet ended up going right through it at about 20mph. It was a swarm of bees. Had to have been thousands of them. Luckily I didn't get any stings and it was kinda neat to see.
 
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buckfever321 said:
This reminds me... a couple weekends ago I was riding down a dirt road on the four wheeler and up ahead I see a swarm of something on the road. I start slowing down bet ended up going right through it at about 20mph. It was a swarm of bees. Had to have been thousands of them. Luckily I didn't get any stings and it was kinda neat to see.
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Sounds like a swarm from a nearby hive. A new queen hatches and takes half the worker bees with her in search of a new home. When I had hives I was lucky to capture a couple of swarms and install them in new hives.

A beekeeper doesn't want a swarm to happen because with half the workers, honey gathering suffers. Most try to cut queen cells out so a new queen doesn't hatch.
 
Could have been a wasp. The first one looked fuzzy like a regular honey bee, but with yellow flappers on the sides.

No mistaking these two visitors to the sunflowers...bumble and honey.

 
Lots of alternative pollinators, thank goodness.,Bees,wasps,,whatever. I see them every spring on my fruit tree flowers.
 
Found the picture of the honey bees when they are mobbing some buttonbush shrubs I planted several years ago. They provide more than an abundant amount of pollen looks to me.

 
Not sure which native, perennial sunflower this is. That fence is roughly 6' tall for reference. Lots of blooms tho for the bees and many seeds to come for Mr and Mrs goldfinch.

 
The pollinators r swarming hard now, at least three varieties of sunflowers, swamp
Milkweed and rose mallow r keeping up with the demand.

 
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