I too noticed less and less in my area. I do have a ton of wasps though but I rarely see bumble bees anymore.

Posted By: chelle25
Re: Bee Colony Collapse
06/16/07 12:57 AM

As a long time gardener..I've been following this story..with great interest.

I have noticed a loss of bees in my locations for several years. Even now..lots of wasps..a few Bumble bees ..and several types I cannot identify...but NO Honeybees.

I wish I lived further out..and I bring in a hive of my own...but nowhere here to safely put a hive !

I hope the mite problem can be solved !Though my pollination seems to be still happening..it seems weird not to see ANY Honeybees on the flowers.

umm..this article was taken from the website you've linked...

it says they DON'T KNOW what the cause is for the decline...there are theories from cell phones..to bin laden...to parasites.

so..your post is misleading...

here's the article from the LA times.

Here is a link that might be useful: article from LA times taken from your link

Yes, it seems the honeybee population has diminished. It isn't gone though, I saw two of them on lawn clover yesterday. Bumblebees are doing OK and they seem to work hardest of all. Maybe the SVB will be next. Wouldn't THAT be nice.

The problem is with honeybees and it is epidemic. Hive owners here in Ontario and Quebec have reported major losses. There is a big investigation going on to try and find the TRUE cause of the problem. Currently, there is plenty of speculation but no concrete answers.

For the moment, I wouldn't be jumping to any conclusions or happily slapping yourself on the back for your "naturalistic ways".

Hmmm. Naturalistic ways = no adverse impact on nature. Use any Sevin lately? Gee, I thought we were talking about tomatoes here. Kinda hurts.

I am a beekeeper and have been for 37 years. I was keeping bees long before I got interested in tomatoes. The disclaimers above should be heeded. Organic beekeepers are not as affected as are the beekeepers who treat their colonies. But it does not follow that the treatments are the cause of CCD. Most of the organic beekeepers (myself included) are not moving their bees for pollination services which means their bees are not exposed to quite a few pesticides that are routinely applied to crops. In addition, migratory beekeepers routinely have large numbers of colonies in a small area. This would be conducive to a disease outbreak.

What we can say with certainty is that beekeepers have been dealt a blow that many cannot recover from. This is a huge loss to all of us. Think how many fruits and vegetables you like to eat that the honeybee pollinates. (think apples, cantaloupes, watermelons, cucumbers, squash, onions, pears, carrots, etc) What about the meats you eat? Beef cattle are fed large amounts of alfalfa which is a crop that relies on honeybees to produce seed.

I have been following the CCD story as closely as most beekeepers. If a colony of bees dies of CCD and more bees are put back in that hive, the new bees almost always die of CCD within a few months. This could indicate the combs were contaminated with pesticides, or that an unknown contagious disease has struck, or that parasitic mites are affecting the bees, or any number of other possibilities. We won't know the answer until a LOT of additional work has been done to study the disease and its cause.

FYI, there is a beekeeping forum on gardenweb. Several threads in that area are about CCD.

Fusion (the tomato grower and beekeeper)

If this were such a serious problem wouldn't the federal government be taking a more active role after all this could impact our food supply beyond anything we could imagine. hmmm, don't ya think???

Yeah the same administration that thought it a good idea to drill for oil in pristine Alaskian wilderness (oil men looking to line their pockets, HA!) and fed the public lies about globial warming. Don't worry though the same people who support this administration think that these are the "end days" and they mean to bring them on one way or another just to prove they are RIGHT!!!

man leave your political rants elsewhere. go rant on moveon.org or some crap

In many cases there is something that the home gardener can do to help a situation. Other than the obvious pesticide avoidance, what can we do to help the bee situation?

Adopt a bee from a third world country???

Calling Angelina Jolie!!!!!!!!!! Where are you girl, when we need you the most.

Sigh........

Angelina...... she's the bees knees.

on the upside, i haven't seen a decline in honeybees...at noon...my backyard is absolutely BUZZING!

there are SO MANY honeybees that i can't even garden until about 6pm...because i'm allergic to them and can't risk a sting. the feeling is now...bittersweet.

Let's not forget about the pesticides that bees come into contact with during their foraging. One group of systemics has been under severe scrutiny in Europe for several years, and scientists are finally evaluating the effects of these chemicals in this country. Imidicloprid (the active ingredient) is used on all kinds of agricultural and homeowner crops and plants.

Bee keepers are, in some cases, refusing to take their bees to orchards and farms that use these (and other) chemicals.

andreajp Quote:
"there are SO MANY honeybees that i can't even garden until about 6pm...because i'm allergic to them and can't risk a sting. the feeling is now...bittersweet."

I have Yellowjackets and Wood Bees, the Wood Bees are very agressive but I've been reassured they are incapable of stinging still I wait till evening to garden. Truthfully, I haven't seen Honey Bees around but I think I will buy a potted plant that attracts them just to see if any show up.

castoff Quote:
"Angelina...... she's the bees knees."

lol, no doubt you were watching Larry King the other night then :D

Mr. Natural says

Nope. Don't watch Larry King. Don't even get Larry King. No cable. No Sat.

My hives are cranking!

Out here in EXurbia the builders are decimating the last remaining farms and forests and constructing cookie cutter McMansions. Most of my neighbors are Chem Lawn crazy. I have noticed a gradual decline in honeybees. This may seem like a dumb question but I grow many vegetables besides tomatoes. I see plenty of the big bumblebees going in and out of my cuke flowers for instance but MUST you have honeybees for good polination? Can't any other bee types, wasps, etc conduct good pollination of cukes, melons etc.?

Yep, native bees can do the job. The threat to our nation's food crops is the huge monocropped areas with no remaining native bee habitat. That is something that can be changed with a few hedge rows here and there, etc. and, of course, not then killing the returned native bees.

Bumblebees are super pollinators. You can help them out by building potential bumblebee homes in different places around your property. They are a ground dweller. Just Google them and learn more.

I put in a raised (about 30" high) flower bed a couple of years ago and there are bumblebees nesting in it. I marked where the hole is so I don't accidentally disturb it. They have been busy busy little critters in my gardens this year.

Organic bees?
What are the other kind, mechanical?

What's next?
I know. Heirloom bees.

I usually have a good population of bumblebees, but this year I have more honeybees than usual. The nest is on the property line, and between the two properties we don't use a lawn service or pesticides. I am growing heirloom tomatoes and quite a few other things, but I see the honeybees mostly in the flowers. The only thing I've done differently this year is that I haven't been spraying the apple tree. Just throwing my data into the pot, no bias either way, yet :)

Now natural is even responding to his own posts......

yikes...........

I've been following the CCD stories, and a friend in Maryland sent me an article from their local paper. Their (or her) theory was that the unusual cold temps this spring caused it, but I think I read this having been reported last fall, also read the cell phone theory, pesticides, mites, virus, read that new bees, won't go near the hives that have been affected which, if true, would be an important clue. But they leave and don't return, do not bees die regularly in their own hives or do they fly off and die?

So I've been watching for bees, and it hasn't just been this year. Up to last year or the last two years, I was getting up to 7 a day in my house, I trapped them with a yogurt cup and very wide, short-bladed knife on the glass windows and let them out the front door, got stung once and accidentally killed two. I've also gotten bumblebees trapped between my windows and storm/screen combo windows, those are harder to deal with, accidentally killed one by trying to make an opening by raising and lowering the screen and storm so it could find its way out, and another found its way out that way. For a long time now, I don't like to kill them.

Anyway, I was taking pictures of flowers in a lady's garden on Jun 17 and saw at least two honeybees on her flowers. Not my best macro shot, but it was hard to get it in my viewfinder, and it moved on pretty fast to another flower. I've seen a couple honeybees in my yard now, too.

There is much I don't know about them, had no idea bumblebees nested in the ground.

{{gwi:1342340}}

Ahh, looks like a Carniolan. I use Italians.

Nice shot!

Got to go, my cellphone is ringing...

A long but interesting article, I believe illustrates a combination of causes.

Here is a link that might be useful: beekeeping