{"id":726,"date":"2015-12-22T19:08:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-22T23:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/?p=726"},"modified":"2016-04-23T13:08:43","modified_gmt":"2016-04-23T17:08:43","slug":"saving-the-bees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/blog\/2015\/12\/22\/saving-the-bees\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving the Bees….And Butterflies…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 Greetings and Salutations;<\/div>\n
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The bees in America have a lot of stresses that are causing them to die off. \u00a0 Needless to say, \u00a0this is a Bad Thing<\/strong>, \u00a0because something like 30% of the crops in America and 90% of the wild-flowers are pollinated by these insects. \u00a0 The main focus for the past years has been the way that neonicotinoid pesticides have weakened the bees to the point that they die as they fly out to collect nectar, \u00a0or, \u00a0are unable to fight off the parasites and viruses that can infest them.\u00a0 The good news is that the Feds have put a hold on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides until further studies can be done.\u00a0 However, \u00a0there is one factor that has received very little attention, \u00a0 and that is the loss of habitat. \u00a0 One of the great sources of fresh blood for apiaries\u00a0 are the wild bees that congregate out in the woods. \u00a0 Well, \u00a0 the changes in climate and the destruction of forests that have plagued the United States over the past few decades have cut down quite a bit on the number of places that bee colonies can survive and prosper. \u00a0 The White House is quite aware of these issues, \u00a0and has, recently, released a plan to help deal with some of these, and, with luck, \u00a0the current loss of hives will slow, and perhaps even reverse. \u00a0Here is a link to the NPR story \u00a0dealing with this.<\/a><\/div>\n
\u00a0\"asclepias_tuberosa3_1.jpg\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 In the spirit of thinking globally, \u00a0but, acting locally, \u00a0what can we do to help the bees? \u00a0 I have some suggestions.<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 If you have an open area (a lawn, or field, for example),\u00a0 plant bee and butterfly friendly wild-flowers in as much of it as you can. \u00a0 Not only will this add beauty to your environment, \u00a0but, it will provide a source of food for bees and\u00a0butterflies. \u00a0 I, for one, \u00a0like Butterfly Weed, \u00a0but, \u00a0there are a number of options. \u00a0\u00a0Here is an excellent source of information\u00a0 <\/a><\/div>\n
Note that many of these flowers are perennials and so once you get them started,\u00a0 they will return every year with no effort on your part.\u00a0 Also,\u00a0 they will keep producing blooms for most of the Summer.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Consider adding a\"STL_water-feature-art1.jpg\"<\/a> small water feature to your yard…say, \u00a0a fountain, or a waterfall into a\u00a0 rock-filled pond. \u00a0 This will go a long way towards giving the insects an important source of water, and, by running a pump, \u00a0the water movement will ensure that it will not be a mosquito breeding ground.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0If you feel it is necessary to spray pesticides around the outside of your house, \u00a0 try and use “more friendly” ones (the previous link has some suggestions). \u00a0 I, though, would recommend that you consider adding Preying Mantises to the eco-system. \u00a0 They are great little creatures, \u00a0and do an excellent job of eliminating other insects.\u00a0 They are also self-sustaining<\/div>\n
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Pleasant Dreams<\/div>\n
Bee Man Dave<\/div>\n
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\u00a0 Greetings and Salutations; \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The bees in America have a lot of stresses that are causing them to… Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,16,1],"tags":[496,498,497,495],"class_list":["post-726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beekeeping-2","category-hive-and-colony-care","category-ruminations","category-uncategorized","tag-butterflies","tag-flowers","tag-habitat","tag-neonicinidoid-pesticides"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":795,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions\/795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beemandave.com\/beemanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}