New "Bee" Article on MSNBC...depressing

[big brown horse]

OFG, I'm glad your hive made it!

The beek that gave the presentation to us over here mentioned this:

In some areas of China, they sprayed so much pesticides, they killed all the bees. Now there arent no bees to left to pollinate their trees, so they have to HAND pollinate.

Imagine hundreds of Chinese people with little feather brushes, climbing up on trees and smearing each flower with pollen. Apparently each person can do about 30 trees a day, bees can do about 3000 trees a day ( I think that the correct number Maybe higher).

Anyways, I dont know about you, but this is just ridiculous


I don't know if this will help anyone, but here is a great bee and bee hive "broker"

http://tarboovalleybees.com/Packagebees.aspx

 

[Occamstazer]

MORONS.

They( the EPA) aren't Morons.......they are simply GREEDY. BAYER and other large corporations money is what gets their attention and gets the crap like this passed.
This country needs a revolt. A real, down and dirty, fighting in the streets,burning of corporate buildings kind of revolt.

Count me in.

Being a bio major, this comes up a lot in class. It's so frustrating, like watching a train wreck in slow motion while being helpless to act.
I know I sometimes feel helpless in the face of the agribusiness giants, and I think that's a common feeling.
On the other hand, things like tilling and weeding are a lot more fun when they're subversive.

 

[ksalvagno]

I found this mason bee hive on Gardener's Supply website. Does anyone know if this would be something that might work?

http://www.gardeners.com/Mason-Bee-House/BackyardHabitat_Cat,37-481,default,cp.html

We looked into doing bee keeping but are still feeling so overwhelmed with what we are already doing that I just don't feel like I can add one more thing to our extremely long list of things to do.

 

[Wifezilla]

Only $14.95???

I would try it! Hummm..wonder if I will have any extra money come payday....

NOTE: I was scrolling through the comments on that product and once you wade through the Christmas gift comments (very positive) you get to comments about people who actually have bees using it...

"When i received this product in Feburary I was not sure this Manson bee house would work or if we had any mason bees in Florida. Well i am ordering another because we have bees! they are so litle and most of the holes have been filled from the bees. I am ordering another because i want to do my part and save the bees"

 

[FarmerDenise]

They( the EPA) aren't Morons.......they are simply GREEDY. BAYER and other large corporations money is what gets their attention and gets the crap like this passed.
This country needs a revolt. A real, down and dirty, fighting in the streets,burning of corporate buildings kind of revolt.

Count me in too. I am so disgusted with our governing agents greed. They are not protecting the people, the land, or our resources. It's all about the corporates making their money.

Why would anyone think a PESTICIDE would NOT affect bees!!!

It reminds me of my neighbor who sprayed herbicides in his driveway and it got on my vegetables in my sideyard. I had asked him not to spray herbicides. I had offered to remove the weeds growing in the cracks of his driveway. He sprayed anyway. And my vegetables died. He said that the herbicide label said it would only kill weeds. I asked him how smart his herbicide was, that it could tell a weed from a vegetable? He did feel bad, when my vegetables died, and I got my point accross that time.

But when are people going to get it? These things have a long term affect and you cannot test for them in a 5 year study! What about the halflife of these chemicals! How are they going to affect our grandchildren?

 

[big brown horse]

That mason bee house is pretty. You can make your own however for pennys.

You need a 4x4 block of wood and a 5/16 in drill bit...holes should be about 1 inch apart and about 3 inches deep.

I also used about 15 McDonald's straws bent in half and then duct taped all together. I put the bundle into an old coffee can container and placed it out in the south (or west) facing sun.

I have a special mason bee lean-to that is basically a roof and a wall on two posts with a bunch of mason bee blocks hanging.

The straws worked just fine.

 

[Wifezilla]

I was just thinking that mason bee houses might go well at my farmer's market booth

With maybe these being sold as mud cups???

More here
http://annefannie.blogspot.com/2010/03/pretty-spring-garden-art-and-how-to.html

 

[k0xxx]

My daughter built some Mason Bee "hives" with some left over wood from another project. They are easy to make, and most anything with the rights size holes will work. They are constantly plugging up my wife's smaller wind chime pipes, much to her chagrin.

 

[rebecca100]

I REALLY want to get honeybees, but dh absolutely refuses. Our plum tree was buzzing this morning with mason bees though thankfully. I hate to say it but I really can't see any help coming anytime soon for the honeybee. We can do our best to keep them and take good care of htem, but we cannot control what the people around do and I think it simply boils down to ignorance for the common person. The regular person uses it not thinking about or perhaps not knowing that there are effects in the long run.


BTW.... What is a mud cup?????????

 

[Augustmomx2]

I found this mason bee hive on Gardener's Supply website. Does anyone know if this would be something that might work?

http://www.gardeners.com/Mason-Bee-House/BackyardHabitat_Cat,37-481,default,cp.html

We looked into doing bee keeping but are still feeling so overwhelmed with what we are already doing that I just don't feel like I can add one more thing to our extremely long list of things to do.

I have been eyeing the same thing...and wondering the same thing I would love to do beekeeping as well, but with my small yard, full-time job, kids, chickens, etc I'm not quite ready