No bees but plenty of squash bugs

[Chic Rustler]

Went out in the garden and I noticed one of the zuchinni plants died. I pulled it up nd found squash bugs on it and plenty of eggs. Then the hunt began. We searched every squash plant and every leaf on the butternut vines. We tilled a bucket with leaves that had eggs or baby squash bugs on them. Probably 1000 bugs and eggs took a nice dawn bath.

Got to looking at the cucumbers and we have about 200 flowers but not one cucumber. This time last year we had to shew the bees away so we could pick em. Nothing. Not a one. I haven't seen a been since early spring and it was just one. I spoke to some other people in the north Texas area and they haven't seen any bees either.


So I guess the bees are gone. I talked to a guy in Paris tx (about 2 hours away) and he said he will have some in Aug. I guess I'll be a beekeeper if I can get everything researched and a hive ready by then. Gotta do something. We gotta eat and this bee thing is gonna mean famine

 

[Britesea]

We don't keep bees (DH is allergic) but we do encourage mason and other wild bees by setting up houses for them and making sure we have pollen available for as long as possible given our unpredictable weather. I think one of the neatest things I ever saw was watching a bumble bee settle down to sleep in a flower (I think it was a daisy but I can't really remember) and watching her wrap herself in a couple of the petals, as if she was pulling a blanket around her.

 

[Chic Rustler]

These morons are gonna keep spraying crap until there's not any pollinators left. Then when the famine hits they will blame it on global warming or some bs

 

[cabinguy]

Oooooh, another thing to go look up! (Sometimes when I'm here, I wonder what I've been doing my whole life since there's always so much more to learn!) I never even heard of harvesting the cocoons, and wouldn't know a mason bee if one came up and landed on me.I just joined some Facebook groups for gardening in our area, so hopefully I'll learn more on this. @cabinguy, what do you do with the cocoons after you harvest them?

Mason Bee houses have tubes or reeds in them . The Mason bees crawl into the tubes and lay eggs and then they seal the tube with mud. The eggs turn into cocoons by fall. In the fall you open the tube and harvest the cocoon and clean them with a bit of bleach and water to sterilize them. then you can keep them in your fridge till spring set them in your house and they will emerge to pollinate. if your looking for a pollinator its lots of fun and less start up cost than honey bees but no honey. check out the link im sure they can explain better

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I guess I'll be a beekeeper if I can get everything researched and a hive ready by then.

Sure hope you have good luck with that... I'm not even brave enough to try with honeybees. But, DH and I have considered Mason Bees.

https://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/mason-bees/

 

[baymule]

BYH has a bee forum. It would be a good place to ask questions and read past posts to study.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Ah that is so sad. We'll be getting bees in the spring. My husband is the beekeeper of the family. I can ask him for advice if you have any particular questions. It's been a few years since he's had them but he and our older daughter are going to build hives this winter

 

[cabinguy]

Why not just leave them where they are?

Aw leaving them would be to easy you harvest the cocoons because they have many predators such as wasp,
leaf-cutters and pollen mites to name a few; they are also susceptible to fungal diseases. When you put them out in the spring time
it allows you to place them as needed some by the garden,fruit trees and berries. They have a smaller foraging range than honey bees of approx 100 yds . When you harvest the cocoons you can tell the males and female apart based on the size of the cocoon so you can make sure to place them in the houses with both sexes. Good question

 

[CrealCritter]

Bummer... No bees that is not good. You could try and polinate by hand. Best to do early in the morning just after the dew lifts and before the flowers close up.

 

[CrealCritter]

Bummer... No bees that is not good. You could try and polinate by hand. Best to do early in the morning just after the dew lifts and before the flowers close up.

Palmolive orginal green works well, it's kind of satisfying nuking squash bugs.