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Pollinating happening without the bees
Have yet to see first bee this season. Seems like a number of wasps
are buzzing around garden and apparently ants are pollinating my squash and cucumbers and both seem to be doing well here in Atlanta. Tomatoes planted mid March are bursting with fruit some of which are about market size but still green. Good supply of bush beans are ready every day. Johnny Great resource for gardening articles: www.raised-garden-bed.com |
Pollinating happening without the bees
"Johnny" wrote in message oups.com... Have yet to see first bee this season. Seems like a number of wasps are buzzing around garden and apparently ants are pollinating my squash and cucumbers and both seem to be doing well here in Atlanta. Tomatoes planted mid March are bursting with fruit some of which are about market size but still green. Good supply of bush beans are ready every day. Johnny Great resource for gardening articles: www.raised-garden-bed.com I haven't seen any bees either but so far everything is producing. |
Pollinating happening without the bees
Johnny wrote:
Have yet to see first bee this season. Seems like a number of wasps are buzzing around garden and apparently ants are pollinating my squash and cucumbers and both seem to be doing well here in Atlanta. Tomatoes planted mid March are bursting with fruit some of which are about market size but still green. Good supply of bush beans are ready every day. Johnny Great resource for gardening articles: www.raised-garden-bed.com An older guy at my in-law's retirement comm. keeps a lot of hives and is seeing MASSIVE amounts of honey. No 'hive collapse' PLUS vastly increased production. Last year was drought conditions but so far thois year we've had a lot of rain. Carl -- to reply, change ( .not) to ( .net) |
Pollinating happening without the bees
On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:38:14 -0500, Carl 1 Lucky Texan
wrote: Johnny wrote: Have yet to see first bee this season. Seems like a number of wasps are buzzing around garden and apparently ants are pollinating my squash and cucumbers and both seem to be doing well here in Atlanta. Tomatoes planted mid March are bursting with fruit some of which are about market size but still green. Good supply of bush beans are ready every day. Johnny Great resource for gardening articles: www.raised-garden-bed.com An older guy at my in-law's retirement comm. keeps a lot of hives and is seeing MASSIVE amounts of honey. No 'hive collapse' PLUS vastly increased production. Last year was drought conditions but so far thois year we've had a lot of rain. Same here in NH. My beekeeper friend is reporting a good year with 30% winter loses - normal for him and below normal for others in the area. The colonies he keeps on my property are busy, busy, busy. The reports of bee problems may be isolated to areas that use single crop practices. Our honey bees are happily servicing the clover that I use for ground cover, the raspberries and strawberries. Of course they covered the fruit trees when they were in bloom. My friend believes that provided a varied and balanced food supply has much to do with the good results. For those who think that I am a heathen because I use insecticides, I do so right next to the bee hives with no ill effects. Maybe I ain't such a bad guy after all. John |
Pollinating happening without the bees
John Bachman expounded:
Same here in NH. My beekeeper friend is reporting a good year with 30% winter loses - normal for him and below normal for others in the area. The colonies he keeps on my property are busy, busy, busy. New England in general didn't suffer as much from colony collapse, more from the strange winter. All of our hives (in MA and ME) are doing extremely well. The reports of bee problems may be isolated to areas that use single crop practices. Our honey bees are happily servicing the clover that I use for ground cover, the raspberries and strawberries. Of course they covered the fruit trees when they were in bloom. My friend believes that provided a varied and balanced food supply has much to do with the good results. The need for variety is true, however, there is also no proof that the bee problems are isolated to areas of single crop practices. The experts have not spoken, the internet rumors are rampant. For those who think that I am a heathen because I use insecticides, I do so right next to the bee hives with no ill effects. Maybe I ain't such a bad guy after all. Depends entirely on what kinds of insecticides. No matter, I'd still not be very pleased with a neighbor who uses insecticides. We're on the no spray list with the county, also, so they won't be spraying for mosquitos near our hives. -- Ann, gardening in Zone 6a South of Boston, Massachusetts e-mail address is not checked ****************************** |
Pollinating happening without the bees
On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 21:54:05 -0400, Ann wrote:
John Bachman expounded: Same here in NH. My beekeeper friend is reporting a good year with 30% winter loses - normal for him and below normal for others in the area. The colonies he keeps on my property are busy, busy, busy. New England in general didn't suffer as much from colony collapse, more from the strange winter. All of our hives (in MA and ME) are doing extremely well. The reports of bee problems may be isolated to areas that use single crop practices. Our honey bees are happily servicing the clover that I use for ground cover, the raspberries and strawberries. Of course they covered the fruit trees when they were in bloom. My friend believes that provided a varied and balanced food supply has much to do with the good results. The need for variety is true, however, there is also no proof that the bee problems are isolated to areas of single crop practices. The experts have not spoken, the internet rumors are rampant. For those who think that I am a heathen because I use insecticides, I do so right next to the bee hives with no ill effects. Maybe I ain't such a bad guy after all. Depends entirely on what kinds of insecticides. No matter, I'd still not be very pleased with a neighbor who uses insecticides. We're on the no spray list with the county, also, so they won't be spraying for mosquitos near our hives. story in Today's (Sunday) LA Times http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...ck=1&cset=true |
Pollinating happening without the bees
On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 05:58:37 GMT, Charles
wrote: story in Today's (Sunday) LA Times http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...ck=1&cset=true also http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...ck=2&cset=true |
Pollinating happening without the bees
Charles expounded:
On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 05:58:37 GMT, Charles wrote: story in Today's (Sunday) LA Times http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...ck=1&cset=true also http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...ck=2&cset=true Well, I don't register with these things so I can't read the article. Can you sum it up? -- Ann, gardening in Zone 6a South of Boston, Massachusetts e-mail address is not checked ****************************** |
Pollinating happening without the bees
My understanding is that tomatoes are wind-pollinated.
Well, not exactly, this is a somewhat complicated story. See for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Pollination The short version is that outdoors, it is unlikely to be a problem, but if growing tomatoes indoors, you may need to shake them (or do something else, as described in that article), to get them to pollinate themselves. |
Pollinating happening without the bees
On Jun 10, 3:33?pm, Johnny wrote:
Have yet to see first bee this season. Seems like a number of wasps are buzzing around garden and apparently ants are pollinating my squash and cucumbers and both seem to be doing well here in Atlanta. Tomatoes planted mid March are bursting with fruit some of which are about market size but still green. Good supply of bush beans are ready every day. Along with many other insects I have lots of hummingbirds... I feed the hummers their sweet juice but they are very busy among all the blooms too. |
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