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Two Different Approaches to Saving Bees

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Re: Two Different Approaches to Saving Bees

#31

Post by garyrichardson »

soperj wrote: post #20
yawz wrote: post #15

When we talk about "saving bees", most people think about honey bees. I'm a hobbyist beekeeper, and honey bees have a good chance of surviving thanks to people who care about them. However, in most places, there are dozens or hundreds of other bee species. We don't know or hear much about them. They are solitary bees, various types of bumblebees, etc. They are the ones disappearing, and fast. Unfortunately, they are…

I make mason bee houses(hotels, whatever) where ever I end up living (renting, moved around a bit). They're pretty awesome, no stingers, pollinate everything, and the houses are easy to build.

Does anyone have links to similar things for North American solitary bees? These houses seem to be UK specific?

Re: Two Different Approaches to Saving Bees

#32

Post by schoen »

frankzander wrote: post #3

Best approach: Use no poison. An alien may say: This humans seem to be bit insane - they put a lot of poison on their fields where they grow their food in order to protect their weak breeded plants against pets while they do everything that this pests have a easy run. Maybe we should search for another planet where the creatures seem to be more sane.

The aliens might be equally surprised that many of our medicines are also poisonous to us. Yet (as someone put it to me when describing anti-worm medicine that his dog was taking) they're more poisonous to our pathogens or parasites than they are to us. For example, ivermectin, which that dog was probably taking, is poisonous to mammals but much more poisonous to their parasites, while terbinafine is poisonous to humans but much more poisonous to fungi that infect us.

For all of our medicines, we or our doctors have to make a judgment about whether the side effects are worth it for the therapeutic value that we get. If we said that we would never deliberately use any poisonous substances, we might have to throw away most of our pharmacopoeia.

You can try to make an argument against pesticides on the basis that their side effects aren't worth it (and I prefer organics myself), but I think the fact that pesticides are "poison" doesn't get you there by itself.

Re: Two Different Approaches to Saving Bees

#33

Post by skookumchuck »

roel_v wrote: post #29
skookumchuck wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I regularly try to plant my yard with "meadow mix" that includes lots of wildflowers, but the darn stuff never germinates. Just invasive weeds.

Yeah it's usually not as simple as the package wants you to believe. On one plot I tried to renaturalize, birds would eat any seeds within hours after I'd spread them. Are you sowing in existing grass? Clearing some of it may help establish in a few places. Grass is the most noxious weed of all to remove, and the common lawn varieties compete with the sort of flowers in such mixes.

I've sowed on bare dirt, and in grass. As far as I can tell, not a single sprout.

Re: Two Different Approaches to Saving Bees

#34

Post by yawz »

garyrichardson wrote: post #31
soperj wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I make mason bee houses(hotels, whatever) where ever I end up living (renting, moved around a bit). They're pretty awesome, no stingers, pollinate everything, and the houses are easy to build.

Does anyone have links to similar things for North American solitary bees? These houses seem to be UK specific?

I live in Colorado. We have mason bees around here. And you should be able to find mason bee houses in certain big garden centers, big home improvement shops and online:

http://smile.amazon.com/s/?field-keywords=mason+bee+house

Re: Two Different Approaches to Saving Bees

#35

Post by kentbrew »

garyrichardson wrote: post #31
soperj wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I make mason bee houses(hotels, whatever) where ever I end up living (renting, moved around a bit). They're pretty awesome, no stingers, pollinate everything, and the houses are easy to build.

Does anyone have links to similar things for North American solitary bees? These houses seem to be UK specific?

Pinterest is your friend: https://www.pinterest.com/explore/bee-house/
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