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Post by ZandraJoi on Apr 28, 2020 9:18:46 GMT -5
Most pesticides harm the bad but also the good bugs. Neonicotinoids is one of them that some growers are now putting Neon.-free. Home Depot carries plants & flowers from Bell’s Nursery which don’t contain any. Menard’s hasn’t stepped up yet. Places use cop-outs. I tell them to talk to REAL Organic Growers. Rodale Institute is huge & been around over 6 decades. Xerces for 4 decades. They know what they are talking about & have great success in NOT hurting our beneficial insects, the environment, & humans in the process (reports have also shown pets & humans having higher rates of cancer/ diseases w/ ‘cides & other toxic chemicals). Would the cost be up? Yes. Would most be willing to pay? We would! Health is more important to us. We are not rich, but we pick & choose. Are ‘cides, toxins directly responsible? No. Humans are. Money is more so. A lot of chemicals, INCLUDING neonicotinoids used in the USA, are BANNED in other countries. Again, look to Rodale. Ask THEM. If there are alternatives, there is no excuse. Why think short-term when the long-term is most important? “If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem.”- Eldridge Cleaver We all must do our part to help the environment. Ask questions & don’t settle. honeybeesuite.com/a-warning-about-bee-friendly-plants Xerces Society- Neonics can last up to 6 yrs. Some longer if on woody plants. www.xerces.org/neonicotinoids-and-bees www.pollinator.org
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2020 22:29:57 GMT -5
I got an underground nest of bee looking guys who sting me when I'm mowing near their entrance. Are these the not good kind and if so how should I get rid of them?
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Post by ZandraJoi on Apr 29, 2020 10:28:17 GMT -5
If they sting, they are most likely yellow-jacket wasps. Ground bees are harmless & are beneficial for pollinating. Bees are fatter & hairier. Wasps are sleek. What do they look like? Some ways to get rid of yellow-jackets naturally: -Trap www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Yellow-Jacket-Bottle-Trap/ If you’re like me & need some visuals. A lot of people use this type. Place wherever you see swarms. Some put on the ground, some hang. We tried a trap similar but we used apple cider vinegar & banana peels. The fermentation & sweetness attracts them. Soap prevents insects from being able to fly out. Replace as needed. -Sprinkle food-grade diatomaceous earth heavily around any entrance you find. DE has to remain dry in order to work. We use DE to get rid of ants, fleas, etc. It is not a fast kill but dehydrates insects. -Dish soap. 4 tablespoons to 2 cups hot water. Pour it down the hole at night. Can also use a hose attachment. -Vacuum. Use a cleaned out shop-vac filled w/ soapy water solution & vacuum them up. Leave them in there for few hours.
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Post by ZandraJoi on May 15, 2020 14:10:56 GMT -5
To help hydrate our little pollinators, set up a water feeder by filling a pie pan with marbles & then water. The marbles give the bees a spot to land so that they don't drown when they come to drink. No more drowned bees! www.myrmecos.net/2011/10/11/how-to-tell-the-difference-between-honey-bees-and-bumble-bees I remember it by Bumblebees are Big, both letter ‘b’. www.thegardenerseden.com/?tag=what-does-it-mean-when-a-bumble-bee-raises-its-leg“When I snapped the photo above —amused by the sight of a bumble bee raising one of its mid legs— I thought perhaps it was stretching. Surprise, surprise! I recently learned that this is a defensive behavior. The bumble bee was warning me to back off, because I (& my camera lens) got too close for comfort!” I had saw this myself a few times! First time I didn’t know what to think but my instinct was to give it some room. Then he lowered his leg. Honeybees can forage 2 miles but some have done up to 6 miles. Bees won't sting unless have to 'cos they'll die so it's a last defense. I hate the 'bee therapy' people use. Even if bees weren't dying off. You are killing a creature for a human. Bee & Woman become friends. Never would have believed it!
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Post by ZandraJoi on May 18, 2020 13:54:02 GMT -5
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Post by ZandraJoi on May 18, 2020 20:39:56 GMT -5
www.rodalesorganiclife.com/home/wasp-proof-your-yard Wasps, hornets, & yellow jackets are predators that hunt grubs, aphids, & houseflies. Most are generally uninterested in you & not particularly aggressive unless disturbed. All will die come a hard frost or two in the fall; only the queen overwinters. If the nest is away from humans & pets, we've just let nature take its course. Only 38 wasp species sting aggressively & that’s ‘cos they have helpless eggs, etc. to defend. The rest of North America’s 14,500 wasps are shy. Also good pollinators like bees, eat pesky bugs. Males lack stingers. Females, just take precautions. They are vital to the environment.- Birds & Blooms
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Post by ellyfant on Aug 20, 2020 17:41:57 GMT -5
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Post by ZandraJoi on Aug 31, 2020 20:06:54 GMT -5
www.organiclifestylemagazine.com/neonicotinoids-killing-birds-and-bees“Neonicotinoids Killing Birds and Bees One of the largest contributors to the declining bee population in recent years has been linked to neonicotinoids, an insecticide not unlike nicotine. At this point, it is well known that bees are absolutely critical to our survival, as they are responsible for pollinating upwards of 70% of the crops that make up 90% of our diet. In addition to the damage done to the bee population, a new study in Nature Sustainability has shown that neonicotinoids are also causing a drop in the bird population. “While bird populations have been steadily dropping anyway — the authors note that the bird population in the United States has dropped by an estimated 29 percent since 1970 — the researchers were able to separate out the general drop in bird biodiversity from the specific drop that appeared to be due to neonicotinoid spraying.” The pesticide that caused bee colonies to collapse is killing birds now Neonicotinoids are used at a much lower rate than non-neonicotinoids, but they are radically more toxic to the environment. Birds are able to ingest neonicotinoids when they eat crop seeds or insects, and there is a correlation between the consumption of the pesticide and a decline in bird populations. The study found that a 100kg increase in neonicotinoid use per county resulted in a 2.2% decrease in grassland bird population, and a 1.4% decrease in non-grassland bird population as well as a 1.6% decrease in insectivorous bird population and 1.5% decrease in non-insectivorous birds. The effects of these pesticides become larger over time as there are fewer and fewer birds able to mate and reproduce. As further evidence, scientists also found a positive correlation between a decrease in neonicotinoid usage and the bird population. After ingesting the pesticide, birds lost weight and waited longer to migrate. Neonicotinoids have also had a negative effect on the reproduction of both birds and bees. As I’m sure you can imagine, any chemical that is toxic to birds and bees, and other insect life, is also toxic to humans.” My notes: Problem is, hard to find places that even know what neon. are.
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Post by Bob on Sept 6, 2020 12:20:19 GMT -5
More and more we are learning how important pollinators are to our food system. You would think that the government would get behind doing something to eliminate the things that are disrupting the system. But no, they will just let them create GMOs, and Impossible foods. Anyone who doesn't see how dangerous this is to our health and well being just doesn't get it. There may not be immediate impact, but the long term effects could be and very well may be devastating. If you have children you should definitely care about these things. What is it going to be like when they are 40 and 50 years old?
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Post by ZandraJoi on Nov 27, 2020 21:18:13 GMT -5
www.naturalnews.com/2020-11-27-wasps-are-quick-learners-with-food-scents.html"Wasps are quick learners, especially when it comes to food scents As it turns out, wasps are fast learners when it comes to associating scents and olfactory cues with food sources. This is according to a team of researchers from New Zealand and Hungary, who, in a series of experiments, found that wasps are able to associate olfactory cues with food without any prior training. As noted in the Journal of Chemical Ecology, invasive social wasps (Vespula vulgaris) residing in New Zealand’s ancient beech forests were found to be attracted to the chemicals benzaldehyde and n-octanol, both of which are responsible for the distinctive odor emitted by honeydew — a sugary and sticky liquid, secreted by aphids and scale insects as they feed on plant sap. The wasps, however, were not responsive to two known wasp attractants, isobutanol and acetic acid. The opposite phenomenon, however, was observed in wasps that have settled in a suburban area in New Zealand, with the researchers noting in their study that the wasps in this area were more responsive to the attractants than they were to the honeydew odor. The same was true in wasps that live in Hungary, with researchers noting their relative indifference to the honeydew odor and their attraction to isobutanol and acetic acid. (Related: Thinking, feeling insects? Study reveals paper wasps are capable of a form of logical (deductive) reasoning.) Wasps naturally develop associative learning As described by the researchers in their study, these results offer proof that the social wasps in New Zealand’s beech forests have naturally developed associative learning. They have learned to equate the odor of the carbohydrate-rich honeydew produced by scale insects to food. According to the researchers, this is the first study to provide conclusive evidence of the occurrence and the development of associative learning of food odor by social insects in a natural ecosystem without any human interference, adding that this ability of wasps to learn and associate particular odors with food might explain their success at being adaptive in different environments. “The associative odor learning discovered in social wasps in New Zealand demonstrates the ability of social wasps to respond and adapt to olfactory signals emanating from sugar resources,” the research team said. The researchers, in their paper, noted that their findings can be used to develop new methods to monitor and control invasive wasp populations in different habitats in the country. Invasive wasps, according to the researchers, are considered to be pests in New Zealand, as they have had detrimental effects on the country’s native fauna — especially those that live in the country’s ancient beech forests. This, the researchers said, is because invasive social wasps tend to hoard and feed extensively on honeydew, rendering the valuable resource unavailable to birds and other native wildlife, which then starve as a result. Not only that, but according to other researchers, the wasps’ insatiable appetite for the sweet substance is altering the composition of the soil in New Zealand’s beech forests, affecting its fertility, nutrient cycling ability and even its natural decomposition processes. “This is an ecosystem that’s evolved over tens of thousands, millions of years that we have come along and effectively changed because we’ve introduced wasps,” Phil Lester, an insect ecologist at Victoria University, said, adding that honeydew plays an integral part in the nutrient cycling process of New Zealand’s forests by providing energy to fungi, bacteria and other flora and fauna in the soil. “We know it’s dramatically changing the environment. The flow-on effects are difficult to predict but they’re quite possibly intense,” Lester explained. Visit Discoveries.news for more stories and studies on animal behavior. Sources include: Link.Springer.com Stuff.co.nz " My notes: Just because creatures don't think like a human does not mean they are not smart.
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Post by Bob on Dec 5, 2020 20:26:24 GMT -5
www.naturalnews.com/2020-11-27-wasps-are-quick-learners-with-food-scents.html"Wasps are quick learners, especially when it comes to food scents As it turns out, wasps are fast learners when it comes to associating scents and olfactory cues with food sources. This is according to a team of researchers from New Zealand and Hungary, who, in a series of experiments, found that wasps are able to associate olfactory cues with food without any prior training. As noted in the Journal of Chemical Ecology, invasive social wasps (Vespula vulgaris) residing in New Zealand’s ancient beech forests were found to be attracted to the chemicals benzaldehyde and n-octanol, both of which are responsible for the distinctive odor emitted by honeydew — a sugary and sticky liquid, secreted by aphids and scale insects as they feed on plant sap. The wasps, however, were not responsive to two known wasp attractants, isobutanol and acetic acid. The opposite phenomenon, however, was observed in wasps that have settled in a suburban area in New Zealand, with the researchers noting in their study that the wasps in this area were more responsive to the attractants than they were to the honeydew odor. The same was true in wasps that live in Hungary, with researchers noting their relative indifference to the honeydew odor and their attraction to isobutanol and acetic acid. (Related: Thinking, feeling insects? Study reveals paper wasps are capable of a form of logical (deductive) reasoning.) Wasps naturally develop associative learning As described by the researchers in their study, these results offer proof that the social wasps in New Zealand’s beech forests have naturally developed associative learning. They have learned to equate the odor of the carbohydrate-rich honeydew produced by scale insects to food. According to the researchers, this is the first study to provide conclusive evidence of the occurrence and the development of associative learning of food odor by social insects in a natural ecosystem without any human interference, adding that this ability of wasps to learn and associate particular odors with food might explain their success at being adaptive in different environments. “The associative odor learning discovered in social wasps in New Zealand demonstrates the ability of social wasps to respond and adapt to olfactory signals emanating from sugar resources,” the research team said. The researchers, in their paper, noted that their findings can be used to develop new methods to monitor and control invasive wasp populations in different habitats in the country. Invasive wasps, according to the researchers, are considered to be pests in New Zealand, as they have had detrimental effects on the country’s native fauna — especially those that live in the country’s ancient beech forests. This, the researchers said, is because invasive social wasps tend to hoard and feed extensively on honeydew, rendering the valuable resource unavailable to birds and other native wildlife, which then starve as a result. Not only that, but according to other researchers, the wasps’ insatiable appetite for the sweet substance is altering the composition of the soil in New Zealand’s beech forests, affecting its fertility, nutrient cycling ability and even its natural decomposition processes. “This is an ecosystem that’s evolved over tens of thousands, millions of years that we have come along and effectively changed because we’ve introduced wasps,” Phil Lester, an insect ecologist at Victoria University, said, adding that honeydew plays an integral part in the nutrient cycling process of New Zealand’s forests by providing energy to fungi, bacteria and other flora and fauna in the soil. “We know it’s dramatically changing the environment. The flow-on effects are difficult to predict but they’re quite possibly intense,” Lester explained. Visit Discoveries.news for more stories and studies on animal behavior. Sources include: Link.Springer.com Stuff.co.nz " My notes: Just because creatures don't think like a human does not mean they are not smart. I think all creatures are smart in their own way. Some of the things they do are amazing. The things they remember, etc. So many times we've seen on nature shows how they are amazing in some way that makes them who they are.
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Post by ZandraJoi on May 21, 2021 8:49:19 GMT -5
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Post by lainee on May 23, 2021 16:49:47 GMT -5
There's no good reason why bees & other good insects should be in danger of extinction.
We have them around our flowers, trees, gardens; they are pollinating and we need them.
They're essential to our ecosystem and we Humans, who think we're so smart, are the main reason they're dying off. That's beyond sad...it's negligence.
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Post by Bob on May 28, 2021 18:40:54 GMT -5
More and more we are learning the importance of bees and other pollinators. I won't kill a bee. Maybe a wasp, but not a bee. They are too important.
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Post by ZandraJoi on Feb 22, 2022 12:57:07 GMT -5
www.naturalnews.com/2020-11-23-bees-important-but-at-risk-of-extinction.html"Bees declared “the most important living being on the planet,” but they may soon be extinct Experts during a debate hosted by the Royal Geographical Society of London made two announcements regarding the nature of bees: one, that they are the most important living beings on the planet, and two, that they are at risk of extinction….” My notes: Scientists don't care that our pollinators are going away. They just think they can substitute lab-made food & we'll be ok.
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Post by Bob on Mar 3, 2022 19:39:53 GMT -5
I don't really like wasps. They just look so evil. Yeah, I wouldn't mess with the nest too much anyway, as long as it's out of the way. Haven't seen many here. Just that one big one a couple years ago, by the burning barrel.
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Post by Bob on Nov 20, 2022 18:27:07 GMT -5
Most pesticides harm the bad but also the good bugs. Neonicotinoids is one of them that some growers are now putting Neon.-free. Home Depot carries plants & flowers from Bell’s Nursery which don’t contain any. Menard’s hasn’t stepped up yet. Places use cop-outs. I tell them to talk to REAL Organic Growers. Rodale Institute is huge & been around over 6 decades. Xerces for 4 decades. They know what they are talking about & have great success in NOT hurting our beneficial insects, the environment, & humans in the process (reports have also shown pets & humans having higher rates of cancer/ diseases w/ ‘cides & other toxic chemicals). Would the cost be up? Yes. Would most be willing to pay? We would! Health is more important to us. We are not rich, but we pick & choose. Are ‘cides, toxins directly responsible? No. Humans are. Money is more so. A lot of chemicals, INCLUDING neonicotinoids used in the USA, are BANNED in other countries. Again, look to Rodale. Ask THEM. If there are alternatives, there is no excuse. Why think short-term when the long-term is most important? “If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem.”- Eldridge Cleaver We all must do our part to help the environment. Ask questions & don’t settle. honeybeesuite.com/a-warning-about-bee-friendly-plants Xerces Society- Neonics can last up to 6 yrs. Some longer if on woody plants. www.xerces.org/neonicotinoids-and-bees www.pollinator.org I think the world is coming to know the importance of bees. Hopefully they will do something about it. I think the biggest thing now is cell phone waves that disorient bees. Then they can't find their way home to the hive, maybe? But think they will do away with cell phones and towers? That will never happen. People are hooked on their cell phones and don't care what they are hurting. Cell phones have become a "necessary" part of society in most people's eyes.
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Post by ZandraJoi on Nov 20, 2022 21:13:09 GMT -5
I think the world is coming to know the importance of bees. Hopefully they will do something about it. I think the biggest thing now is cell phone waves that disorient bees. Then they can't find their way home to the hive, maybe? But think they will do away with cell phones and towers? That will never happen. People are hooked on their cell phones and don't care what they are hurting. Cell phones have become a "necessary" part of society in most people's eyes. I agree with you! More & more people are becoming aware. But then I see some people who have never even heard of neonics.
& as for cell phones, people won't give them up.
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Post by demonskeith on Nov 23, 2022 1:32:37 GMT -5
I tend to leave bees alone and they do their job, but sadly these days killer hornets from Japan are starting to move in and killing bee hives. I hope they can be stopped before things get worse
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Post by Uncrowned on Nov 25, 2022 9:01:44 GMT -5
We do a lot to protect our local bees. Our town even has a new company that is trying to push native landscapes and the public and school buildings are often choosing them over the more fancy landscaping. At home, we have a native flower garden and refuse to use pesticides. The mean bees are super helpful at keeping larger pests out of our garden that most smaller bugs can't harm. So we do our best to even keep them safe and functioning.
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