Did you have an apple in your lunch? Thank a bee. A cucumber in your salad? Bees did that too. “They give us blueberries, apples, berries, cherries, melons, grapefruit, avocados, squash, broccoli, carrots, onions, and more. If it lowers cholesterol, improves eyesight or turbocharges the immune system, it was probably fertilized by a bee.” [Rowan Jacobsen, Eating Well] A third of the food we eat would not exist without pollinators. Honeybee hives are trucked around to orchards and fields to keep our agriculture humming.
Not all bees are honeybees — not by a long shot. There are at least 20,000 species of bees in seven families. In the US about 4000 of these are found. Seven of the world’s species are honeybees.
But you don’t have to make honey to be a great pollinator. Here’s a sweat bee coated in pollen. Other insects and even small birds sometimes play a role.
If you want honey, you have to have hives, and lots of equipment.
But if you just want your crops pollinated, you can invite the wild bees to the party. Orchard mason bees like little homes like this, which can be ordered online, along with dormant bees.
Others make their own arrangements. The most important thing is a diverse planting of flowering plants in all seasons, including ones that produce pollen abundantly, since the bees need it to feed their brood. Dandelions are an excellent early spring pollen flower to jump-start the hive’s seasonal growth. Check online for bee-friendly plants that grow well in your area. Many culinary herbs do double duty as pollinator foods. DON’T SPRAY CHEMICALS. Make sure any bedding plants you buy have not been pre-treated with neonicotinoids. If you find ones that are, have a serious chat with the nursery manager. Poisoning bees is NOT COOL.
Most bees are not interested in stinging you. They go about their business very peaceably. Certain species are even calmer than others. Recently, there was quite a problem with African bees who were brought to South America They are very aggressive, as African honey gathering has traditionally been destructive. Chicken or egg?
But in Puerto Rico, the hybrid of European and African bees has quickly evolved a calm temperament. This is very good, because African bees are resistant to some of the pests and diseases that kill European honeybees. Requeening a hive with a Russian queen can also introduce more resistance.
Some hobby beekeepers develop very trusting relationships with their hives. There are folk traditions that say one should tell the bees when there’s a death in the family.
Bees are in trouble because of pesticides, fungi, viruses and mites. The amounts of neonicotinoids they encounter in fields are enough to disrupt their navigation, so some of them don't make it home. And the total number of different chemicals to which they are exposed is even more predictive of trouble for the hive than the level of any one chemical. They need lots of loving care, and we need them! So give the bees some love. They repay it abundantly.
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