Honeybees

[Pua'i Mana'o]

There seems to be a honeybee problem throughout the world right now. Is Hawai'i experiencing this, too? Why am I having nightmares that the world is going to end, one species at a time, and that the honeybee is heralding in armageddon?

[Miulang]

Re: honeybees

Yes, Pua'i, it's also happening in Hawai'i---on Oahu---for a slightly different reason than what's going on elsewhere in the world (see this thread).

What makes it particularly alarming is that Hawai'i (and the Big Island) is where many of the queen bees that are used to stock hives around the world are from...and if the bee mite makes it over to the Big Island, it will doom a unique and profitable agricultural gem. The Dept. of Agriculture has issued quarantine orders for all hives on Oahu to try to stop the bee mite from spreading to the Neighbor Islands.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: honeybees

According to the Dept. of Agriculture, the varroa bee mite is now spreading throughout Oahu hives. So far, the mite has not been found on the Neighbor Islands, but testing is not complete yet. The beekeepers are asking the State for about $25,000 to help purchase equipment to halt the spread of the infestation.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: honeybees

More interesting information about the odd disappearance of honeybees and the potential threat to our food supply.

Honeybees don't just make honey; they pollinate more than 90 of the tastiest flowering crops we have.

Among them: apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash and cucumbers. And lots of the really sweet and tart stuff, too, including citrus fruit, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, cantaloupe and other melons.

In fact, about one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Even cattle, which feed on alfalfa, depend on bees. So if the collapse worsens, we could end up being "stuck with grains and water," said Kevin Hackett, the national program leader for USDA's bee and pollination program.

"This is the biggest general threat to our food supply," Hackett said.

While not all scientists foresee a food crisis, noting that large-scale bee die-offs have happened before, this one seems particularly baffling and alarming.

Let's hope Hawai'i can keep its colonies on the Big Island safe from the varroa mite that is infecting Oahu's hives so that there are healthy queen bees that can help replenish the bee stocks.

Miulang

[Karen]

Re: honeybees

WEll.....yeah...sighing....I live Central Oahu and we have a lychee tree and a couple of avocado that bear fruit, and one of miniature Guava, I think it's called. We have some fruit on the guava while I've only noticed a couple of bees in the past few mos.

"Noticed" is the operative term there but....right now is the time of my concern. It's the season of the dropping of all avocado leaves and growing new ones and the beginning of the fruit, very early on and the leaves are all down and all of the tiny new growth on the thing, but not ONE bee can be noticed, so the very few around, we are simply missing. usually, with the tree looking as it does they're swarming and were as late as last year though the problem with them disappearing was already known.

The Lychee never drops all of its leaves but millions of the tiny little buds that will eventually be the fruit do drop right now, and of course many stay on tree, but same thing.....this time last year while we would be sweeping up buds from the patio, the tree was swarming with bees. Not this year! Hubby and I stood out in the back yard staring up, and could not find even ONE bee on either tree.

Any of you noticing your usual swarm, or lack of?

[Got2HaVKaYaNoW]

Re: honeybees

have you noticed...that bee's have gotten more media attention since the release of The Bee Movie.

Seinfield did more than his share of bee awareness...I love that movie.

[Karen]

Re: honeybees

No, I haven't. How long ago did the Bee Movie come out? I hadn't heard of it.

It was this time last year that bees were getting a lot of attention in the news. Their populations have drastically died out and I think most states reported literally half of them were gone. KGMB did a news report on it, well more than one last year but they did one where they interviewed a lady that's a beekeeper on Oahu here, I think and she said half were gone.

This year? am wondering if it's even worse because Central Oahu and our neighborhood sure is.

[timkona]

Re: honeybees

Cannot substantiate this after a brief search on the net, but I heard a friend of mine talking about the mass extinctions of humans within 4 years of the bees dying out. They must be pretty important.

[Karen]

Re: honeybees

They are needed to polinate about half of our food supply, anyway, it isn't everything, thank the Lord.

That report sounds drastic and exaggerated, but I don't doubt someone posted it on the net and it's gotten a lot of attention.

Daughter brought her cattle dog over with her to visit and played with him in the backyard for maybe an hour. Said she saw two honeybees while out there. Yeah....should be fifty....not two, the way the trees look.

[Da Rolling Eye]

Re: honeybees

Well something's been pollinating our tangerine and orange trees and poha bush. We got new fruit already coming in on both trees. Looks like a bumper crop for our orange tree. The tangerine is starting to fruit almost year round. The poha bush looks to be starting the biggest crop we've seen yet. Probably more than enough to make jam this year.

We seem to have a fair amount of bees, but I did notice a decrease on an ornamental tree in the front yard. Usually got choke honey bees and they make it hard to trim the tree.

On another flowering bush, I've been seeing mostly carpenter bees and butterflies where it used to be only honey bees. Even on our bougainvillea (sp?). These past couple years I've been finding more and more caterpiller/butterfly droppings on the leaves. What's unusual is they seem to be monarch butterflies, which usually hang out on crown flower bushes. Like in Jurassic Park, somehow nature will find a way.

[Honoruru]

Re: honeybees

\
Any of you noticing your usual swarm, or lack of?

Come to think of it, I donʻt recall seeing a honeybee in quite a while. I donʻt actually look for them, but I would remember seeing them.

Now, Iʻll try to look for them. Iʻll report if I see one.

[WindwardOahuRN]

Re: honeybees

Well something's been pollinating our tangerine and orange trees and poha bush. We got new fruit already coming in on both trees. On another flowering bush, I've been seeing mostly carpenter bees and butterflies where it used to be only honey bees. Even on our bougainvillea (sp?). These past couple years I've been finding more and more caterpiller/butterfly droppings on the leaves. What's unusual is they seem to be monarch butterflies, which usually hang out on crown flower bushes. Like in Jurassic Park, somehow nature will find a way.

My little dwarf citrus trees are bursting with blooms and new fruitlets, too. And I have a cherry tomato plant that self-seeded in one of my flower pots that has obviously been pollinated by something. I have seen those big fat carpenter bees hanging around the plants more than in the past and very few honeybees. Lots of butterflies, too.

[kani-lehua]

Re: honeybees

well, our tomato plant died. we're going to try some peppers and beefsteak tomatoes again. got the papaya going. the mango tree had a gazillion flowers on it. usually the wind blows most of them off. but, i noticed that they kinda seem "withered" or just like dead. it's coming into fruition, but with less fruit than i had imagined. the guava tree fruits perpetualy.

haven't seen many bees. have seen a few monarchs. even the ilima is blooming.

now, do any of you have an organic pesticide/concoction that you use? just bought some neem oil and am going to try it.

[WindwardOahuRN]

Re: honeybees

now, do any of you have an organic pesticide/concoction that you use? just bought some neem oil and am going to try it.

I generally just use insecticidal soap or sometimes a pyrethrin-based product. I used to be more into killing bugs but in the eight years we've lived here I've realized that it is such a losing battle. A killing frost can be a wonderful thing, lol, and I miss it sometimes.
I'm not all that wonderful of a gardener anymore---my plants often survive in spite of me not because of me. I thought my little dwarf lime tree was a goner but lo and behold it gathered its strength and is now blooming away. It's in a big pot---I just fed it and topped off the soil and it looks happy.
My garden in NY was really quite something. Lots of vegetables, perennials, flowering shrubs. I thought gardening here would be fun but it hasn't been. Too humid for a lot of veggies, I've found. IME they often start out beautifully and then succumb to mold and mildew. By the time you factor in what you spend trying to save that wilting zucchini plant you could have saved yourself a lot of time, effort, and money by just buying them at the farmer's market. I did have some success with Japanese eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and hot peppers.
My soil is crap here (heavy dense clay) so I've been more into container gardening.
There's a funny little book called "The $64 Tomato." It's about a guy who decides to grow heirloom Brandywine tomatoes and what those tomatoes actually ended up costing him.
Bet they tasted good, though....

http://www.64dollartomato.com/default.htm

[Karen]

Re: honeybees

Thanks Honoruru, et al...

yesterday we had four and maybe six....man, they jump into and out of sight quickly...honeybees on the lychee.

I am wondering what insects besides honeybees can and do pollinate our food supply.