Posted on 05/07/2013 8:16:38 PM PDT by Veggie Todd
US honey bees have been dying by the tens of millions, with annual death rates of about 30 percent. With fewer bees to pollinate fruits and vegetables each year, 'beemageddon' may soon cause the collapse of the agriculture industry.
(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...
Traveled to California the first week of March and drove down through the Central Valley. No bee shortages there, thought my radiator would get clogged with all the dead bees.
I saw one bee today.
In the past the grass would be buzzing with them as they flew from dandelion to dandelion, the first ground flower of the season.
Come to think of it, there are not many cluster flies either. It’s been years since I’ve vacuumed the corners of the rooms. I don’t miss them but there’s something wrong out there in the insect world.
We’ve got a whole front yard of white clover. Not a bee to be seen so far. Usually it’s dangerous to walk out there from all the bizzing and buzzing. Not this year.
We’re all gonna die (according to the RT).
Agreed. Widespread chemical? (something like DDT?)
I’m trying to have a front yard of white dutch clover. My brown thumb is winning.
Robot Bees.
And just in case it sounds far fetched and beyond our ‘ability’.... there is this:
Robotic Bees to Pollinate Monsanto Crops
http://earthfirstnews.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/robotic-bees-to-pollinate-monsanto-crops/
Thanks, that article puts things more into perspective.
Dandelions are super healthy, maybe even cancer fighters, at least that is what I have read.
They’re dead Jim. North Fla reporting: two years ago, thousands; now none. Plums, peaches and all but the sand type pears are barren of fruit. Wonder why this hasn’t activated the environmental communist. Persimmons, figs, Jujube, blackberries, nuts, grasses, citrus, mulberry, legumes, tomatoes, etc, seem to be OK. I think beatles and ants will adequately pollinate my squash/melon type plants. The situation is poor as many food types will fail but not one that will result in any starvation, I think.
I have been watching too. Last year my blackberry bushes were covered with Purple Orchard Mason Bees and other small solitary bees. Have not seen 1 this years.
Some of my blackberries have been polinated by some type of bee. I have only seen a few honey bees.
NOW, caution is in order. We have had a 2 year extreme drought. The Temps were very high both summers and now we have had the coolest April & May that I can remember.
Yes, we will survive. No chicken little, the sky is truly not falling.
Our Plums and Pear trees are barren of fruit, but we had 2 very hard late April freezes.
Not just bees. We’re very short of robins this spring where I live. My cat is worried.
I saw a documentary several years ago about senior citizens somewhere in China who had jobs hand-pollinating fruit trees because their bees were gone. Scary.
How else would famine overtake us? Kill the bees, bring on drought. A one-two punch.
>>Agreed. Widespread chemical? (something like DDT?)
This is a global problem. Don’t know if this is the culprit, though.
http://www.startribune.com/world/205325731.html?refer=y
Well, back about a month ago before this latest cool spell got kicked off my blueberries were covered. Maybe it’s just too cool for them to buzz about unnecessarily. I haven’t seen any of my bumblebees so far this year. My moms however had a whole bunch of them. So maybe, just maybe, they need a little warmer weather up here.
I don’t use any of the scary chemicals and none of my close neighbors garden or farm. Before this year it hasn’t been a problem.
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