[dvan]

This is a serious problem that requires immediate action.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Appreciate your sincerity, but bees are all over my crabapple tree in bloom. Bumblebees and wasps are everywhere. Of course this is just my little acre of land.

(Obviously) I’m no pro beekeeper, but these repeated bee die-off warnings sound more and more political every time reported. “Big Agri Monsanto” and threats of GM biologicals - is “global warming” suddenly not converting enough voters to the hippie culture/left? Or maybe imported bee-related product supplies have something to do with all of this?

In all fairness, if the threat is so serious, and you are so concerned, can you suggest some possible concrete actions that can be taken and by whom? I’m sincerely curious as to what you think because you are so adamant and I like your profile.

[databoss]

Little known fact alert:
honeybees and earthworms didn’t exist in the Americas until brought here by the English in the 1600’s

[visualops]

Well, they can come get bees from my yard, I have loads of them. I had tons of fruit, what killed it this year was the late freeze. My grape vines have recovered well, but no plums or pears this year.

If their bees are “weak”, maybe they need to shore them up with wild bees.

[redgirlinabluestate]

Then there is this theory,

and this one.

I have seen so many different theories on the disappearance of the bees. Which one is it? Or is it a combination of all of them happening at once?

[Post-Neolithic]

Thanks for the info.

[An Old NCO]

I saw a posting some time ago in which someone mentioned that they had seen “Black” bees. I thought that was strange. Tonight while standing at the sink a “Black” bee was in my kitchen window. It looked exactly like a honey bee but black. No this may have nothing to do with the bees being missing but I thought it strange.

[WorkingClassFilth]

bump

[Salvey]

(Merck deliberately allowed tens of thousands to die by Vioxx knowing its harm to the circulation system.)

The writer had my attention until I read this lunatic sentence.

[SampleMan]

Actually, many plants pollinate just find by wind alone. Corn, wheat, and soybeans for instance. And there are a host of insects beside honeybees that help pollinate fruit trees and such.

The honeybee die-off is serious, but its not as apocalyptic as this article makes it sound. They’ll survive and their numbers will come back.

[this_ol_patriot]

Mason bees, I have them all over the place, I think someone is using them as pollinators near here. They are good pollinators and can be a substitute until the honey bees get back on track.

They built nests in the all plastic slotlike places on my hose reel. I couldn't figure out what all the yellow stuff was I was seeing until I did some research. It was the pollen stores put in the cavity where they will deposit their larva.

I’m even thinking of building a mason bee house. It's nothing more than a block of wood with holes drilled in it where the bees deposit their larva with a pollen store. You then put a little roof on it so water doesn't drip in and plastic straws in the holes as a kind of a liner that you can remove and replace to keep the nests clean for future use. Looks like a bluebird house with a solid block of wood drilled full of small holes instead of a box.

[GOPJ]

Are we facing a collapse of our food production thanks to the destruction of our friendly pollinators?

Almonds - maybe more.

Maybe much more.

[3catsanadog]

Bush’s fault.

[Mike Darancette]

What did North America do before it had honeybees?

[RightWhale]

It is only the commercial Corporate bees. Private bees are okay.