Pollinator Problems

[Setec Astronomy]

I've been noticing what seems to be to be rather low fruit set on my tomatoes and perhaps my peppers. I have plenty of peas and my strawberries seem to be setting fruit.

I noticed last year that there seemed to be no honeybees, and the couple I did see seemed lethargic. That was depressing but I was consoled when I saw that there seemed to be plenty of little green bees, and some bumblebees. Later in the year I did see some honeybees.

I normally grow some basil plants as pollinator support, but they aren't flowering yet.

I was just outside, it almost June 1, it's 80 degrees outside, bright sunshine. I grow a lot of plants on my deck, and I have a couple of honeysuckle growing up trellises on the side of the deck, which spill over the railing. They are starting to bloom. I stood there for 4 or 5 minutes--I did not see one pollinator, not one.

Then I went out front, where I have rhododendrons that are all in bloom, 100 flowers or more. I saw one lonely bumblebee, and a green bee that didn't seem to know what he was doing. After a while a second bumblebee joined in. Next I looked at the hundreds of clover blossoms in my lawn...one solitary honeybee, that's it.

This seems wrong. My neighbor has, last year and this, had a mosquito service spraying his yard weekly. It really seems to have helped with the mosquitos, but I have to think it might be doing something to the pollinators. Reading about it they typically use pyrethrin sprays, which can be brought back to the hive in the pollen, and kill off the hive, even if it's nowhere near the area that was sprayed.

Color me depressed.

[worth1]

This is horrible.
Too many insecticides being used for no reason.
A kerosene lantern or two placed strategically up wind will keep mosquitoes at bay.
I lived in a desert and mosquitoes only lived in the swamp coolers if they weren't taken care of.

[Setec Astronomy]

So what have I been doing the last couple of hours? Out of desperation I went out in the yard with my electric toothbrush to "be the bee". Besides Chevy Chase going through my head "be the ball, Billy, be the ball", it was pretty freaky to be out in my plants and I was the only thing buzzing, reminded me of looking up in the sky on 9/11 when there were no airplanes to be seen.

Then I was looking where to buy bees...seems Mason bees are out of season, I could get some leafcutter bees, but I found a place selling Italian queen honeybees with 3-5 attendants--I'm not clear if you just release her and she takes her subjects with her and finds a place to build a hive, or if she's supposed to be put into one of those hive boxes. They also sell "bee packages" with 3 pounds of bees etc. but those definitely seem to be for beekeepers to put in a hive box, and I'm not going to go that far.

[worth1]

Normally tomatoes don't require pollinators.
Honeybees come from Asia and tomatoes from America.
I've honestly never seen a Honeybee on a tomato blossom with them all over everything else.

[bower]

Your low fruit set on tomatoes and peppers is probably due to weather conditions and transplant stress, as they really don't depend on pollinators. Even a little breeze is enough for most to set some fruit by their own shedding of pollen. Well it does depend on variety, too. A fan is good if you don't have time for personal attention, to give them a shake. Other than weather conditions that cause drops, honestly, the varieties that readily pollinate themselves are the keepers for me. I confess that I drum my fingers on the cages singing a little bee song if I don't see sets... but I really like varieties that just do it.

OTOH the pollinator situation is sad... and I hate to tell you, rhododendrons are toxic to bees. I just learned this a couple years ago, I have some other weeds in my area toxic to bees which I've been sword fighting any chance i get. It is quite tricky to provide for bees, you need flowers that come at different times of season and so on.... Worthy of effort. Such a shame about the rhodos.

[pepperhead212]

Tomatoes don't need pollinators, but they do help. It's still early here, for most pollinators, and early on I go around, while trimming the tomatoes, and buzz the early blossoms with one of those things like electric toothbrushes, and most of them set fruit. I saw my first fruits on 5-23, after planting all of them on 5-1. Now, a week later, several more have set fruit, plus have more clusters of blossoms. Eventually, I'll stop buzzing them - just too many blossoms, and the pollinators will take over. The parsley, chives, sage, and other flowering plants are just starting up, and soon I should have plenty of bees, and other pollinators. Fortunately, there are no sprayers around here.

Here's that Yellow Warren that was the first to flower in my garden, and set that first fruit, starting 5-23. So far, every one of those blossoms have set fruit, with 4 left on the end. Can't see them all here, but some of the 8 are visible. And I'm sure that "buzzing" helps with those early blossoms. Just now I started seeing a number of bumblebees on my tomatillos.
First cluster of blossoms on Yellow Warren, 5-30, set every blossom so far. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[Setec Astronomy]

You guys are party poopers...I was all worked up into a lather, and now you tell me I don't need no stinkin' bees. I got in such a funk I took a nap instead of pruning everything to double-leader. But I just ate a plant-based hot dog, and you don't need any bees for that, either...wait, scratch that, reverse it.

Anyway, I think I'm going to order a "bee package" of some of those solitary cocoon bees, some come now, and the mason bees will come next spring, and I'm going to email the other place about the Italian queen bees (I'm referring to insects, lest anyone get the wrong idea that I'm referring to a mail-order bride).


And yes, I think The Gotch has infected me with his brand of forum playfulness (with maybe a little Worth thrown in). Hopefully I'm not stealing your thunder.

While I was posting this, Pepperhead chimed in. Thank you. I've only been doing this a few years so I don't have a great frame of reference, and last year it did seem like the bees and stuff came on later (I'm having a vague memory of a thread discussing when the bees come out), but last year was the beginning of the mosquito spraying in the adjoining yard, so...thanks all for cheering me up, a little bit, anyway. And I'm going to take Pepperhead's tip about "being the bee" early on, can't hurt.

[pepperhead212]

@Setec Astronomy You might want to get some of those leaf-cutter beas, instead of mason bees, as the mason bees are pretty much finishing up their season when the tomatoes and other vegetables are starting up. Good for fruit trees, I hear, and other earlier flowering plants.

[Setec Astronomy]

@Setec Astronomy You might want to get some of those leaf-cutter beas, instead of mason bees, as the mason bees are pretty much finishing up their season when the tomatoes and other vegetables are starting up.

Yes, that's what the cocoon bee place is selling, the leaf-cutter, they have a package with both, the leaf-cutter shipping now, the mason next spring.

[brownrexx]

@Setec Astronomy yes, bees of all types are having a tough time, especially the honeybees. We kept hives of honeybees for years and the last time we found an entire hive empty with dead bees laying all over the place, we got discouraged and gave up. it was really depressing.

Too many people spraying too many pesticides and herbicides. We do not use lawn sprays here and I garden organically. I have lots of flowering plants to help the pollinators. They really like the flowers of oregano and other herbs.

You can plant some annual flowers right in your garden to attract pollinators to the area. It really works.

[Setec Astronomy]

I have lots of flowering plants to help the pollinators. They really like the flowers of oregano and other herbs.

You can plant some annual flowers right in your garden to attract pollinators to the area. It really works.

Thanks, I have two big honeysuckles right in the area, a couple of oregano bushes, and I usually have about 30 basil plants, a dozen Piccolino and 18 or so of the ones that get the long continuously flowering stems, in past years I've done a combination of Cinnamon Basil and African Blue Basil, this year I couldn't get the ABB so all Cinnamon and a few Blue Spice...I really don't like the way the Blue Spice smells, although they look like very robust plants.

[karstopography]

In our vegetable and flower gardens, carpenter bees are generalists and may be found foraging on a number of different species. They, like bumblebees are early morning foragers. Carpenter bees land on flower blossoms they become living tuning forks. Using their powerful thoracic muscles carpenter bees sonicate the dry pollen grains out of the flower’s anthers. This type of pollen gathering is called “buzz pollination.” Carpenter bees are excellent pollinators of eggplant, tomato and other vegetables and flowers.

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/polli ... bees.shtml
Look into encouraging carpenter bees around your garden. They are native to New Jersey. Here, the nest in a variety of wood and timber including the bambusa genus bamboo I use for garden stakes. They love the tomato blossoms and are very gentle and active.

[Sue_CT]

H*ll no! I have carpenter bees and they have been drilling into the wood above my basement windows for several years. Trying figure out what to do. I sprayed bee spray into the holes once and don't want to do that again because I didn't see a bee for weeks or a couple of months afterwards. I want to put metal flashing up there so they can't drill in any more but I don't know how to make sure they are out of there first. But I can't let them destroy the house. I would not recommend encouraging them unless your house is all masonry, like brick.

[Setec Astronomy]

Look into encouraging carpenter bees around your garden. They are native to New Jersey. Here, the nest in a variety of wood and timber including the bambusa genus bamboo I use for garden stakes. They love the tomato blossoms and are very gentle and active.

That's crazy--I grow most of my plants on my deck, and I can show you the Carpenter Bee damage (well, the woodpecker damage from trying to get to the Carpenter Bee larva). No thanks. Whenever I see a big bumblebee with a tool belt, I get nervous.

[Setec Astronomy]

H*ll no! I have carpenter bees and they have been drilling into the wood above my basement windows for several years. Trying figure out what to do. I sprayed bee spray into the holes once and don't want to do that again because I didn't see a bee for weeks or a couple of months afterwards. I want to put metal flashing up there so they can't drill in any more but I don't know how to make sure they are out of there first. But I can't let them destroy the house. I would not recommend encouraging them unless your house is all masonry, like brick.

Thanks for the backup, Sue. They make little corks that you can put in the holes after you treat them, so you can tell which ones are fresh. I used to use Drione dust that you pump in there, that kills the parent, and gets on the larvae after they pupate and emerge (or maybe it kills them in the larval stage if it gets in far enough). I'm not sure if they make Drione anymore, I think the current equivalent might be something like Delta Dust. These dusts also work well for yellow jacket nests inside concrete blocks and other cavities (don't ask me how I know, I don't want to talk about it...too many nights on a ladder with a flashlight dusting huge nests in hollow walls...oops, I think I just talked about it).

I'm not sure you need to go as far as flashing, paint or opaque stain should do the trick, that apparently keeps them from smelling the wood. I used to have the problems you are describing all over my deck, until I stained the bottoms of the facscia boards (in my case cedar, covering over the pressure-treated structural members).

[karstopography]

@Sue_CT and @Setec Astronomy yea, they haven’t been bothering our house or anything like that, but ours is primarily brick and glass, with only painted wood trim, soffits and facia.

Too bad they like your structures, they are the best and most reliable pollinators here.

[Sue_CT]

They are basically all the pollinators I see, so I REALLY hate to kill them. I wish I could just drive them out somehow and then plug up the holes and put something there to prevent them from drilling new holes.

[Setec Astronomy]

Sue, Is that wood above your basement windows painted? It may be all you need is a coat of paint, to send them looking for some "real" dead wood.

Here's the corks, these are insanely expensive but a whole bunch of other corks came up when I searched for "carpenter bee plugs":

I don't remember if I have any left...if I can figure out where I would have put them, I'll see if I can get you a measurement.

[pepperhead212]

Only one season, many years ago, did I have trouble with carpenter bees. Not sure what keeps them away from the deck, now, but I see them fly around it, then away, like there's something they don't like there, and I watch closely! Maybe it is the stain I use now (Behr solid), though it's several years old, and underneath is not stained. I have a lot of them, and it was only that one year I caught any drilling.

Maybe it's that clove/cinnamon spray I occasionally spray on weeds under there?

[worth1]

I've come to the conclusion carpenter bees prefer 1/4 to 5/16 holes.