Colony Collapse Disorder
and what you can do about it.
So if you love eating honey, or more importantly, eating food, you’re probably gonna wanna read this. And then please, dear reader, commit to doing something from the list at the end of this article.
$15 billion dollars worth of fruit, nuts and vegetables are at risk because of all the vanishing bees. Where did they go? What’s happening to them? Well, there are obvious answers, and not so obvious answers.
First let’s take a look at a list of crops that simply will not grow without honey bees:
Forage and Legume Crops: Alfalfa, buckwheat and clover.
Fruit Crops: Apple, apricot, avocado, berry, cherry, citrus, kiwi, mango, passion fruit, peach, pear, persimmon and plum.
Nut Crops: Almond, cashew, chestnut, coconut and macademia.
Oilseed Crops: Cotton, flax, rape, safflower, soybean and sunflower.
Vegetable Seed Crops: Asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chinese cabbage, collard, cucumber, dill, eggplant, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lima bean, mustard, onion, parsley, pepper, pumpkin, radish, rutabaga, squash, turnip.
Vegetable Crops: Beans, cantelope, cucumbers, muckmelon, pumpkin, squash, watermelon, eggplant, lima benas, peppers.
And this is just a partial list! Don’t forget ornamental and flower crops!
It is estimated by the USDA that 30% of our (US) food crop is dependent on honeybee pollination.
Ok, so first what is Colony Collapse Disorder? It is simply a name attributed to the disappearance of entire colonies of bees. For some reason they just simply never return to the hive. From October 2009 to April 2010 28% of beekeeping operations reported that some of their colonies perished without dead bees present totaling a 44% overall loss of their colonies.
Here are the symptoms:
-No adult bees in or around the hive.
-Pupa in cocoons.
-Honey and pollen in hive not consumed.
I’ll save the lecture on bee biological cycles for another post. But I will say that the varying stages of bee development are interdependent on each other. Developing pupae get fed by older generations.
Causes of Colony Collapse Disorder? Who knows? But we can guess at the obvious. Mono-crop agriculture, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, environmental pollution, air-wave pollution, migratory route interruption, global warming, etc.
Personally, I think, yes, all of the above, but largely that the commercial honeybee has been so overly managed (even “organic” honey producers are allowed to use noxious chemicals) that bee-strength and adaptability is probably the first thing to focus on. I’ll explain: Typically, commercial bee colonies are stripped of their hard earned honey, all of it. This is then replaced with simple sugar syrup over winter. All those health benefits of honey and pollen taken away from the species that needs it most? Make sense? So that’s the first place to start. Commercial beekeepers should implement a partial harvesting to allow bees to keep a store to sustain their strength overwinter. (much more to this, but this post is getting rather long)
Ok, so let’s cut to the chase about things you can do:
1. Give a hoot don’t pollute! This means not only automobile emissions, it means reducing your consumption period! A key indicator is how much garbage you put at the curb! Make a commitment to reduce household waste by 1/3!
2. Consider the toxicity of your yard. Do you spray and fertilize? Consider composting kitchen scraps, mulching, removing bugs with a vaccume? (I Do this when ants come in the house, I call it the whirling vortex of death, it works!) Really, this is my number one concern. STOP BUYING THAT TOXIC CRAP AT HOME STORES!!! ALL IT DOES IS INCREASE YOUR COMMUNITIES TOXICITY!!
3. Garden, garden, garden!!! Gardens are the most awesome thing you can do. If it’s not organic, then it’s not a Gardenview™ garden and you are not allowed to come back to this site ever again.
4. Replace your lawn with clover and let it flower! Bees LOVE clover!
5. Turn landscaping beds into mulch factory flower machines! Who needs beauty bark! (I’ll post about this specifically later)
6. Get your neighborhood to commit to green yard management. Send out a flyer, have a pot-luck or just simply talk over the hedge about being green!
7. Lucky #7 Buy an Organichive™ and enjoy being a honeybee naturalist! These hives are proven in the field, awesome, and probably the coolest hobby you could ever do. (I should know, I’m a honeybee naturalist)
So, Gardenview™ friends, there is the short list. I hope you enjoyed the article and that we can link arms to make this world a bit friendlier for our industrious friend the honeybee.
Sources:
OrganicHive™
AH&OH STUDIO – image
Green Living Tips
January 8, 2011
Beneficial Insects, Honeybees