Hand Tools, Seeds, and Supplies
(Page 8 of 10)
April/May 1998
By John Vivian
Beekeepers can keep out the Africanized bees by frequent requeening with young queens raised and mated in flying cages, but conventional mite control requires use of strong chemical miticides that are of questionable benefit and that no organic gardener wants in the honey that goes on the children's morning toast. Some organic beekeepers claim that fresh mint leaves placed in hives will repel the nasty little arachnids. We've seen no scientific confirmation, but we'll try it.
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Many gardeners and orchardists have given up on the immigrant honeybee — Apis mellifera came over on the Mayflower or soon after — for the time being, and are doing their best to encourage colonies of native bees — both the many species of small, all-black, stingless native bee, such as the orchard mason bee and the several species of big, stinger-equipped bumblebee.
Neither native bee forms large honey-producing colonies. Both over winter as single mated females that raise small broods or a dozen or more solo young each spring. Adult orchard mason bees feed on nectar and gather pollen and garden-destroying caterpillars for their young. Bumblebees collect nectar and pollen for their small colonies. Both insects serve as effective pollinators for nearby fruit trees and for flowering garden produce.
You can offer bumblebees a place to nest by making birdhouse-sized boxes with three-eighths of an inch or half-inch holes drilled through the front, and filling them with loose cotton batting from an old mattress or seat cushion, or new-bought from a good fabric store. Place them in dry, sheltered places near the ground under your apple trees or beside the garden. Build only from natural, untainted components, such as aged, unfinished wood and real organic cotton, not from particle board and phony fiberfill. Pack the box loosely with cotton full to the top and tight to the entrance hole or all you'll get are paper wasps. If you use birdhouses with normal, bird-sized access holes, you'll be making birthing rooms for families of little brown field mice.
As common as bumblebees — but less conspicuous — are the dozen or more species of mason and carpenter bees found in every area of the continent. You've seen their little stingless black bottoms bobbing in your apple and squash blossoms. Beginning in the spring, females find or dig small holes in soil or soft wood. Their favorite spots include your old house or barn: they like to drill into the unfinished wood sheathing under clapboards or shingles.
They pack the holes with pollen or an anesthetized caterpillar, lay an egg to develop on the bee-food stash, and plaster the opening shut. My bug books say that some species line these little one-shot baby-bee incubators with flower petals! If I had a choice, in my next incarnation...
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