Hand Tools, Seeds, and Supplies
(Page 9 of 10)
April/May 1998
By John Vivian
You can purchase pre-drilled bee-nesting planks and a supply of orchard mason bees (Osmia lignaria). This is a widespread species that thrives everywhere. Look for them in catalogs from mail order garden-supply firms that specialize in beneficial insects, such as Knox Cellars. They're available only during their November to March winter hibernation period, for about a dollar a bee.
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Fellow wild and natural-gardening fans please take note: if the experience of South Americans who keep local honey-pot bees is any indication, the very existence of our native bees will be threatened anywhere the Africanized killer bees become established. These unwelcome invaders protect their nests aggressively — pursuing intruders for up to a quarter mile from the hive — and out-forage gentler bees. They perpetuate and pass on behaviors developed to survive the difficult liv ing conditions of the drought-prone African veldt. An Africanized bee works herself to death in two-thirds of the time it takes the gentle Italian bees that most beekeepers raise.
Those among us who seek to conserve natural diversity by saving heirloom seeds, reestablishing tall-grass prairies, or raising native butterflies or American bison should also do all we can to help protect our native bees.
BIOLOGICAL PEST CONTROLS
For years, we have been able to spray broccoli and other members of the cabbage family with B.t. or Bacillus thuringiensis, a microbe that causes green cabbage loopers to quit eating and shrivel away to nothing. It is harmless to good bugs and most other life.
When teaching gardening seminars, I've been known to swig the stuff to prove its harmlessness to skeptics. Harmless or not, I must admit that it smells evil and tastes worse.
Now, we can find several specialized strains of Bacillus thuringiensis. M-Trak ® is the trade name of Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis. It's effective against the nefarious Colorado potato beetle.
Another strain, Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, controls mosquitoes and blackflies that breed in ponds and streams. It comes in floating wafers you just toss in the water. Yet another variety kills larvae and adults of fungus gnats. Maybe you've had the unpleasant experience of encountered these fellows; they're the horrid little black flies that sometimes swarm out of garden soil when you bring it indoors.
You'll also find several other organisms that control grasshoppers, whitefly, and more. Most seed catalogs offer a selection of biologicals. For the largest variety, consult catalogs of Peaceful Valley, Gardens Alive! and Planet Natural, formerly BBT — Bozeman Bio-Tech.
SOURCES
Books
How to Have A Green Thumb Without an Aching Back by Ruth Stout (Vantage Press, 1955; republished since in the original and revised editions by several commercial houses).
Although all of these editions are out of print, they are available in used bookstores or from Internet booksellers.
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