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Greenfields
Guest
Not where I live , 
an amazing number of insects this year, hover flies ,bees,dragonflies,flies,mosquito …the list goes on and on .
an amazing number of insects this year, hover flies ,bees,dragonflies,flies,mosquito …the list goes on and on .
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JanR
Guest
I am aware that systemic pesticides are poisoning our food. There’s no way to wash them off or peel them off. They are inside the basic tissues of the plant and go all the way to the root.
This is why I try to avoid using toxic chemicals in my garden. I don’t grow food plants, our season up here is too short. But even in my flowerbeds, I have lots and lots of bumblebees, wasps, hornets, ladybugs and all kinds of other wildlife, because I avoid using herbicides and pesticides. It’s a lot of work to get down and dirty into the earth and dig out weeds instead of spraying them, but it’s healthier in the short and long run.
Who know what kinds of toxins we are introducing into our bodies by eating these systemically contaminated vegetables and fruits? These are as bad or worse than highly processed foods that contain all kinds of who-knows-what. Hubby and I have gone almost completely organic. More expensive money-wise, but a lot better for us.
This is why I try to avoid using toxic chemicals in my garden. I don’t grow food plants, our season up here is too short. But even in my flowerbeds, I have lots and lots of bumblebees, wasps, hornets, ladybugs and all kinds of other wildlife, because I avoid using herbicides and pesticides. It’s a lot of work to get down and dirty into the earth and dig out weeds instead of spraying them, but it’s healthier in the short and long run.
Who know what kinds of toxins we are introducing into our bodies by eating these systemically contaminated vegetables and fruits? These are as bad or worse than highly processed foods that contain all kinds of who-knows-what. Hubby and I have gone almost completely organic. More expensive money-wise, but a lot better for us.
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tad
Guest
I remember a day when a drive down our highways meant a lot of squished bugs on your windshield (it took guts to do that!).
Not so much anymore. Either there’s not as many bugs around or they’ve learned to stay off the highways.
Not so much anymore. Either there’s not as many bugs around or they’ve learned to stay off the highways.
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Greenfields
Guest
I was thinking about this topic tonight,watering and watching all the wing-ed things in the air 
I live in rural Australia ,natural open grasslands that is grazed and cropped .The countryside is yellow with canola crops in Spring ,crop rotation with oats,barley and wheat also.Many acres sown down to white clover to be cut for hay.
Bee farmers bring boxes of bees to both pollinate and make honey which is very beneficial to both lots of farmers. These are introduced bees,not native.Lost of squashed bees on the windshield driving at that time
Later we have so many white cabbage moths come …something else I didn’t see as a girl because we didn’t grow canola in the district.
The bird population has also changed,following the insects.
Early Spring is positively humming with things ,beetles emerging out of the ground .
This year as every year one insect in particular will be more prolific.At the moment its hover flies
Some years it’s Rutherglen bugs,some years there’s bucket loads of cockshaffer beetles,crickets ,locusts or dragonflies or ghost moths .
We are possibly going to have a wetter than usual January…the last time this happened there were frogs everywhere,so many dragonflies and locusts and grasshoppers…everyone drove cars with smeared insects.
I live in rural Australia ,natural open grasslands that is grazed and cropped .The countryside is yellow with canola crops in Spring ,crop rotation with oats,barley and wheat also.Many acres sown down to white clover to be cut for hay.
Bee farmers bring boxes of bees to both pollinate and make honey which is very beneficial to both lots of farmers. These are introduced bees,not native.Lost of squashed bees on the windshield driving at that time
Later we have so many white cabbage moths come …something else I didn’t see as a girl because we didn’t grow canola in the district.
The bird population has also changed,following the insects.
Early Spring is positively humming with things ,beetles emerging out of the ground .
This year as every year one insect in particular will be more prolific.At the moment its hover flies
Some years it’s Rutherglen bugs,some years there’s bucket loads of cockshaffer beetles,crickets ,locusts or dragonflies or ghost moths .We are possibly going to have a wetter than usual January…the last time this happened there were frogs everywhere,so many dragonflies and locusts and grasshoppers…everyone drove cars with smeared insects.
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Divine3
Guest
@Greenfields Thank you for your delightful description of rural Australia. The appreciation and knowledge of natures surroundings portrayed helps open the mind to a place I have never had the gifted opportunity to visit.
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adamhovey1988
Guest
I know this is going to sound terrible to some people, but bees are not the only pollinators for one, and two, European honey bees, here in the United States are an invasive species, we shouldn’t be allowing invasive species to get to that magnitude. I’m not so sure I have a problem with them dying off somewhere they’re not supposed to be to begin with.
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Divine3
Guest
I think there might be a confused identity regarding the honey bee brought to us from Europe. The killer bees are helping kill off the honey bee.
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Divine3
Guest
No, after reading the article I just posted, I understand what you mean but systemic pesticides will kill off all the bees…if money is the God of some unethical business… Then we all suffer from not being willing to respect nature and its laws. The easy route, fast route just might be giving us Cancer and other evils.
J
JanR
Guest
Systemic pesticides kill not just honeybees but other beneficial insects, including wild bees. There isn’t just one species affected, but many.
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Greenfields
Guest
Cropping also brings more insects with all the pollen ,and extra habitat that wouldn’t naurally be there in the first place,such as where I live .The sprays certainly don’t kill all of them !
Studies would have to be on an area by area ,country by country basis over a long period of time .
Studies would have to be on an area by area ,country by country basis over a long period of time .
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Greenfields
Guest
There is a market for native bee honey here,quite expensive and an expanding little industry.
This was from the Australian National Geographic that I though was interesting.
" Australia’s honey bees, in contrast to the rest of the world, are still free of Varroa mites. A CSIRO survey of 1,240 hives across Australia found that deformed wing virus is also not present. The absence of both the mite and the viruses it carries may help to explain why colony collapse has not (yet) been observed in Australia. "
https://www.agriculture.gov.au/pests-diseases-weeds/bees
This was from the Australian National Geographic that I though was interesting.
" Australia’s honey bees, in contrast to the rest of the world, are still free of Varroa mites. A CSIRO survey of 1,240 hives across Australia found that deformed wing virus is also not present. The absence of both the mite and the viruses it carries may help to explain why colony collapse has not (yet) been observed in Australia. "
https://www.agriculture.gov.au/pests-diseases-weeds/bees
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