Q of the day

SuperGreen

Are you seeing less bees?

 

Our garden is usually abuzz with bees by early june.  They're all over the ornamental sage in the front yard.  They're flying around waiting for the cucumber to flower.  But not this year.  We have not yet seen a single bee.  Not ONE.  We even planted a bunch of flowers that are supposed to attract pollinators (dill, borage, and calendula).  Still nothing.  I like everyone else had been hearing for years that the bees are dying, but it never really hit home until now.  Our garden literally may not get pollinated this year, or ever!  What does that say about the crops that must have bees to fruit, like apples and pears and ornamental flowers?  Eeeeeppp!

bellee

When I was younger I had bees in 4-H and worked at an apiary.  They said the bees are overworked.  Bees used to get the winter season to rest, but now they are trucked all over the country and made to pollinate and produce honey and other products all year. For example bees spend summers in MT and winters in CA.  It is death by overwork.

As far as seeing bees, there are still plenty where I live.  So far it has been a hard year because there was snow until about 2 weeks ago, and now it is raining and flooding.

 

Ms.MKBT

I have only seen two giant bumblebees this year- one at our house and one at my parents' house.  No regular little bees yet

KatelynS07

Last summer we saw about 4 bees. This fall we planted crimson clover and other cover crops. We have seen easily 30+ bees. I've been so ecstatic to see bees!

 

ETA: I was in Argentina for five weeks in February/March and saw bees EVERYWHERE! 

CDMay2006

We have bees this year... A colony of bumblebees seems to have taken up residence in our crawl space.  I haven't crawled in there to check, but when i was working in a flower bed one came out a tiny hole, flew around me till i walked away and then went right back in the hole.  There are also a variety of bees all over our rhododendron and we have apples on our tree, so they must have visited there, as well.  

lous22

We do not have many bees in my area.  In fact, I have to pollinate my cucumber plants myself- otherwise they won't produce!  However, I recently traveled to New Zealand and there were bees EVERYWHERE!  DH and I kept joking that they've all left the U.S. and headed there.   

ScissortailFlycatcher

SO MANY BEES! Not even joking. We just bought this house in February and as soon as there were a few warm days in late March we started to see honey bees.

I was actually a little worried because they would dive bomb my head if I was outside and I couldn't see where they were going. They have eased off a lot, so I'm not sure if they were just welcoming me to the neighborhood.

Bumble bees are everywhere as well, they love the tree in our front yard, people call it a popcorn tree, I don't remember it's real name.

KimW

We've been getting a lot of bees so far.  We just moved to a new area in December so I can't comment on whether this is less or more then normal though.

bim38106

We have a TON of bees, wasps, yellow jackets, huge bumble bees... Although come to think of it, I think we do have less this year then in the past, but we still have a ton.

jebuell

So far this summer I've been spending a lot of time on a honey farm.  So... nope!  Still abuzz with lots of bees!