All my chives are in flower which usually means lots of bees. They like them so much I purposefully let them self sow around lottie, and also the poppies are flowering but not one bee!
I am quite worried about this - anyone else noticed an absence in their area?
Westi
Bees missing!
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
- alan refail
- KG Regular
- Posts: 7252
- Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:00 am
- Location: Chwilog Gogledd Orllewin Cymru Northwest Wales
- Been thanked: 5 times
They were very buzzy ( ) here around the apple blossom.
Cred air o bob deg a glywi, a thi a gei rywfaint bach o wir (hen ddihareb Gymraeg)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
- Primrose
- KG Regular
- Posts: 8061
- Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2006 8:50 pm
- Location: Bucks.
- Has thanked: 41 times
- Been thanked: 288 times
My big Pom Pom alliums and foxgloves are bursting into flower so I would expect to see a lot of bees around but very few bees here at the moment although earlier in the year we had a lot of bumble bees around. I will keep my eye for them as any absence is indeed very worrying.,
I.now grow a mixture of climbing French beans and runner beans rather than all runners as I had some poor pollination years with runner beans due to lack of bees in bad weather years and climbing Frenh beans are supposed to be self fertile.
I.now grow a mixture of climbing French beans and runner beans rather than all runners as I had some poor pollination years with runner beans due to lack of bees in bad weather years and climbing Frenh beans are supposed to be self fertile.
-
- KG Regular
- Posts: 249
- Joined: Mon May 26, 2008 1:55 pm
- Location: Bedfordshire
Primrose wrote:My big Pom Pom alliums and foxgloves are bursting into flower so I would expect to see a lot of bees around but very few bees here at the moment although earlier in the year we had a lot of bumble bees around. I will keep my eye for them as any absence is indeed very worrying.,
I.now grow a mixture of climbing French beans and runner beans rather than all runners as I had some poor pollination years with runner beans due to lack of bees in bad weather years and climbing Frenh beans are supposed to be self fertile.
Hi Primrose, if you are worried about bees and pollination on your runner beans try moonlight , or starlight. I had moonlight last year and they cropped very well I was pleased with them, they are both self pollinating,same again this year .
All the best
old codger
old codger
- oldherbaceous
- KG Regular
- Posts: 13851
- Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:52 pm
- Location: Beautiful Bedfordshire
- Has thanked: 276 times
- Been thanked: 307 times
Morning Codger, do you mean Moonlight and Firestorm?
We wouldn't want people to be trying to find the elusive Starlight bean....
We wouldn't want people to be trying to find the elusive Starlight bean....
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
- Geoff
- KG Regular
- Posts: 5581
- Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:33 pm
- Location: Forest of Bowland
- Been thanked: 134 times
I'm growing all three this year Firestorm, Moonlight and Stardust (nearly right OC) and all have germinated really well in rootrainers. I also have some Red Flame that I have grown for quite a few years to compare them with, 20 of each will make my row. Moonlight was successful last year. I don't have any trouble with bumble bee numbers, we have lots of different species but I do have trouble with them taking runner bean flowers from behind and so not pollinating them.
Meant to reply to the other thread about runner beans - I wouldn't consider sowing any peas or beans directly in the ground.
Meant to reply to the other thread about runner beans - I wouldn't consider sowing any peas or beans directly in the ground.
- Primrose
- KG Regular
- Posts: 8061
- Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2006 8:50 pm
- Location: Bucks.
- Has thanked: 41 times
- Been thanked: 288 times
Yes I've read various good reports about Moonlight and will try some as soon as I've exhausted my current stock of bean seeds. I always like to try new varieties but find one consequence of this is that I seem to end up with a huge supply of half used packets.
It would be good if I knew a keen vegetable grower nearby with whom we could swap a few seeds of "this and that" to avoid this problem and just run some small trials. For the relatively small growing space I and possibly some other people have, it hardly seems worth buying a packet of different variety of beans just to grow half a dozen experiment ones along with my normal variety. You risk end up being left with ageing seed which you then blame as being unreliable because it doesn't germinate well.
It would be good if I knew a keen vegetable grower nearby with whom we could swap a few seeds of "this and that" to avoid this problem and just run some small trials. For the relatively small growing space I and possibly some other people have, it hardly seems worth buying a packet of different variety of beans just to grow half a dozen experiment ones along with my normal variety. You risk end up being left with ageing seed which you then blame as being unreliable because it doesn't germinate well.
- alan refail
- KG Regular
- Posts: 7252
- Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:00 am
- Location: Chwilog Gogledd Orllewin Cymru Northwest Wales
- Been thanked: 5 times
Cred air o bob deg a glywi, a thi a gei rywfaint bach o wir (hen ddihareb Gymraeg)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
- Primrose
- KG Regular
- Posts: 8061
- Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2006 8:50 pm
- Location: Bucks.
- Has thanked: 41 times
- Been thanked: 288 times
That. must have been quite a sight. I expect for a lot of town dwellers that was probably the only "up front and personal" contact they will have had with wildlife. I wonder what they made of it. Swarming bees is quite an awesome sight.
I grew Moonlight last year and had a very good crop, so I am growing it again (seeds left over from last year) and also, for the first time, Firestorm. So will see what happens with pollination. They are now in roottrainers.
- peter
- KG Regular
- Posts: 5845
- Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:54 pm
- Location: Near Stansted airport
- Has thanked: 18 times
- Been thanked: 36 times
- Contact:
Walked past a very active and large bumblebee nest in the eaves of a community football club building today.
Do not put off thanking people when they have helped you, as they may not be there to thank later.
I support http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
I support http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
- Geoff
- KG Regular
- Posts: 5581
- Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:33 pm
- Location: Forest of Bowland
- Been thanked: 134 times
I think I've found it Bombus Hypnorum, this article http://bumblebeeconservation.org/images ... rticle.pdf talks about their behaviour when disturbed by vibration, that's how I found them. Looks like I'm on the edge of their habitat.