Rebuild SJ Bee population

[dogg57]

Gary G. Schempp used to kill insects. Now, he cares for bees.
Schempp was in the pest control business for 30 years. His company was originally called Lethal Pest Control Co., which later changed to All Seasons Pest Management.
About five year ago, Schempp attended a Cape May County 4-H Fair here.
"My friend said, 'Look at that guy over there in the bee booth with bees all over him,'" said Schempp, 57, a local resident. "I said, 'Wow, that's amazing. That's real interesting.'"
Schempp immediately joined the New Jersey Beekeepers Association. He also did online research and bought books on bees.
"I became really interested in beekeeping because it was contrary to the experience I had up until that time with pest control," said Schempp, who didn't kill bees with his pest management company. "I never really knew too much about them or learned about them until a became a beekeeper. I became fascinated, so I sold my pest control company two years ago."
Schempp now runs the six-acre Green Acres Family Farm here. He is also the founder of Busy Bees NJ, a honey-bee products and services company which includes safely removing bees from homeowners' property.
Beekeeping is becoming more popular, said Jim Bobb, chairman of the Eastern Apiculture Society.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_7a7058a3-99f1-5c12-9285-fbe81ee46848.html

 

[DRZ-Mike]

I have seen Gary at various bee meetings. I am also a beekeeper and imagine that I am not the only one here.

Bees are in trouble. Honey bees make possible, through fertilization, about 30% of our foods (non-fertilized flowers don't develop fruits). A lot of research is being done to determine what the problem is. A picture is emerging where a combination of factors is contributing to make our bees sick. There is a mite, a bee parasite, which arrived in the eastern U.S. in the 1980s. Actually there are two, but only one is a significant problem. There are viruses and bacteria, bee diseases. Finally, there are pesticides and chemicals.

For modern monoculture agriculture, bees are necessary for pollination. We have a whole field of one plant species that flower all at once requiring a whole army of pollinators. After that crop is finished flowering, there is no food to support native pollinators for the rest of the year when they need to eat then too. We a portable army of pollinators, we need honey bees.

Mites weaken the bees and both carry diseases and weaken the bees so that the diseases are more devastating than the effects of the disease alone.

Other areas of the world have bee 'varieties' that have mostly evolved to co-exist with the mites. This has been through a crash of the bee population when the mites first appeared but importantly a small percentage of colonies survive. These surviving colonies have behaviors that severely reduce the mite populations and the mite pressures. From these colonies 'resistant' bee varieties have evolved. In the U.S., we have a continuing need for huge quantities of bees. It is impossible to simultaneously allow this selection process and to have sufficient bees to pollinate crops. (Besides, we can manage this pest with chemicals. Our stupid, pro chemical based bias created and funded by advertising and huge campaign contributions of the monstrous agriculture supply and chemical industries.) In the U.S. we continually dilute any resistant stock by interbreeding with the commercial beekeepers stock next door that is NOT resistant.

Chemical testing to determine the safeness of a chemical is always conducted upon individual chemicals. Recent research is now proving that some chemicals when combined, produce a highly toxic mixture from combining small and very safe amounts of the individual chemicals. Different individual bees go in different directions to forage and bring back nectar, pollen and all the chemicals that have been applied in a two mile radius around the hive.

Pests have very short life cycles, very fast generations. When we subject these pests to a toxic chemical, we never get a 100% kill, there are always some survivors, 'resistant' survivors. Combined with the pest's fast reproductive rate, our chemicals select for resistant pests and the effective life span of a chemical is quite short.

Bees are obviously an indicator species of the fallacy of waging chemical warfare against the Earths inhabitants. They clearly demonstrate that use of chemicals has collateral damage and that that collateral damage matters!


Seems like we’ve painted ourselves into a corner.

 

[bobpbx]

Hi Mike, good to see you post!

Are you looking foward to some DRZ evenings this summer?

Did you run a marathon yesterday?

 

[dogg57]

Just like to ask if any one has seen many bees and if so what time of the day it was.Thanks

 

[Boyd]

I have all kinds of bees flying around my front porch. I really know nothing about bee ID, but one variety is very large - what I would call a bumblebee and the other drills holes in the railing and wood pile; I have heard these called carpenter bees.

I really haven't noticed any difference in their quantities since I moved here in 2006. My porch has a Southern exposure, and they are very active in the afternoon when the sun starts warming things up.

 

[46er]

I've had more bee's buzzing around the yard this year than recent years. Perhaps we'll have some beach plums come September.

 

[dogg57]

Just seen some honey bees.Was great to see for a change instead of carpenter bees

 

[Boyd]

Just like to ask if any one has seen many bees and if so what time of the day it was.Thanks

If you wanna see many bees.... http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/bees-lots-of-bees.8343/#post-99016

 

[dogg57]

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_55ea50d8-0d46-11e2-8baf-0019bb2963f4.html
Farmers in New Jersey have a variety of skills and methods that separate them from farmers in other states who have more traditional farms and types of produce. The state Department of Agriculture plans to spend more than $800,000 to enhance and develop that specialty farming across the state.
New Jersey will distribute $816,127 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide new initiatives to help grow the industries for 13 specialty crops. The money will be used to market existing programs, generate new interest from prospective farmers, improve current methods and support programs that use state-grown produce.
New Jersey Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Lynne Richmond said the majority of crops in the state are classified as “specialty crops,” which make $882.4 million in sales annually.