What happened to the pollinators?

I have beans vines with lots of blooms but very few pods. I haven't seen any bees around them in a couple of weeks. A lot of the pods which do form have only one or two seeds. The two rows I have should produce at least a gallon, if not a peck per picking, I only get a handful.

My second crop of buckwheat is in full bloom and there are no bees of any kind working it. An earlier crop of buckwheat was just buzzing with small bees and bumblebees when it bloomed. I don't normally see many honeybees here.

I have not been aware of any spraying for mosquitoes by the city, They usually inform us before spraying. I have never noticed a die-off of bees after a mosquito control spraying.

Wow that is definitely strange especially since you seem to have blooms and pollinators around. I have noticed the same thing in my garden as well, so I decided to plant a few more flowers and herbs to try to attract more but only time will tell. If I was not so chicken I would probably even try to get my own bees, they sell them online and that way you are always certain to have pollinators around, who knows maybe I'll start beekeeping when I have some acres in the future.

If there are lots of trees in your immediate area, then that's where the bees are. They prefer to gather nectar/pollen from trees rather than anything else.

Once the trees have stopped blooming, they will return to the garden.

So look up :) and see what's in bloom up there ^_^

Thanks for the replys.

Carminator1; I have been considering the same thing, I have a friend who is a bee-keeper. We both volunteer at Bernhiem Forest, and he does demonstrations for them, so when I see him I'm going to ask him if he would be interested in helping me get started with a hive. I also plan to put up some mason bee houses for next year.

HoneybeeNC; Thank you for the info. Most of the trees around here are spring bloomers and have finished for this year.

Crepe Myrtle and Rose of Sharon are in bloom now, but in this area they are more like overgrown shrubs than trees, I'll check tomorrow AM to see if there are any bees around them. There are many flowers in bloom on my lot and in the neighbourhood, roses, lily's, flox, black-eyed Susan, sunflower, hosta, and various others, but I have only seen one bumblebee this week.

Today was a scorcher, the thermometer at my back door showed 104 F. at 5:45.

As far as the beans, I believe they are self pollinating -- maybe the weather is just too hot for them right now?

Thanks Weedwhacker. I learned something today, wasn't aware that beans were self pollinating. Maybe it is the hot w2eather, it's been in the high 90's for most of the past month, and yesterday it was officially 102 F.

At 8AM today I checked the Rose of Sharon and the Crepe Myrtle. I found 6 small bumblebees working one R of S, and none on the other. One small bumblebee was working a group of three CM's.

At about 6:45PM I checked again and found two small bumblebees working the R of S and none on the CM. I found three large bumblebees on a large clump of monarda which is well past it's prime, with just a scattering of petals left. The buckwheat is still in full bloom and not a bee of any kind in sight.

Yes my Lima beans and my soybeans are also having the same problem, hopefully they will start producing once when is not so hot.

When my beans stopped producing in the heat I called Territorial Seed Co. They said beans(even heat tolerant varieties like pole beans) won't set pods over 90-95 degrees. When it cools down, they should have more pods.
They said bush and pole beans are self fertile, runner beans like scarlet runners and white lady need bees. I didn't know that runner beans and pole beans were different.

Thanks for all the responses and good info. It's good to know there is still hope, the weather will surely cool down one of these days.

I will be soooo glad when the weather cools off! We've had temps over 100º for the past week and next week isn't looking any cooler.

Our summers pretty much stay above 90 for 3 or 4 months - reaching 90 by 9 or 10 a.m. I have been waking up at sunrise to observe and play in the garden before heading to work. I noticed that the bees are out and about the moment the sun rise touches the garden - and they disappear about an hour later. The moths and siphid flies arrived in the early evening as the temps cool. Earlier in the spring, both could be found all day. So it looks like my experience may also point to the heat having something to do with the lack of pollinator activity. I know *I* want a siesta when the temps get over 90*F!

We haven't reached 100 yet, but the bees slow down midday. Some are still active in the palm trees when it's hot.

It's possible that honeybees are occupied elsewhere during the hottest part of the day. They gather water and put droplets around their hive-home. Then they beat their wings to evaporate the water. This has a cooling effect throughout the hive.

At night they beat their wings to concentrate the nectar gathered during the day. When it's "just right" they cap it with beeswax, which they make from their own bodies.

Poor things literally work themselves to death.

Facinating little creatures ^_^

We have sure had our share of hot weather this summer here in Shively KY. It keeps me indoors most of the time, keeps the weeds growing too. I went out this morning and pulled enough bindweed and crabgrass and other weeds to fill a 30 gallon trash can, that was enough for me.

Speaking of honeybees, we haven't had many of them around here for several years. My lawns were overrun with white clover until I had to spray for it, there was seldom a honeybee on the clover. There was always plenty of small bees of several varieties (I don't know the names for them) until just recently. Now all I see is a few bumblebees. I hope they are just taking a break in the hot weather.

JHarp - I'm not too familiar with native bees, but I believe at least some of them are only around during the early part of the season.

Bumble bees should be around until frost kills them. A queen bumble bee will hibernate through the winter and start a new nest in the spring.

Making the area around you home "bumble bee" and "native bee" friendly will keep them coming to your garden.

Thanks for all the information. I think I have the food sources covered since I have flowers blooming from February till frost. I plan to have some nesting boxes up for next years crop of mason bees, it's too late for this year I think.

Google found several sites about native bees. Here are links to three which give a lot of information about identifying and attracting native bees.

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/nativebee.html

http://www.extension.org/pages/Identification_of_Native_Bees

http://www.pollinatorparadise.com/solitary_bees/solitary.htm

Jim

I'm surprised no one has mentioned colony collapse disorder. The loss of bees is a super serious problem over the last few years. It's made stories in the major papers.

las

Down here in Florida I've noticed a decline in bees. About 3-4 years ago I had roses and always bees around, sadly the roses didn't do too well and were replaced. Now I have a veggie garden with lots of other flowers and no bees this year. I had a couple of cucumber plants that never got pollinated at all and ended up in the compost. I spoke with friends from Louisiana and they also said that they have declined over there and have just started returning now.

I hope they come back.

By the way I do have the usual other pollinators like wasps etc.