Should we worry

[hurleyjd]

http://news.yahoo.com/pesticides-threat ... 04567.html

I can think of a lot of things that used to be that are not there. Here in east Texas the fireflies are non-existent.
I think we need to become aware of the problems pesticides, insecticides and herbicides may cause and look for other solutions.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I would pay heed to a warning such as this long before I'd buy into any of the "global-climate-warming-change" nonsense.

Bees are extremely important to the ecosystem.

 

[lavacarancher]

You're right JD. Haven't seen "lightning bugs" in several years now. Until just recently we haven't seen scorpions or red harvest ants but now they're starting to make a comeback in spite of me killing every one I see. What about horned toads? I haven't seen one of them in forty years. I used to play with them when I was a kid. Tied match boxes to their horns and let them pull the boxes like a train. Red wasps and yellow jackets seem to be thriving though as well as them cotton picking dirt daubers.

 

[M.Magis]

So it took them 4 years to determine pesticides affect insect populations? Isn't that what pesticides do? Not that I would dismiss everything they claim, but I have a hard time putting much credence in "studies" performed by groups with obvious agendas.

 

[greybeard]

I see lots of fireflies here and every other kind of dang bug. My sister found a scorpion crawling in her kitchen sink last week.

From just a few years ago--my front porch and no, it wasn't a swarm--they were after my coffee cup and the nectar in the hummingbird feeders.

 

[cow pollinater]

Here in CA we're starting to look at fungicides instead of pesticides. We know enough about pesticides to know what they do but a lot of the fungicides haven't been studied as closely and we're seeing that they can have long term effects on the quality of pollen in both the crop they're applied to and the weeds on the floor. With a lot of the fungicides tank mixing is a common practice and two chemicals that we know about become a whole new ball of wax when they get mixed together.
This makes sense to me as a beekeeper as my colonies that struggle tend to do it in the late winter when they're digging into pollen stored from the previous year. A pesticide kill is more specific. You'll have dead bees or dead brood depending on what got used.

 

[Chuckie]

Without bees, the USA would starve to death. They make such a huge impact on the pollination of our crops. Soybeans, clover, alfalfa, all fruits, all of the beans we eat, onions, cabbages, broccoli, turnips, peppers, sunflowers, coconuts, COFFEE, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc............ I could go on with this list forever.

 

[Rafter S]

You're right JD. Haven't seen "lightning bugs" in several years now. Until just recently we haven't seen scorpions or red harvest ants but now they're starting to make a comeback in spite of me killing every one I see. What about horned toads? I haven't seen one of them in forty years. I used to play with them when I was a kid. Tied match boxes to their horns and let them pull the boxes like a train. Red wasps and yellow jackets seem to be thriving though as well as them cotton picking dirt daubers.

I've seen similar things here. I'm not a scientist, and don't have any evidence to back it up, but I believe that the decline of the things you listed, along with others (seed ticks come to mind), is related to fire ants coming in. The wasps haven't declined because they aren't on the ground where the ants could easily get to them. To reinforce that theory, I've noticed that the fire ants have declined in recent years, and that seems to correspond with the others making a recovery, as you mentioned.

Although they aren't anywhere as numerous as when I was a boy, I've definitely seen more lightning bugs the last few years. For a long time I rarely saw any.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

I was watching a TV documentary about fireants. Basically here is what I took from the show:
The fireants were introduced at a port in Alabama, from ships docked. They spread from that point mostly west.
Fireants are present in South America but they do not represent much of the ant population. Whereas, in the areas in US where fireants have taken hold, they have dominated the ant population.
The reason for this is that there are not enough competitive ant species here, to give fireants any problems. Apparently in South America, there are lots of other ants that keep them in check.
I did not get to see the end of the show but I suspect that the solution proposed would be to import some other ants/insects to control the fireants.

 

[Nesikep]

I guess we ought to import some competitive species!.. Better study that one real good!

We have ordinary red ants around here, they don't bother us

Lots of bee colonies dying around here from diseases.. beekeeper who has hives across the river lost 16 of 20 last winter to Nozema (spelling?)

 

[Deepsouth]

I know a USDA scientist who was at a big regional meeting a few years ago. He said the big wheels from Washington wanted the entomologist to look into the decline of honey bees. He said the entomologist told them there was no decline in the honey bees. They were told that a lot of money was coming down from Washington to fund this research. The entomologist still maintained that there was no problem with the honey bees but they would look into for the money. The guy telling me this is a big government man but even he thought this was far fetched.
I've not noticed any decline in bee keepers here. We have a lot of them down here in the winter. As a matter of fact I heard Monday that a bee keeper just bought 240 acres that's been for sell for a while. Doesn't sound like he's worried about his bees.
Just more propaganda from the environmental wackos.

 

[boondocks]

I know a USDA scientist who was at a big regional meeting a few years ago. He said the big wheels from Washington wanted the entomologist to look into the decline of honey bees. He said the entomologist told them there was no decline in the honey bees. They were told that a lot of money was coming down from Washington to fund this research. The entomologist still maintained that there was no problem with the honey bees but they would look into for the money. The guy telling me this is a big government man but even he thought this was far fetched.
I've not noticed any decline in bee keepers here. We have a lot of them down here in the winter. As a matter of fact I heard Monday that a bee keeper just bought 240 acres that's been for sell for a while. Doesn't sound like he's worried about his bees.
Just more propaganda from the environmental wackos.

Interesting stats here: http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?d ... 572#losses
I don't think the problem is a collapse in bee-keepers
The decline in bee populations seems to be pretty well-established---the reasons for it, less so...

 

[melking]

I think I might become a Bee Rancher. I could have millions of "head" of livestock on my little place. I could hire one Cow/Bee boy to mind the heard while I sat on the porch and figured out ways to spend all of the money.

 

[hurleyjd]

You're right JD. Haven't seen "lightning bugs" in several years now. Until just recently we haven't seen scorpions or red harvest ants but now they're starting to make a comeback in spite of me killing every one I see. What about horned toads? I haven't seen one of them in forty years. I used to play with them when I was a kid. Tied match boxes to their horns and let them pull the boxes like a train. Red wasps and yellow jackets seem to be thriving though as well as them cotton picking dirt daubers.

I've seen similar things here. I'm not a scientist, and don't have any evidence to back it up, but I believe that the decline of the things you listed, along with others (seed ticks come to mind), is related to fire ants coming in. The wasps haven't declined because they aren't on the ground where the ants could easily get to them. To reinforce that theory, I've noticed that the fire ants have declined in recent years, and that seems to correspond with the others making a recovery, as you mentioned.

Although they aren't anywhere as numerous as when I was a boy, I've definitely seen more lightning bugs the last few years. For a long time I rarely saw any.

Is Grimes county refered to as the land of Milk and Honey.

 

[Balin' Wire]

Yes. Grimes County is referred to as the land of Milk and Honey but not much milk produced here since the late 70's.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

I know a USDA scientist who was at a big regional meeting a few years ago. He said the big wheels from Washington wanted the entomologist to look into the decline of honey bees. He said the entomologist told them there was no decline in the honey bees. They were told that a lot of money was coming down from Washington to fund this research. The entomologist still maintained that there was no problem with the honey bees but they would look into for the money. The guy telling me this is a big government man but even he thought this was far fetched.
I've not noticed any decline in bee keepers here. We have a lot of them down here in the winter. As a matter of fact I heard Monday that a bee keeper just bought 240 acres that's been for sell for a while. Doesn't sound like he's worried about his bees.
Just more propaganda from the environmental wackos.

Interesting stats here: http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?d ... 572#losses
I don't think the problem is a collapse in bee-keepers
The decline in bee populations seems to be pretty well-established---the reasons for it, less so...

I think you totally missed the entirety of the point. You can site made up stats by people being paid to produce them and posted on a government site that paid them to produce them all day long. It doesn't make them valid.

What possibly could the government gain from finding another false emergency? Think of all the legal chemicals used for agriculture that they could now regulate out of use.

They can steal the land outright, or just regulate the productiveness right out of it, or both.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Anyone that thinks we are doomed if the all the honey bees died, they must also believe that the Antarctica is melting.

1) Every GRASS, and a big chunk of the trees are self pollinating.
2) Honey Bees aren't native to the western hemisphere, so there had to be something here to pollinate flowers before they got here.


My Wild hive up in the maple tree in my backyard, swarmed 3 times this spring, after the coldest winter in 30 years, and living right next to where I spray Roundup, and Warrior.
Just more Anti-Ag, Anti-GE plants nuts wanting more control of your life.

 

[Rafter S]

Is Grimes county refered to as the land of Milk and Honey.

The bee business is still going strong (the Weaver family has been in business for somewhere around 125 years), but as far as I know there's only one dairy left in the county. It's an all Jersey dairy about a mile from my house.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/06/ ... y-ceiling/

30k in one location, and I bet everyone on here knows where at least one hive is located if not multiple, and yet the article contains the phrase about them being endangered?

How many endangered species do you know of where you can find them coast to coast with their locations being common knowledge?

They really should pick another "the world is ending" bit.

 

[Jogeephus]

Yeah, we should worry that people buy into this type journalism. Its scary how dumbed down we as a nation have become.