Honey bees, power lines, kudzu bugs: Potential problems and
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CLEVELAND COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION Honey bees, power lines, kudzu bugs: Potential problems and solutions to benefit all of us!! Loss of bee foraging plants is an ongoing problem. As rural development intensifies and all citizens desire manicured areas, many times bee forage plants are eliminated. This seems to be especially true for our late Summer and Fall sources. A recent example of this came up when a beekeeper reported the right of ways for power lines were being sprayed with some broad spectrum herbicides which very likely would eliminate some of our nectar sources. I remember when the power companies consulted with the Coop- erative Extension Service and informed us that instead of mowing rights of ways the decision was made to rely more on herbicides. The reason given was valid, to reduce fuel costs and for the safety of the workers. The decision made indeed was sound and very likely at the time had a smaller impact on reducing bee forage areas. Other than approaching the power companies to consider in some ways maintaining bee forage there is not a whole lot we can do as beekeepers. I doubt that any one has ever done this. So if anyone has connections there is a good opportunity! We all use electricity and want to keep rates as low as possible but just maybe there is something to maintain rights of ways that also benefits our bees that won’t cost too much. This is definitely something to look into. Also the same can be applied to our roads and highways and very likely since the Highway Department is a government agency something could be done. In the last several weeks I have been involved with the kudzu bug situation in soybeans. Another name for the kudzu bug is the bean plataspid and it was accidentally introduced near the Atlanta area. It has no natural enemies in the US and has become a very seri- ous economic problem in Southeastern soybeans. Our earliest planted soybean fields have developed very high levels of this pest. Last year the treatment thresholds in soy- beans were after the crop had bloomed. Unfortunately this year levels are extremely high and the soybean plants in many cases are in bloom. Unlike some of the other soy- bean insect pests, farmers do have some time leeway to treat with insecticides. In other words if they can’t get the fields sprayed right away yields will not significantly be re- duced. Every farmer I worked with was more than willing to wait till after peak bloom to treat or to spray late in the day after foragers had left the fields. All it took was to just bring up the hazard to not only our honey bees but to our other pollinating insects. Since I have become involved with beekeeping I have realized how important soybeans are as a nectar source. Even though I do not know of any surplus honey produced, I am convinced soybeans sustain our colonies during this time of the year when very little else is available. Also I have noticed differences several times in colony stores. August, 2013 Cleveland County, NC By: Steve Gibson, Program Director, Cleveland County Chapter, NCSBA Extension Agent, Agriculture (Retired) Inside this issue: Honey bees, power lines, kudzu bugs 1 & 2 Meeting Announcement 2 Pictures 3 & 4 Contact Us: NC Cooperative Extension Cleveland County Center 130 S. Post Road, Suite 1 Shelby, NC 28152 704-482-4365 phone 704-480-6484 fax cleveland.ces.ncsu.edu Greg Traywick County Extension Director [email protected] https://sites.google.com/ site/nccba1 August 2013
Transcript of Honey bees, power lines, kudzu bugs: Potential problems and
CLEVELAND COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION
Honey bees, power lines, kudzu bugs: Potential problems and solutions to benefit all of us!!
Loss of bee foraging plants is an ongoing problem. As rural development intensifies and all citizens desire manicured areas, many times bee forage plants are eliminated. This seems to be especially true for our late Summer and Fall sources. A recent example of this came up when a beekeeper reported the right of ways for power lines were being sprayed with some broad spectrum herbicides which very likely would eliminate some of our nectar sources. I remember when the power companies consulted with the Coop-erative Extension Service and informed us that instead of mowing rights of ways the decision was made to rely more on herbicides. The reason given was valid, to reduce fuel costs and for the safety of the workers.
The decision made indeed was sound and very likely at the time had a smaller impact on reducing bee forage areas. Other than approaching the power companies to consider in some ways maintaining bee forage there is not a whole lot we can do as beekeepers. I doubt that any one has ever done this. So if anyone has connections there is a good opportunity! We all use electricity and want to keep rates as low as possible but just maybe there is something to maintain rights of ways that also benefits our bees that won’t cost too much. This is definitely something to look into. Also the same can be applied to our roads and highways and very likely since the Highway Department is a government agency something could be done.
In the last several weeks I have been involved with the kudzu bug situation in soybeans. Another name for the kudzu bug is the bean plataspid and it was accidentally introduced near the Atlanta area. It has no natural enemies in the US and has become a very seri-ous economic problem in Southeastern soybeans. Our earliest planted soybean fields have developed very high levels of this pest. Last year the treatment thresholds in soy-beans were after the crop had bloomed. Unfortunately this year levels are extremely high and the soybean plants in many cases are in bloom. Unlike some of the other soy-bean insect pests, farmers do have some time leeway to treat with insecticides. In other words if they can’t get the fields sprayed right away yields will not significantly be re-duced. Every farmer I worked with was more than willing to wait till after peak bloom to treat or to spray late in the day after foragers had left the fields. All it took was to just bring up the hazard to not only our honey bees but to our other pollinating insects. Since I have become involved with beekeeping I have realized how important soybeans are as a nectar source. Even though I do not know of any surplus honey produced, I am convinced soybeans sustain our colonies during this time of the year when very little else is available. Also I have noticed differences several times in colony stores.
August , 2013 Cleve l and County , NC By: Steve Gibson, Program Direc tor , Cleve land County Chapter, NCSBA
Extens ion Agent, Agr icul ture (Re ti red)
Inside this issue:
Honey bees, power lines, kudzu bugs
1 & 2
Meeting Announcement
2
Pictures 3 & 4
Contact Us:
NC Cooperative Extension Cleveland County Center 130 S. Post Road, Suite 1 Shelby, NC 28152 704-482-4365 phone 704-480-6484 fax cleveland.ces.ncsu.edu
Greg Traywick County Extension Director [email protected]
https://sites.google.com/site/nccba1
August
2013
Apiaries near agricultural areas with soybeans have just seemed to maintain adequate levels of both bees and stored honey.
No doubt there are some problems with insecticides used in agriculture and bees but as the above example demon-strates happy mediums can be achieved. As an ag advisor I certainly can’t ask a farmer not to protect his investment by letting an insect pest reduce yields so an economic return is not possible. Also there are many examples of agriculture supporting honey production. For example Randy Oliver in the American Bee Journal July edition points out the im-portance of canola to beekeepers, many who move colonies to the crop. The canola is the only nectar and pollen source and the bees thrive, producing surplus honey. The seed used to plant the crop is treated with a neonicitinoid seed treatment. Yes there are residues in the pollen and nectar but as our University Bee Specialists point out there have been no documented cases of these levels being high enough to cause problems for our bees. Many times the gen-eral public does not understand that even though residues are found the tolerances set by our regulators are very pro-tective of us as consumers and in this case for the safety of our bees. Our diagnostic methods are now so precise that what was found as zero years ago is now a quantified detection in parts per billion, parts per trillion, etc.
Some of the modern planters do use a vacuum system and there have been problems reported from the “exhaust” emit-ting from the pumps. These issues are in the process of being resolved by exploring some changes in the seed lubri-cants used, etc. I will report more on this at our August meeting since our local beekeeping chapter financed a local effort addressing this problem.
I am convinced solutions to many of the problems we face as beekeepers can be resolved. Most of us do not move our colonies like some of the larger commercial operations do. So we must rely on what is locally available and if there is not enough to insure overwintering success we need to use supplemental feeding. This will also be a topic of the Au-gust meeting. Please try to attend. We all can benefit from learning from our bad luck last year and sharing ideas of what worked or did not work, etc.
Page 2 Cleveland County Beekeepers Association
August Meeting Announcement
This month’s meeting will be held on August 26, 2013 @7:00PM. The meeting will be held at:
Cooperative Extension Auditorium 130 South Post Road, Shelby, NC 28152
Report on outreach through Cleveland Community College
Feeding basics, especially to avoid a repeat of last seasons overwintering problems Short account of how local farmers considered bee issues
while controlling kudzu bugs in soybeans Fair Planning of course!
Page 3 Cleveland County Beekeepers Association
Kudzu bug adults and nymphs of various sizes called instars on a soybean stem. This is a typical in-festation and for the farmer spray-ing with an insecticide is essential to make economic yields in a situa-tion like this or worse.
A honey bee working soybean blos-soms. Soybeans are an underesti-mated source of nectar for our honey bees. On sunny days you can walk into the fields and hear bees buzzing, sometimes even in the middles of large fields. Other pollinators such as several bumble bee species also work the crop. Typically the bumble bees start before our honey bees do. Our girls just like to sleep late!
Page 4 Cleveland County Beekeepers Association NC Cooperative Extension Cleveland County Center 130 S. Post Road, Suite 1 Shelby, NC 28152
Kudzu bug eggs are easy to find since they are laid in groups, usually of 2 rows. This group of eggs has just hatched and the first instar nymphs are beginning to spread out. Just after hatching the nymphs consume a capsule like deposit from their mothers that contains the bacteria allowing them to feed and persist on soybeans.
