Helping the bees

Jstas

So yeah, this is a environmentally friendly post but there's merit here so bear with me.

NJ Forestry Service put this infographic up again this morning.



They pretty much post it every year about this time because those of us in the Northeast that are concerned with plantings, this is the time of year to start making plans and decisions. They started posting it in like 2016 IIRC and each year it coincides with a "bee report" where they detail the status of local bee populations. Apparently, last year was pretty brutal for bees as yellow jackets were pretty aggressive and coupling that with idiots mistaking the native Cicada Killer Wasp for the "Murder Hornet", many bee populations got decimated by pest abatement activities. So it's becoming increasingly more important that pollinator plants are available so that recovering populations can gather enough resources to support healthy growth.

That infographic is really useful and much of those plants are found throughout the Northeast and, honestly, most of the country that isn't arid. However, one thing they don't mention in there is clover.

Clover has long been considered a nuisance weed in lawns. People spend many dollars, yearly, trying to eradicate it from their yards along with many other problem plants. Hell, I did myself for many years.

But, ever since we moved to this new house with the acreage, to buy enough chemicals to handle the weed "problems", I'd have to spend over $500 a season on chemicals for the roughly 110,000 square feet of maintained land. So roughly $1000-$1500 a year just on chemicals. Yeah....no. Further issue is I'd have a good chance of negatively impacting the lake which would be a bad thing both ecologically and economically (fines).

So I started looking for alternatives and talked to a guy from The University of Pennsylvania who gave me quite a few resources at U of Penn and in the NJ Forestry division to talk to.

In regards to lawns, though, he told me the single most important plant a home owner can plant is clover. Clover is not only a massive resource for pollinators of all kinds as well as wildlife forage that persists through winter but for those looking for a picturesque lawn, it's critical.

Clover is a nitrogen fixer so it restores nitrogen to lawns that have depleted it. So less fertilizer is needed as well as less weed killer because many weeds do not thrive in nitrogen rich soil.

It readily seeds in poor soils, even compacted soils. It will loosen the top layers of soil and allow air to get to the organic matter trapped which allows the aerobic microorganisms to kick start the decomposition processes. This in turn improves soil by making minerals sequestered in dead organic matter available through decomposition. This also means less fertilizer is necessary to maintain lawn and soil health.

It's broad leaf pattern helps shelter soil from the sun which helps it retain moisture more and requiring less watering.

Additionally, the nutrients that grass loves is added to the soil by clover and the nutrients that grass puts in the soil is what clover loves so they work together to maintain soil balance.

Clover is also a pH fixer.

If you can reach a point where you have well establish clover in your yard, you can have a lawn the requires minimal watering and virtually no soil amendment support.

You'll also get loads of pollinators. When I started doing this, Jackie was concerned that the bees and such would be aggressive but 3 summers now with clover everywhere in the yard and the pollinators will be all over the flowers. If you walk through, they just causally get out of your way, go to another flower and then fill in the gap after you pass. They will fly around you but they don't bother you at all. At least that's been our experience.

The first mowing knocks down a bunch of flowers but, if you mow to the same height every time, the clover sprouts flowers at a height below that so you don't knock off a bunch of flowers.

We've been here since 2017. 2018 was a struggle thinning out the trees and weed plants in the yard to get sun to hit the ground. Once I got that done, I had to fix erosion problems. At the end of summer in 2019 was when I talked to U of Penn guy looking for scientific advice and I bought a bag of clover to help reseed a bad area. In the better quality soil areas, the clover took hold and we had a sea of little white flowers in bright green grass that was growing like wildfire the entire season, no matter how much rainfall we had. The poorer areas were actually showing signs of life.

By the end of 2021's summer season, I had grass in a half acre plot behind the garage that had nothing growing there and I was able to get a shade tolerant strain of grass growing under the heavily shaded areas by the road. I also got more persistent grass by the road which made it less mushy so vehicles don't leave ruts as much when they drive like arsewholes.

All I've done is buy a couple big sacks of grass seed and overseed in the spring and the fall and I get a bag of clover seed. Probably $200-$250 a year.

My erosion problems are under control.
I have grass growing where there was none before.
Way less weeds in the yard including Tree of Heaven seedlings
Bees are everywhere! So are humming birds! I have zero hummingbird feeders.
Birds galore (people in town ask if they can come sit in the yard and bird watch)
Deer, rabbits and other foraging animals are out year round
The yard looks like a park
Maintenance time is down to a couple hours a week to mow

I don't even water anymore and this year, I'm digging up the sprinkler system that Captain Halfass put in because, well, surprise surprise, it's wrong but it's unnecessary at this point.

So seriously, consider the pollinator plants in the info graphic but, plant some clover. Even if it's just in your backyard.

But if these are the results, how can you argue with it?










Seriously, do yourself and your environment a favor and plant some clover!

https://www.amazon.com/Scotts-Turf-Builder-Clover-Lawn/dp/B07J5H12CH/ref=sxin_15_ac_d_mf_br?ac_md=2-1-U2NvdHRz-ac_d_mf_br_br&cv_ct_cx=clover+seeds&keywords=clover+seeds&pd_rd_i=B07J5H12CH&pd_rd_r=94b3e867-1a02-4ca3-985a-8e83e90c5e55&pd_rd_w=hxtrW&pd_rd_wg=SfOP6&pf_rd_p=af56c395-f6ae-4741-98f7-37d0cc7c93ab&pf_rd_r=B11WC8MZQFX1TJVNBH2Y&psc=1&qid=1645455761&sr=1-2-ed8a42d3-65f1-4884-a3a2-0dd6e83b6876

mhardy6647

I like clover very much as lawn/ground cover, despite bad memories of stepping barefoot on honeybees gathering from white clover flowers in our backyard from my childhood!

Not maliciously -- I was, and still am, very nearsighted, and going out to our backyard pool sans glasses was an exercise in terror when the clover was blooming.

xschop

So what's depopulating the bees?

motorstereo

Now you tell me. I've been trying to rid my lawn of clover for years because it's a weed. I've been told it likes "rich" soil and apparently my soil must be in that category because I have an abundance of it.
So this spring I'll make the bees happy and have one less thing to worry about now in spraying the clover patches.
The bees thank you and I do as well

michaeljhsda2

Great idea! Just ordered a 5 lb. bag for $30.00 at https://www.outsidepride.com/seed/clover-seed/white-dutch-clover-seed.html

Jstas

xschop wrote: »

So what's depopulating the bees?

According to local bee dude, a combination of things.
- over use of pesticides
- invasive species out competing the bees for resources
- destruction of habitat and resources (including seasonal herbicides)
- and of course, "global warming" or "climate change" or whatever it's being called now.

I'm more inclined to believe the top 3 because I've eliminated that stuff from my yard and we've seen a huge change in the number of pollinating insects in general. Not just bees.

The only place we spray pesticides now is on the house and the porch, sometimes the deck. Mainly to keep the stink bugs out of the house and the carpenter bees, carpenter ants, termites and paper wasps away from the structures. The spraying for the bees and wasps is more of a deterrent than a pesticide, though. Breaks down in 4-6 months of UV exposure so it has to get reapplied every year. But I got a buddy who is an exterminator so I pay for the chemicals, he does his thing and then we have a beer or two.

Oh and every so often we get a yellow jacket nest that is in a bad spot so they gets dealt with.

xschop

Does over use of pesticides include genetically modified plants?
Bacillus Thuringiensis gene-edited corn comes to mind.

Jstas

So just for reference, this is the condition of the yard from Summer/Autumn 2017 and Spring 2018. We moved in October 2017.

These were in late June 2017 when we were looking at the house. It seems nice and green but aside from the open area around the pool, this is mostly moss and orchard grass that was mowed a couple days before this viewing. So it's not all scraggly and overgrown yet. Orchard grass is invasive here.












These were taken in late autumn of 2017 showing the mess Captain Halfass left for me. The view toward the roundabout at the end of the driveway where you can see the back of the garage shows the area with no grass. It is literally all moss and just garbage. The pile to the left is what I consolidated into a spot so I could collect leaves. That's what I was doing here. This is also after I scraped up 2 inches of eroded sand off the driveway and used it to build a berm to redirect runoff around the driveway. It demineralized sections of the of concrete and they're going to have to get repaired eventually because every year, more flakes off if the winter. Anyway, that area now has grass. It's holding on tenuously but I'm going to reseed again and get a bunch of manure based soil amendment this spring and see if "can't get it to flourish now that it doesn't wash down the hill in every rainstorm.










And here's the yard in late Spring of 2018 after we cleared out some overgrown plantings that were either falling apart from outgrowing their spot or disease/bug ridden. There's large portions of green here but all it is is purslane and other creeping weeds that go to seed in June and then die off leaving barren dirt with dried up vegetation. You can see in the pictures in my first post that there's grass now. The first post pictures were taken in mid-September of 2021.



Decidedly different and aside from soil amendments and tilling to break up some really bad areas, this was all changed without chemicals. Just seeding clover and grass, mulching clippings back in and spreading natural amendments (livestock poo) in problem areas. Took longer than just dumping a few bags of chemicals everywhere but this is a huge area that is now pretty easy to care for. It's teeming with life and it's drought tolerant as well. There's still more to be done but it's getting there!

Also, not a whole lot of 'skeeters in this and ticks stay low too because the turkeys and skunks pick them out readily. There are pain in the butt moles but honestly, they help with aeration and loosening of soil. They are also a sign of a healthy yard because there's stuff for them to eat. Another bonus, too is that in late May through early August, the evenings are a light show with hundreds of lightning bugs or fireflies or whatever you call them!

Jstas

xschop wrote: »

Does over use of pesticides include genetically modified plants?
Bacillus Thuringiensis gene-edited corn comes to mind.

That I do not know.

I was asking questions related to residential yards. I'd imagine Monsanto has had a pretty negative affect on the area in regards to pest control.

I mean, it's virtually impossible to find Jersey Silver Queen corn here anymore unless you find a small grower that isn't near one of the larger farms where wind blown pollen from Monsanto yellow sweet corn will interact with the Silver Queen and you get multi-colored ears or yellow sweet corn from a silver queen plant.

So it's likely a very real possibility.

I think Monsanto has probably done more damage to mankind and the planet in general through shady business practices and generally ignoring the laws and regulations than any other company on the planet. Sure, they can feed lots of people but honestly, at what cost when you genetically engineer your products to force farmers to use them and your pesticides and herbicides that kill everything BUT your products.

But anyway, I digress, Monsanto is no longer, wholly owned by Bayer now and their legal issues are Bayer's problem. I only hope Bayer reigns them in and restores biodiversity to the American agricultural landscape.

pitdogg2

I like the automatic lawn mowers....

ZLTFUL

Speaking on the genetic modification of plants, I don't think it means what a lot of people think it means. It does have some negative points but there are also benefits that have been created.

Farmers have been cross-breeding plants for literally millennia. Varieties of crops that do well in one area but not in another but yield more than plants from that other area are cross pollinated to combine beneficial attributes of both plants. Grows well in both locations and has a higher yield than the second of the original plants. (Extremely simplistic explanation but yeah)

Genetic modification has simply been a refinement of what had been happening all this time. Just instead of combining the beneficial attributes through cross-pollination, they are doing it in a lab.

I used to pollinate corn for Pioneer Hybrids when I was in my teens. The idea being that you aren't allowing cross-pollination of the various hybrids in the test plots. They can then use that data to determine which hybrids should be cross-pollinated for improved attributes.

This was how we got crop varieties that would grow in parts of the planet that were never able to produce certain crops before.

Genetically modified organisms from a natural evolution is all well and good as "survival of the fittest".
But when you start creating varieties that can harm pests, you risk harming the beneficial organisms as well. And that part leads to the negative impacts.

It truly is a double-edged sword.

mhardy6647

neonicotinoids are often identified as the culprits when it comes to be population decreases, but there are probably numerous causes (not all anthropogenic).

Jstas

ZLTFUL wrote: »

Speaking on the genetic modification of plants, I don't think it means what a lot of people think it means. It does have some negative points but there are also benefits that have been created.

Farmers have been cross-breeding plants for literally millennia. Varieties of crops that do well in one area but not in another but yield more than plants from that other area are cross pollinated to combine beneficial attributes of both plants. Grows well in both locations and has a higher yield than the second of the original plants. (Extremely simplistic explanation but yeah)

Genetic modification has simply been a refinement of what had been happening all this time. Just instead of combining the beneficial attributes through cross-pollination, they are doing it in a lab.

I used to pollinate corn for Pioneer Hybrids when I was in my teens. The idea being that you aren't allowing cross-pollination of the various hybrids in the test plots. They can then use that data to determine which hybrids should be cross-pollinated for improved attributes.

This was how we got crop varieties that would grow in parts of the planet that were never able to produce certain crops before.

Genetically modified organisms from a natural evolution is all well and good as "survival of the fittest".
But when you start creating varieties that can harm pests, you risk harming the beneficial organisms as well. And that part leads to the negative impacts.

It truly is a double-edged sword.

OK, I don't want this to devolve into an argument thing so, first, backoff, please. Go plant some clover in your yard and drink a beer when you're done.

Secondly, the genetic engineering that is being talked about is not cross-breeding or selectively breeding plants to get the best or most desirable version.

The genetic engineering being talked about is taking something like genes from a bacteria that is found in insect pests known for rapidly defoliating a plant and applying that to the genetic structure of a food crop to enhance it's ability to withstand a herbicide like Round Up.

Alternatively, it's taking some genes from something like, say, a pitcher plant that uses a venom to paralyze insects so they drop into it's pit of despair and are digested. Then taking those genes and adding them to, say, a strain of corn to enhance it's ability to defend against insect damage.

Stuff like this causes unknown levels of havoc inside an ecosystem and stuff like pollen can transfer these genes to other plants and necessary animals/insects every time the wind blows.

That's bad and it was all done in a lab and wholly different than a monk with a feather and some bean plants.

xschop

Glyphosate mechanism is separate issue from gene-editing derived plant pesticides.
I was speaking to strictly gene-based methods. BT-edited corn for example is the bacterium toxin (protein) encoded within the genome of the corn and is expressed in the plant throughout. When a corn worm eats any part of the plant, it dies as if it had eaten the known bacterium (B.thuringiensis) which naturally produces the neurotoxin.

So next time you're at Taco Bell, enjoy the gene-derived neurotoxin with your packet of salsa.

mrbigbluelight

I like the idea of seeding clover, excellent idea.
Growing up, we'd pick the clover flowers and make long chains.
We'd catch honey bees with our hands and never got stung.
If a lawn had clover in it, it wasn't the end of the world back then.

Now though ? And I'm referring to the suburbs with HOAs.
Got clover ? Get ready for a notice for "Noxious Weeds".
Remove or be fined and/or have the HOA have a board member's relative come in and spray at an exhorbitant price.

No more clover daisy chains 😪

audioluvr

I was told by a beekeeper once that cell phone transmissions are preventing bees from locating their food source and finding there way back to their hives. I had to back away slowly, keeping my eye on him the whole time until I was able to jump in my rig and speed away with extreme prejudice.

Jazzhead

I'm old enough to remember when grass seed was sold with clover seed included (I think since it is a nitrogen fixing plant). Later on we were told that clover was a lawn weed and to use stuff like 2,4-D to keep every weed out (2,4-D by the way was 50% of the formula of Agent Orange...) My wife, a retired horticulturalist and garden designer was always planting flowering native plants for the bees. When you think about how much of our food is pollinated by insects it makes a lot of sense to look out for bees.

ZLTFUL

Jstas wrote: »

ZLTFUL wrote: »

Speaking on the genetic modification of plants, I don't think it means what a lot of people think it means. It does have some negative points but there are also benefits that have been created.

Farmers have been cross-breeding plants for literally millennia. Varieties of crops that do well in one area but not in another but yield more than plants from that other area are cross pollinated to combine beneficial attributes of both plants. Grows well in both locations and has a higher yield than the second of the original plants. (Extremely simplistic explanation but yeah)

Genetic modification has simply been a refinement of what had been happening all this time. Just instead of combining the beneficial attributes through cross-pollination, they are doing it in a lab.

I used to pollinate corn for Pioneer Hybrids when I was in my teens. The idea being that you aren't allowing cross-pollination of the various hybrids in the test plots. They can then use that data to determine which hybrids should be cross-pollinated for improved attributes.

This was how we got crop varieties that would grow in parts of the planet that were never able to produce certain crops before.

Genetically modified organisms from a natural evolution is all well and good as "survival of the fittest".
But when you start creating varieties that can harm pests, you risk harming the beneficial organisms as well. And that part leads to the negative impacts.

It truly is a double-edged sword.

OK, I don't want this to devolve into an argument thing so, first, backoff, please. Go plant some clover in your yard and drink a beer when you're done.

Secondly, the genetic engineering that is being talked about is not cross-breeding or selectively breeding plants to get the best or most desirable version.

The genetic engineering being talked about is taking something like genes from a bacteria that is found in insect pests known for rapidly defoliating a plant and applying that to the genetic structure of a food crop to enhance it's ability to withstand a herbicide like Round Up.

Alternatively, it's taking some genes from something like, say, a pitcher plant that uses a venom to paralyze insects so they drop into it's pit of despair and are digested. Then taking those genes and adding them to, say, a strain of corn to enhance it's ability to defend against insect damage.

Stuff like this causes unknown levels of havoc inside an ecosystem and stuff like pollen can transfer these genes to other plants and necessary animals/insects every time the wind blows.

That's bad and it was all done in a lab and wholly different than a monk with a feather and some bean plants.

John, sometimes I wonder if you just argue for the sake of arguing...because I was agreeing with you.

I was referring to the glyphosate mechanism that @xschop mentioned in his post following yours.
People (generally speaking) think that is all the same thing as the gene modification. It isn't. One is meant to improve the plants for the better and the other is a blight on the environment.
My time with Pioneer Hybrids was before they were passed around from mega-ag conglomerate to mega-ag conglomerate like a crappy joint at a frat party. Not that they were a lot better back then but it was well before the plant research and gene modification fully shifted into the lab.

As for planting clover in my yard, I am fortunate enough to live in a conservation community. The common areas are prairie reclamation. Roughly 60% of the development is blocked from building. The drainage swales (ditches to us who grew up in the country) are part of the homeowner's property and the HOA encourages you to plant wildflower and prairie grasses.
So while I can't plant clover in place of my grass (That's the city, not the HOA. Some folks here would let their entire yards go back to native prairie), we have several flower beds, dozens of planters and raised gardens that get planted with loads of stuff to attract pollinators.

One of my wife's best friend's husband is the state apiarist for Iowa and they personally manage 200 or so hives of their own. We love our pollinators in this house.

https://www.meadowblazingstarhoney.com/

Interesting side-bar, all of the cutting boards in their product photos were made by me and are treated with their beeswax wood conditioner. She collects cutting boards like most women collect shoes!

We are on the same page, my friend.

Tony M

I also learned ONCE as a kid what hid amongst those white-headed little flowers. I don't think I ever stepped on another bee.

I saw a special report on TV years ago that put the spotlight on BIG AGRA as a culprit to the decline of Honeybees along with the weed control chemicals.

I remember from the special that too many mega thousand-acre farms plant ONE plant. They said the bees need different plants that produce pollen at different times of the "spring through fall" seasons.

This one below isn't that TV special. I'll try to find the special that was aired many years ago.
https://e360.yale.edu/features/declining_bee_populations_pose_a_threat_to_global_agriculture

I forgot...the TV special also mentioned Parasitic Mites as a big killer.
https://bee-health.extension.org/what-is-causing-the-decline-of-honey-bee-populations/

I couldn't find it.

years ago, after seeing that special on bees, I would mow around our clover patches until there was no more clover heads. I also noticed all over our city, clover patches seemed to be left alone.

The Honeybees and Bumblebees sure love our fall blooming little sunflower flowers.

audioluvr

Totally agree. I've been mowing around certain flowering spring flowers for many years in hopes of preserving the genetic line. We have regular seasonal pollinators. Many of which I've never identified before.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https://www.fia.com/news/fia-launches-new-symbol-and-dedicated-site-disabled-competitors&psig=AOvVaw10p779N6Y5OKV6_AN8wnZR&ust=1645673201686000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAgQjRxqFwoTCICx6NLwlPYCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE