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Weekly Gardening Tips: Pollinators
By Bob Beyfuss
For Capital Region Independent Media
Yesterday, late afternoon, I sat outside and watched the “Flight of the Bumblebees” in real life. Actually, they were carpenter bees, but still a type of bumblebee.
Today, I watched a YouTube video of the musical composition by Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov, written in 1900 with the same title. It was pretty obvious that he had watched the same seemingly manic spectacle himself!
In recent years the population of bumblebees has grown dramatically as the presence of “feral” honeybees has dropped just as dramatically. We don’t know exactly why wild honeybee populations have declined so dramatically, but if they are being replaced by bumblebees, that is OK with me!
Although carpenter bees don’t make honey like their European cousins, they are actually much better pollinators than honeybees for many native and cultivated garden plants, including blueberries, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, raspberries, strawberries, melons and cranberries. They are the only known pollinator of potatoes worldwide. Some greenhouse vegetable operations use them for this purpose exclusively.
The carpenter bees also drill some perfectly round holes in the fascia boards of my shed, which is not such a good thing, but I have decided to put up with it. They are also rather gentle, despite their constant buzzing in my face as I worked.
I was on a ladder putting up a section of aluminum gutter to collect rain water from my shed roof and as I did so, I covered up a couple of their holes with the gutter and despite my banging away with a hammer and sealing off their nest entrance, none of the half dozen bumblebees attacked me. Try banging on a honeybee hive with a hammer and see what happens!
For years, we have been told that if it were not for honeybees, we would all starve due to lack of pollination of our food crops. This is not true, since most of our major food crops, i.e. corn, wheat, rice and soybeans, are either wind- or self-pollinated and need no insect help at all.
It is true that honeybees are extremely important pollinators and are capable of pollinating about one-third of all our food crops, but the only crop that relies on them exclusively for pollination are almonds. About 80% of the world’s almonds are grown in California and they rely completely upon honeybees. I like almonds very much, but could certainly live without them if they went away.
Pollination is defined as the transfer of pollen from the male organ of a flower (anther) to the female organ (pistil), enabling fertilization and subsequent seed or fruit development. This may be accomplished by wind or by third parties — insects with hairy bodies, generally. Pollen adheres to these hairy bodies and since the male and female flower parts are usually, but not always, within the same flower, the transfer is pretty efficient.
Although birds, bats and other creatures are capable of pollination, the vast majority is accomplished by various types of insects, including several different kinds of bees, but also butterflies, moths, beetles, wasps and flies. Honeybees represent a tiny fraction of the approximately 3,600 species of bees in the U.S. and Canada alone. Most bee species, about 90% of them, are “solitary,” which means they don’t make communal nests.
Bumblebees are very efficient pollinators since they are capable of flying and foraging at much cooler temperatures and lower light levels than other insects. Their “buzzing” activity also improves pollen accumulation and transfer with the vibration they create.
Most wasps and hornets are also excellent pollinators, except for the smooth-bodied ones, with no hairs, i.e. yellow jackets. They are important predators of many insect pests though and most don’t deserve the bad reputation that some of them have for stinging.
Whether beneficial or not, I draw the line at tolerating yellow jackets or bald-faced hornets close to where I happen to be. I will continue to kill them and prevent them from nesting, since the risk to my health outweighs the need to protect them for their ecological services.
Many species of beetles are also pollinators that have been on the job for at least the last 150 million years or so. One out of every four living organisms that have ever been described on this planet, from fungi and bacteria, to mammals and birds, is a species of beetle. They pollinate many ancient species of plants, from magnolias to water lilies.
So, if you have heard about how important it is for us to protect and preserve all sorts of pollinators, as is currently in vogue, consider allowing some bumblebees to drill a few holes in your shed fascia boards and enjoy watching them dance. Then, watch the “Flight of the Bumblebee” on YouTube. I bet you will be humming the melody for the rest of the day!
Positively Speaking: Embracing uncertainty
By Toby Moore
For Capital Region Independent Media
Many of us have an innate discomfort with change.
Humans crave predictability — from the consistent taste of our favorite drive-thru burger to the measurable calories burned in our workout routine.
This desire for standardized outcomes is natural; once we find something that works, we naturally gravitate toward replicating it. This repetition leads us into a comfortable routine, fostering a predictable pattern of thoughts and emotions. This predictability makes us feel as if we are eradicating many of life’s uncertainties, wrapping us in a comforting blanket of stability.
The routines are good. Plenty of information indicates they are good for you. Still, even in a routine, we often desire to accomplish more and do something different and extraordinary.
My favorite author, Joe Dispenza, says, “Routines lull us to sleep… becoming the person we aspire to be requires that you stop being the old self.”
What does that mean?
Sure, we may like change when it comes to trying a new food, reading a new book or watching a new show on TV. But how often do we like change when it causes uncertainty? If you’re like most people, the answer is never.
Certainty is comfortable, and over time, it becomes familiar. We can become so familiar with something that deviating from the norm feels unnatural and uncomfortable.
Take an angry person, for example. They always have a dark cloud over their head and typically respond to most circumstances angrily. Why is that? Over time, they’ve become so comfortable with their anger, and it becomes so familiar, that any other emotion feels foreign and unsettling.
Indeed, emotional habits can feel like a constant, but life rarely adheres to the scripts we write for it. Whether it’s the loss of a job, the death of someone close, or an abrupt move to an unfamiliar city, life’s curveballs have a way of upending our emotional equilibrium. The immediate reaction is often one of discomfort and fear.
Questions flood our minds: How will I manage my finances? Will I ever find a loving relationship again? Can I adapt to this new place? This juncture is our encounter with the unknown, the point where we’re forced to navigate the murky waters of uncertainty.
Uncertainty has its transformative magic. To take advantage of this magic, you must step out of the known and venture into new territory: the unknown.
Dispenza says, “After all, if you focus on the known, you get the known. If you focus on the unknown, you create a possibility… the longer you invest your energy into the unknown, the more you are going to create a new experience or new possibilities in your life.”
Far from being an unwelcome intruder, change can act as a catalyst, compelling us to break free from the mundane and the familiar.
In those moments when the rug is pulled out from under us, we’re not just thrown into disarray but also presented with an invaluable opportunity for growth, exploration and possibility.
When we adapt to new circumstances, explore new skills, or cultivate new ways of thinking, we’re presented with something greater than simply adjusting. We’re changing our reality. How? By changing our personality.
Dispenza says, “Your personality creates your personal reality, and your personality is made up of how you think, act, and feel…most people try to create a new reality as the same personality, and it doesn’t work, you literally have to become someone else. The process of change requires breaking the habit of the old self and becoming a new self.”
Uncertainty propels us to think differently, and only when we begin to think and feel differently can we become that new self.
When unsure what to expect, our minds explore uncharted territory, conceiving new ideas, solutions, feelings and emotions that we might not have considered otherwise.
In this light, uncertainty isn’t our enemy but rather an untapped potential reservoir. In the tension between the familiar and the unknown, we discover who we are and who we can become.
So, the next time life throws you a curveball, don’t just brace for impact — embrace it.
As Dispenza puts it, “The best way to predict your future is to create it not from the known, but from the unknown.”
Toby Moore is a columnist, the star of Emmy-nominated “A Separate Peace,” and the CEO of Cubestream Inc.
