The Garden and Such

Over the past few weeks, much has happened in the garden! Along with my weekly composting which I have kept up at school and at home, I have managed to get a lot going in my garden. In the garden at the side of my house, there are several potato plants and 2 very large chive plants which are returning from last year. My garlic plants, started much earlier in the school year, are flourishing and the fruit trees are looking healthy and happy! I transplanted all my broccoli plants and lettuce from inside out into the garden. Very sadly, when I went to check on my broccoli the following day, most of them had been taken by animals! From what I can tell there are only about 2 broccoli plants left, however, the lettuce was a little better off and I still have quite a few lettuce plants. I noticed very recently that many tomato plants are popping up everywhere and that it must be from the compost that I have spent a lot of time turning into the soil. So I've decided to let them grow in the place of the broccoli. My onions and shallots are doing fairly well too and were not stolen by animals. Some beets have been planted along with an artichoke and some swiss chard. I went by the Maple Leaf Garden Centre and picked up some flowers to attract the good bugs and planted them throughout my gardens. I tried to space them so that all my plants will benefit.

Pesticides Turn Bees into Picker Eaters

A certain pesticide has been discovered to strongly effect bees even in small amounts. It is not completely clear from this article, although it seems like the pesticide to blame is imidacloprid from a group of pesticides called neonicotinoids. This pesticide is causing bees to ignore flowers that are slightly less sweet, but that they would normally feed on, and only feed from flowers with sweeter nectar. The pesticide is also effecting how the bees communicate with the other works as to where good food is. An experiment done with honey bees being exposed to a small amount of imidacloprid, shows that the treated bees waggle dance less or even stopped dancing all together. In this same test, the treated bees were much less willing to eat low concentrations of sugar water compared to those that were not treated. The danger in this is that the more picky bees are over the sweetness of food may mean a drastic reduction of the amount of resources that can be brought back to the colony to keep them alive and healthy. This could potential explain the increase of colony collapse disorder across North America and Europe since 2006, as beekeepers have lost one third of their colonies every year. This article makes clear that, although the main culprit for the decline of bees is not known, imidiacloprid was the sixth most common pesticide sold for agricultural and home gardens in California in 2006 and is very likely a contributor.

Although it is very worrisome to learn that even very small doses of these pesticides could have a huge impact of bees, it seems beneficial to be finding this information. Hopefully, changes can now be made to stop the decline of bees and change it to increase of bees. Likely, this group of pesticides is not the only thing to blame, however, every step that can be taken to help bees prosper is a good step. I wonder, if these pesticides were eliminated from our environment, how much of an effect it would have on plants, not just bees?

Salmon Farm Quarantined

Another salmon farm has recently been quarantined in BC due to the threat of a virus spreading after 560,000 fish were already culled due to this virus called IHN. It has also caused 3 other salmon farms to close in B.C. over 10 days. A site near Tofino has had to cull all their salmon and the same company (Mainstream Canada) found the fish at their Bawden Point to be "weak positive" for the virus. Since the virus does not have any effect on humans, the company is going to sell the fish as they are mature and ready for market. More tests are being done on other farms; one came back negative at a farm near Sechelt.
I recall earlier in the term I read an article discussing a virus found in many fish markets in B.C. I am curious to know if this is the same virus and if so, it sounds like it has escalated a lot. This article states that it is harmless to humans yet what effect does it have on the salmon specifically and what is it doing to other organisms in contact with the farmed salmon. It is very worrisome to hear of such a virus in farmed salmon as it is possible that the virus could reach the wild salmon who are even less likely to be adapted to fight the virus. Hopefully things will not reach that point.

Syngenta Settles Herbicide Lawsuit

And the Syngenta discussion continues! On Friday, May 25, in St. Louis, Il Syngenta agreed to pay $105 million. This is to settle a lawsuit that has been in progress for almost 8 years of the herbicide called atrazine that has supposedly found its way into the water systems of over 300 communities. SOme claim that the chemical now found in the drinking water causes low birth weights, birth defects and reproductive  issues. Runoff after a rainstorm can wash the chemical into water supplies, however, Syngenta argues that nobody could consume enough atrazine from the water to cause any effects. Apparently this deal will be good for Syngenta as they will still be able to sell their herbicide to U.S. corn growers and continue with their retailers, distributers and partners. No official court date has been set, however the federal lawsuit will include water providers in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio and approximately $34.9 million of the payment will go to attorneys as fees.
Having learnt about Syngenta briefly already, it is very interesting to see them being sued again for another chemical. However, they do not seem to be effected very much by what seems to be a large amount of money since they are still allowed to sell their product that is the issue at hand. This seems rather unproductive as whatever water systems are re compensated for, just as many will be infected with the chemical if it continues to be distributed. I wonder if it is worth it to agree to this deal if the long term benefits are non-existent.

Using Queen Cells

According to this reading, you will often end up with an excess of queen cells compared to the number of mating nucs available. In this case you can either give them to a neighbour to use or save them for yourself in a Queen Bank. The queens must be mated and not stay virgins or they will not be very useful. If there are still to many queen cells they can be used to make a queen pheromone lure used to make bees swarm. Do this by placing the emerged queens into alcohol and let them sit for several months in the jar with alcohol. It can then be used as the swarm lure.
THis article seems very smart. It has several ways of dealing with extras which is a very good way to avoid more waste on the planet and aid others or yourself in the process. Out of the 4 readings from this website I fount this one the clearest and easiest to follow.

Finishing Queencells

This article is based on conditions in the UK. It states that a strong stock can finish one or two frames of queens and to not overload the stock or else some queen cells will be undernourished. The cells only need to be in the starter colonies for 24 hours and then are moved to the finisher colonies. Feed the finisher colonies with honey diluted with water so they can feed the queen cells. Make sure not to feed to much and let the diluted honey ferment. Also make sure to hold the frames with queen cells on them up right and stable. Place them in the uppermost box with a queen excluder between the other boxes so the queen stays bellow. Make sure there is lots of pollen with a central frame of young brood. If repeating the process in the same colony, replace the centre frame with another frame with brood from the bottom box or from another colony. Once the cells have been sealed they can be removed at any time and put in an incubator or left in mating nucs for 24 to 48 hours.

This reading gave a very detailed description on how to finish the queen cells yet I am still slightly confused. If so many queen cells are being produced in the colony, would that not cause the queen bee to swarm? Having read this, I have a better understanding as to how queen cells work, yet it left me with that main question.

Clipping and Marking Queens

This reading goes into how to mark and clip queens. One way to mark queens is with a Baldock cage, which traps the queen while the other bees can fit through the mesh. This allows you to mark her with paint or cement let it dry, then release her. To remember what colour corresponds with which year ending you can use What You Rear Green Bees? and 1,2,3,4,5. White =1,6 Yellow=2,7 Red =3,8 Green =4,9 Blue =5,0. You can also used numbered discs to mark queens but it is much more precarious. To do this you must capture the queen in a tube cage. Trap her against the mesh at one end of the cage and mark her. You can also twist the plunger a tiny bit so one wing pops out and you can clip it 4 mm or so. Then let the glue dry and allow her to walk back onto the comb.
To clip the queens wings, pick her up by the wings with forefinger and thumb.Then, point your left forefinger at your right shoulder and offer the queen this finger. When she grabs on with all legs, gently close your fingers on her legs. Then mark her and clip her, cutting about 1/3 of the wing completely perpendicular to the wing's surface. To make sure the cut is clean and not ripped, make sure the scissors re very sharp. Also when marking the queen, be sure that the paint gets all the way to the carapace so the workers cannot slowly chip away the paint, resulting in no marking in later years.
This article had a lot more information than the last however it does not explain the reasoning behind why marking and clipping is important. I'm not sure what clipping the queen's wings does. Otherwise there seem to be many methods of marking and clipping, which allows a good selection if one doesn't fit your skills. That is very useful since beekeepers vary a lot.