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When you drive around Yolo County farmlands, you may see them: a colorful mix of native forbs meant to attract bees and other beneficial insects.
What's a forb? A forb is a broad-leaved herb (as opposed to grass) that commonly grows in a field, prairie, or meadow or alongside farmland.
What's the best mix of native forbs?
Native pollinator specialist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, and research associate Kimiora Ward are researching which native forbs perform the best.
So far, the plants that have performed the best in their Yolo County trials are:
- Phacelia tanacetifolia,known by its common name, lacy phacelia
- Eschscholzia californica, California golden poppy, the state flower
- Lupinus densiflorus, golden lupine
- Lupinus succulentus, hollowleaf annual lupine or arroyo lupine
- Lupinus formosus, summer or western lupine
- Phacelia californica, California phacelia or rock phacelia
- Trichostema lanceolatum, vinegar weed
- Grindelia camporum, Great Valley gumplant
- Helianthus bolanderi, Bolander's sunflower
Take the lacy phacelia. You often see it planted along crop fields where it is known as a good bee plant. It attracts beneficial insects such a honey bees and syrphid flies (aka hover flies), adding a double bonus to the farmer's land. The syrphid fly is a good biological pest; in its larval stage, it gobbles aphids.
The UC Davis researchers' grant, "'Development and Validation of Protocols for Assessing Functioning of Pollinator Habitat Plantings for Agricultural Settings," is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is aimed at improving pollinator habitat plantings.
This research should prove invaluable.
As Williams said: "Recent declines in honey bee populations and the threat of losses in pollination service to economically important crops has raised awareness of the importance of restoring and conserving native bee diversity and abundance."
Honey bee heading toward lacy phacelia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Yule'll Like This One
If you're growing a tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii) in your yard, you won't need a stop sign or a traffic light to encourage vehicles to slow...
Honey bee foraging in a tower of jewels. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee gets down to business. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Upside down honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gill Tract occupation offers solutions, UC Berkeley professor says
UC Berkeley professor of agroecology, College of Natural Resources, Miguel Altieri suggests the university should recognize the potential of urban agriculture to help solve problems of hunger and unemployment. In addition, he said, UC should launch a major research, education and extension program on urban agriculture involving local governments, urban farmers and the whole community in participatory ways, so as to address the real needs of the poor and hungry.
These suggestions were made in a op-ed Altieri penned after activists took over UC's Gill Tract on April 22. The group, calling itself "Occupy the Farm," established a camp and planted two acres of vegetable crops on Albany land owned by UC. Altieri's op-ed was published today in the Albany Patch.
The actions taken by the farm advocates, Altieri wrote, are consistent with the university’s education and public mission as a Land Grant institution with a Cooperative Extension function to promote community involvement and initiatives in agriculture.
Spring bee swarms are no cause for alarm
Spring brings an abundance of phone calls with often panicked people wondering what to do about masses of bees that have moved into their neighborhoods. The arrival of a swarm of bees isn’t really great cause for alarm. Swarming is a natural means of colony reproduction. That’s how bee populations expand and move into new areas. Honey bees swarm when their hives become congested due to the rapid buildup of bees and stored food as temperatures warm in the spring. Swarms are usually gentle and beekeepers may come collect them to build up their own apiaries.
To learn more about swarms and what to do if a swarm moves into your yard or neighborhood, click this link - Bee Swarm - to view a seven-minute narrated PowerPoint.
If you would like additional information, read Removing Swarms and Established Colonies from Private Property written by Eric C Mussen, Extension Apiculturist at UC Davis.
I hope you find this information helpful. Don’t hesitate to contact me at scmueller@ucanr.edu if you need additional information.
Control is an Illusion
Our wacky spring weather has taught me a lesson, again: I am so NOT in control of anything in nature.
In my last blog, I pledged to get my tomato seedlings planted before the self-imposed deadline of April 15. Didn’t happen. I had to wait out the frost warnings and hailstorms that rolled through. Then when rain soaked the soil (which was really very welcome), I had to wait a few more days for it to dry out. But wait I did, and the tomato seedlings are now happily in the soil, soaking up warmth and sunshine, nearly doubling in size after just a week.
So patience paid off. I’ll try to remember that next year when tomato-planting season comes around.
This made me think of other areas of the yard where patience comes into play. We have three well-established rose bushes, which were planted by the previous owner of our 36-year-old home. Because I am not a rose fancier (the blossoms are lovely, but the plants are a thorny, unattractive pain, in my opinion), I have steadfastly refused to fuss over these roses. I do not prune them in winter. I do not spray off the aphids in spring. I do not deadhead the fading blossoms. I never, ever fertilize the plants. Mind you, I am not trying to kill them. I simply do not have any patience for the problems they bring.
You know what? Those darned roses thrive, putting on dinner-plate-sized blossoms all spring and deep-orange rosehips the rest of the year.
In that sense, having no patience (call it laziness or benign neglect) has its benefits. But, lesson learned: Mother Nature is driving this bus, not me. Guess I’d better buckle up and enjoy the ride.
The tomato seedlings finally made it in, despite Mother Nature’s insistence on mid-April frost, hail and heavy rain. Mother Nature does not have deadlines, apparently.(photos by Kathy Thomas-Rico)
An utter lack of patience for rose care does not stop these plants from thriving. Who’s in control here?