Cucumbers looking healthy! Anyone noticing a lack of pollinators this year?
I’ve seen like 2 bees total
by its_nobody3
20 Comments
Scumofstyle
Hoping you don’t mind some unsolicited advise; but adding lots of companion flowers has done wonders for attracting bees and butterflies to my backyard garden.
Colorado26_
I’ve had a few bumbles come but I always have butterflies and dragonflies
great_demise
I’m in socal, had odd seasons this year, drawn out fall and spring lots of overcast . Higher precip winter. They’ve been showing up lately, summer heat just rolled in, migratory birds too, but numbers and timing seem off. Interested in the data.
Porkbossam78
Yup I’m hand pollinating all of my fruit 😑hope my tomatoes do ok bc I didn’t do that with them
NoOneCanKnowAlley
My flowers haven’t bloomed just yet so yes, but hoping it picks up as they start blooming
InvestmentOverall936
Nope. I have a ton of pollinators. Bees literally sleeping in my zinnias.
Not here, but I have honeybees and I do a lot of work to provide habitat for native pollinators, including a native flower garden that is double the size of my veggie garden.
The honeybees are mostly off collecting nectar from linden right now, they aren’t as excited about my cukes, but they do stop by in the afternoons. For native bees you can help increase their populations by providing habitat for them, like old logs that are breaking down, and uncultivated bare soil. I’ve also had really good luck with native bee houses. Since most native bees are specialists, you want to provide enough forage for them to stick around.
Bees will also tend to look for areas of forage where they can visit a lot of flowers at once, and will stop by the plants we want them to pollinate while in the area. Cucumbers aren’t terribly attractive to bees, so you may want to plant things that are – your primary pollinator for cukes will most often be the (non-native) honeybee and bumblebees (who nest in the soil).
Some of the best things I plant in the garden to attract a lot of bees are borage (also beneficial to a lot of crops for flavor) and onions – I leave some in the ground to flower the next year. Finally, I have a big raspberry patch at the back of the garden which is covered in bees of all types.
Bees are declining in general, but what you’re observing could simply be a relative lack due to the collapse of a honeybee colony that used to visit your garden, in addition to the general decline in bumblebees.
Icy-Fall496
Tons of pollinators in the Sierra Nevada here
OpenYour0j0s
Yesss way down
AAAAHaSPIDER
I have an insane amount of bees in my yard. I have a lot of flowering clover mixed in with my lawn, and also planted flowers next to vegetables.
Kyrie_Blue
I haven’t seen as many, but theyve been around! My tomatoes are doing excellent and have started bearing fruit.
While I havent seen a ton of bees, I’ve met some new pollenators this year! This is a Golden Flower Longhorn. We have a ton of wildflowers in our yard that I mow around. They love these ox-eye dasies. Butterflies, hummingbirds, and hummingbird moths have been around too
barbadizzy
Definitely less than last year, but maybe it’s still a bit early? I’m not sure. A lot of our flowers just opened within the past couple weeks.
ThenExtension9196
Plant NATIVE plants nearby. Random flowers are not as effective.
CaprioPeter
Been getting swarmed with native bees this year
SpermKiller
I’ve actually never seen so many bees around my cukes than this year! I think the spring we’ve had this year in my parts (Switzerland) helped : no cold snaps, rainy but mild, with intervals of sunny but not scorching hot days. The previous years had so many droughts and sudden icy fronts that it disrupted many pollinators.
MGaCici
I have so many pollinators. Sometimes all their buzzing make me nervous. I do have many flower beds and also clover in the pasture.
Illustrious_Dust_0
Pollinators are pollinating in north Texas . I have sunflowers drawing them in
CurveAhead69
I have various types of flower, with staggered bloom time, including herbs that bees go nuts about. Have had steady blooms since early spring.
Massive lack of pollinators this year. Had a single (!) bumble bee and just last week a single wasp and a few beetles. I garden a few years now and I’ve never seen this. I thought it was just me (I never spray but a landscaper misread an address and treated my lawn instead of his customer’s…). I have great lawn currently but no pollinators – might be relevant. Anyone near you that did a heavy spraying or treatments?
therobotisjames
I have noticed a lack of bees in my area (maryland). Last year we had lots and lots of bees. This year not so much.
thejoeface
Nor cal here and I’m seeing tons of all sorts of bees, wasps, and flies on my flowers. I’ve got twice as many flowers planted as last year so I think my increase is due to that.
20 Comments
Hoping you don’t mind some unsolicited advise; but adding lots of companion flowers has done wonders for attracting bees and butterflies to my backyard garden.
I’ve had a few bumbles come but I always have butterflies and dragonflies
I’m in socal, had odd seasons this year, drawn out fall and spring lots of overcast . Higher precip winter. They’ve been showing up lately, summer heat just rolled in, migratory birds too, but numbers and timing seem off. Interested in the data.
Yup I’m hand pollinating all of my fruit 😑hope my tomatoes do ok bc I didn’t do that with them
My flowers haven’t bloomed just yet so yes, but hoping it picks up as they start blooming
Nope. I have a ton of pollinators. Bees literally sleeping in my zinnias.
https://preview.redd.it/9k4aconxpy9d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e043a3ea832eea3a7172253bb1ce2b4e35bbfaa
Not here, but I have honeybees and I do a lot of work to provide habitat for native pollinators, including a native flower garden that is double the size of my veggie garden.
The honeybees are mostly off collecting nectar from linden right now, they aren’t as excited about my cukes, but they do stop by in the afternoons. For native bees you can help increase their populations by providing habitat for them, like old logs that are breaking down, and uncultivated bare soil. I’ve also had really good luck with native bee houses. Since most native bees are specialists, you want to provide enough forage for them to stick around.
Bees will also tend to look for areas of forage where they can visit a lot of flowers at once, and will stop by the plants we want them to pollinate while in the area. Cucumbers aren’t terribly attractive to bees, so you may want to plant things that are – your primary pollinator for cukes will most often be the (non-native) honeybee and bumblebees (who nest in the soil).
Some of the best things I plant in the garden to attract a lot of bees are borage (also beneficial to a lot of crops for flavor) and onions – I leave some in the ground to flower the next year. Finally, I have a big raspberry patch at the back of the garden which is covered in bees of all types.
Bees are declining in general, but what you’re observing could simply be a relative lack due to the collapse of a honeybee colony that used to visit your garden, in addition to the general decline in bumblebees.
Tons of pollinators in the Sierra Nevada here
Yesss way down
I have an insane amount of bees in my yard. I have a lot of flowering clover mixed in with my lawn, and also planted flowers next to vegetables.
I haven’t seen as many, but theyve been around! My tomatoes are doing excellent and have started bearing fruit.
https://preview.redd.it/i8mcmpbity9d1.jpeg?width=1134&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f8974484ade850638fafa8b984375fb49efd9181
While I havent seen a ton of bees, I’ve met some new pollenators this year! This is a Golden Flower Longhorn. We have a ton of wildflowers in our yard that I mow around. They love these ox-eye dasies. Butterflies, hummingbirds, and hummingbird moths have been around too
Definitely less than last year, but maybe it’s still a bit early? I’m not sure. A lot of our flowers just opened within the past couple weeks.
Plant NATIVE plants nearby. Random flowers are not as effective.
Been getting swarmed with native bees this year
I’ve actually never seen so many bees around my cukes than this year! I think the spring we’ve had this year in my parts (Switzerland) helped : no cold snaps, rainy but mild, with intervals of sunny but not scorching hot days. The previous years had so many droughts and sudden icy fronts that it disrupted many pollinators.
I have so many pollinators. Sometimes all their buzzing make me nervous. I do have many flower beds and also clover in the pasture.
Pollinators are pollinating in north Texas . I have sunflowers drawing them in
I have various types of flower, with staggered bloom time, including herbs that bees go nuts about. Have had steady blooms since early spring.
Massive lack of pollinators this year. Had a single (!) bumble bee and just last week a single wasp and a few beetles. I garden a few years now and I’ve never seen this.
I thought it was just me (I never spray but a landscaper misread an address and treated my lawn instead of his customer’s…). I have great lawn currently but no pollinators – might be relevant. Anyone near you that did a heavy spraying or treatments?
I have noticed a lack of bees in my area (maryland). Last year we had lots and lots of bees. This year not so much.
Nor cal here and I’m seeing tons of all sorts of bees, wasps, and flies on my flowers. I’ve got twice as many flowers planted as last year so I think my increase is due to that.