Organic Insecticides | Organic Pesticides | EcoSMART Bug Spray

Organic Garden Bug Spray: Where Have The Honey Bees Gone?

Since 2004 honeybees have been disappearing at alarming rates throughout the United States and around the world. Honeybee farmers have identified a variety of factors affecting the disappearing bees.

This phenomenon is known as the Colony Collapse Disorder. Scientists have yet to discover the direct cause of CCD or how it can be reversed.

Want to learn more?

• Honeybees
• Colony Collapse Disorder
• Solutions

Honeybees

One of the most commonly known insects on the planet is the honeybee. More literature has been written about the honeybee and their contributions than any other species of insect. This fascination began thousands of years ago when man discovered that honeybees could help make tasty honey.

The honeybee produces honey within their colonies of thousands of bees, as a result of the nectar they help gather from various types of flowers. Most insects eat the nectar they gather, but the honeybees refines this nectar directly into honey for later use. The honeybee does this to help stockpile for times when other plants aren’t in plentiful supply.

During the winter honeybees are still active and must continue to consume and metabolize honey, so they do not freeze to death. Beekeeping is essentially raising bees for honey, much like raising cows for milk. However, in recent years beekeepers have witnessed a downward shift in the success of their honey harvesting business.

Colony Collapse Disorder

The CCD or Colony Collapse Disorder has shocked beekeepers across the United States and beyond. This is when thousands of bees leave the bee hive and then never return, leaving the hive without the necessary number of bees to help maintain the colony and help produce honey.

This is a problem because a third of all American production relies upon the pollination of plants and crops by the honeybee. In some instances the bees don’t leave their colony, but end up dead in or around their colony. This is alarming because we do not know why this is happening. Some farmers reported moths, other insects, and animals purposely avoiding these collapsed colonies.

This suggests chemical pesticides might be affecting these hives, but nothing concrete has been proven. It seems to be a game of hive and seek at this point because so many factors could be contributing to CCD. Unknown parasites, unknown viruses, improper commercial care or even intense stress could have also contributed to CCD’s current onslaught against the honeybee population.

Solutions

Since we’ve yet to learn of the exact cause of CCD it is hard to plan the proper management of this growing problem. Although some ideas have arisen to help deal with the possible contributing factors of the CCD problem. Improper commercial care is something that could be easily changed by beekeepers providing their bees with healthier diets, better living conditions, and around the clock care.

This will help reduce stress for the honeybees as well, which will help lengthen their lives. The Great Sunflower Project is an organization dedicated to helping save the honeybee and bring back their population to former levels. It’s a project aimed at encouraging regular people to take some initiative and contribute to the honeybee relief effort.

All you have to do is plant some sunflowers around your property, note how long it took for 5 bees to visit your sunflower and report back your results to help the project learn how to save this disappearing species of insect. While taking note of the honeybee in your garden make sure to use EcoSMART’s natural bug spray to rid the area of other annoying pests.

This type of home and garden pest control is safe for use around your family, your pets, and the environment because it is made from natural ingredients like rosemary oils and cinnamon oils. In the end, make sure to remain aware of this growing honeybee problem and try to do what you can to help curtail this problem before it’s too late.