I haven't heard the cell phone one before.

Links to two short articles about bees and the ongoing search for an answer to colony collapse that I came across while looking for info on another subject a few weeks ago.

http://www.treehugger.com/natu...

http://www.treehugger.com/sust...

Very interesting reads. I hope they do solve the problem.

I have read different things as well on the issue, thanks Char for those links you posted. I have read in some article that it isn't the home gardeners that are causing the big problems since the products they use have low amounts of the chemicals, it's the commercial growers (and that's with a wide rang of chemicals).

I must say I have never seen a honeybee on my daylilies. I have seen bumble bees (not too often) and whatever those really small bees are but never honey bees. I would say other than the really small bees that the only other thing that feeds from my daylilies is butterflies. I'm not saying other things don't, I have just never seen any not even hummingbirds.

At my old place I had other plants besides daylilies (that did not get chemicals) and I would say that the bees there preferred certain plants. The Bumble Bees pretty much lived on my Mexican Heathers (about half actually slept on them overnight) and the honeybees preferred the crape myrtles and another tree I had that had super sweet smelling tiny white flowers (the love bugs loved it as well). I had 10 hummingbird feeders at my old place to and I counted about 150 hummingbirds at any given time fighting over them and not a single one ever visited the daylilies. I had some actually hung in the daylily beds and the hummers would use the daylilies as a hiding place to surprise attack any intruding hummers that wasn't allowed to feed but never fed from them.
Where I'm at now I have never seen a hummer or honey bee (just butterflies and the small bees and occasional bumble bee) feeding from the daylilies. All the bees and hummers hang out in the wild flowers, cardinal vines, and weed flowers on the property beside us.

Cindy, I can tell you one thing. The way how people are hung up on their cell phones now - a - days it is NOT going anywhere. I truly hope that this is not one of the cause. We already have human issues being evaluated with cell phone use. It will never end!

I have never seen a honeybee on daylilies either. I also have seen bumblebees on them. I do see honeybees on other perennials like lavender and snapdragons.

I would wager that it is pesticides and fungicides used on commercial crops. It is likely a combo of chemicals. Pretty sad and even a bit alarming how fast the bee population decreased in such a short time. Cancer and rare diseases have been on the rise in humans. Suppose there is a link? I'd wager "yes" on that as well.

Becky, think about this. The bees love my Myers Lemon tree when it's in boom. Now, when the orange trees are in bloom in the groves, think how many bees are attracted to them. Now, understand that former orange groves (dead groves) are declared to be contaminated grounds. Totally contaminated because of all the sprays they do on the oranges and grapefruit. They are contaminated lands when the groves are abandoned. What do you think??? Maybe that's why bees are dying. They love citrus!

Arlene -

I have worked with fruit pickers/migrant worker's children and I am always saddened by how many of those families have handicapped children. The pesticide in the citrus groves affect human genetics. It's avoidable yet sad for all those unfortunate children born with disabilities. Many of the children have severe disabilities. It's common knowledge that the spraying of citrus trees is the likely cause.

Also, many areas of my community were once large citrus groves. There seems to be a high incident of childhood cancer in residential areas that were probably once groves. And years ago, the chemicals used are now banned from use. Pretty scary to know.

There are many honeybees here due to local hives. We try to take care of
them. They like the daylilies and many other plants. Also, when the praying
mantis hatch, it is the daylilies they stay in, so we try to protect them too.
The honeybees and bumblebees are out now on warm days. They are after
the earliest things to bloom, such as a few early daffodils, crocus, and wild flowers just
beginning to bloom even through the snow when we have it.

Many years have passed since chemistry classes, but I remember the
hazards to humans from so many chemicals and mix of chemicals, and it
doesn't always take potent amounts to be harmful. However, we live in a chemical
world with air, water, and soil being compromised even without the additional
help from the backyard gardener. If labels express issues with combining
chemicals, it is wise to follow the warnings.

Years ago I used a bit of bleach when washing dishes. One time I did the same
thing as usual, and a noxious gas formed that I was astutely aware of. I backed away
quickly, and held my breath while letting the water out. Then I read the label,
noticing that the dish detergent had changed the chemical structure with
bleach being a no no. That taught me to read labels first before use, even when
this had been an okay product before. Products are constantly changing.

The mixture of bleach and ammonia is commonly known to form a noxious gas,
and I expected to see ammonia added to the list of ingredients, but nope,
it was not listed.

Thanks for mentioning bees, steve_mass, and thanks to others posting on them as well.

There are organic sources such as Arbico, etc. that have many solutions to pest problems.
Remember too that chemicals collect in the body and some can contribute to Parkinson's and other disease.
I, personally, have avoided using anything "Bayer" for years.

It is amazing that we have such powerful science and that this cannot be organised to solve the bee-death problem. It reminds me of the disappearance of frogs in the 1970s. We had to beg burrow and threaten to get people to research the problem. By the time they identified the cause so many frog species were extinct and, today, they still can't fight the fungus that was the culprit. The world has not only become a global village it has also become a global host for disease.

I read this in an article about bee die offs last year:

"We are a species that increasingly has omnipotence without omniscience. That’s a dangerous combination for the animals and plants that share this planet with us".

I'm really glad I used this Bayer product. As my daylilies continue to grow and become lush, about 1/3 of them are showing damage from cut worms. I've had a few in the past, but apparently the worms have proliferated with the wet winter we had and were doing a lot of damage. Also, the anoles don't live in the daylilies any more since their food source went away. This is good because I shoo them out of the foliage before I spray for rust. Inevitably those that remain a get sprayed. It doesn't seem to hurt them, but I can't image it does them any good either. There are lots of other areas in the yard they can, and do, live.