Garden Pollination

Discussion in 'Gardening, Plant Propegation, & Farming' started by poltiregist, Jun 20, 2020.

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  1. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    Something new to me is there not being enough pollinating insects to propagate the garden . Likely I have had this problem for years but am just now realizing it . After watching a couple of you tube videos on this , I developed a plan . Early in the mornings I am going through my garden with little artist style paint brushes pollinating my plants by moving the pollen from the male blooms to the female blooms . I thought I would post this in case we have other members that may be having pollination problems and do not realize it .
     
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  2. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    I am new at this pollination thing so if some of you guys have experience in this area of gardening , I would welcome any suggestions . I have started honey bee hives here numerous times and still have lots of bee equipment but the bees just keep dying out . My last bee hive died out about three years ago and I just don't have many bees in my area to pollinate the garden . --- Just a thought even though it is straying slightly from the objective of this thread . If the bee population continues to decline " commercial crops " if they are " closed pollinated " will likely cease to be grown . I just can't see a whole bunch of people with little paint brushes pollinating thousands of acres of crops . This would drastically influence what foods reaches a store .
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2020
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  3. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    I plant fallow beds and 2 to 3 foot wide strips of crimson clover around and in my garden along with the wife's many flower beds on the property. I also have out mason bee boxes that they lay there eggs in for the next generation. If you have the property to do so plant wild flowers that are local to your area and you can contact you local ag agent to see if any of the local apiarists are looking for sites for there hives. You can always start you own bee hive (traditional or top bar). Use oil of lemon grass to attract a bee swarm to your new hive.

    Dale
     
  4. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    Also try planting varieties of vetch (honey bees love it) as well as other varieties of clover. I like the vetch in outer areas because the deer also love it...Yes, venison with that honey
     
  5. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    Squash bees come out very early in the day; right at dawn. They are smaller than honey bees. I've gone out and watched them working my squash. Speaking of which, a dang rabbit ate the leaves off one of my squash plants last night.

    Here's advice from the Forestry Service:

    https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/gardening.shtml

    Here's an idea -- and a pretty one at that!

    https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/pollinator-garden-design-for-bees/9144.html

    http://gardenclub.homedepot.com/garden-buffet-for-pollinators/

    We always plant marigolds on the garden's perimeter. The practice of planting marigolds in a veggie garden goes back in history I don't EVEN know how far. From when I was a kid, there were always marigolds planted. Where I'm from, this was just done; you did it -- you planed marigolds and other flowers to draw in all of the different kinds of bees. Up in the mountains, say over 3000 ft, there are some strange looking bees and pollinators. Up in the head of hollars (back up into 5000 ft and beyond, we'd hunt up in there), there are butterflies and moths that could be in a science fiction movie. I've seen Luna moths bigger than my hand. Marigolds attract bees and repel other bugs that are only harmful. I only learned that as an adult; as a boy, I saw the planting of marigolds as being what you did.

    https://www.imperfectlyhappy.com/marigolds-in-the-vegetable-garden/

    https://www.ruralsprout.com/marigolds-in-the-vegetable-garden/

    Everybody grew there own tobacco fer chawin'. But you can make a pesticide out of it also, that tradition goes back forever.
    https://www.hunker.com/12127114/how-to-make-and-use-organic-pesticide-from-tobacco
     
  6. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    Marigold oil is used in many organic pesticides. Most contain a warning about using it when Japanese beetles are bad as it can attract them to your plants.
     
    1. Old Geezer
      Thnx. Ouch, didn't know about the Japanese beetle attraction. Gotta put this to memory.
       
      Old Geezer, Jun 21, 2020
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    2. DirtDiva
      I just plant my marigolds later. Japanese beetles usually show up here mid June and are gone by the first week or so of July. I simply don't put out my marigolds until later. They are blooming by the end of July and are spectacular later in the summer and fall.
       
      DirtDiva, Jun 30, 2020
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  7. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    I may try the marigold plantings in my garden next year . For now it appears with me pollinating my garden with brushes , it seems to has multiplied my yield several fold . My watermelons are just putting on blooms but so for have not been able to distinguish the male watermelon blooms from the female blooms . But I really only wanted one or two so maybe an insect will pollinate that much . Then again I really don't remember from my schooling over 50 years ago whether watermelons are pollinated by the wind are needs an insect . Fortunately for me my string beans are wind pollinated , My heirloom seeds for them I have been using for about 40 years now . The best string beans I ever ate . My string beans are climbers " about 15 ft. high at this point " and climbing . In case some are wondering , my back deck is way up off the ground and they run up hay strings to my deck where I can still reach them . We will likely soon be sitting on the back deck hidden behind string bean vines , so the feds won't be able to spy on us so easily with their drones and spy satellite .
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2020
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  8. danil54grl

    danil54grl Expert Member
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    If you have the extra space on your land you can always have some honey hives. Some people like to play with bees. I personally do not so we talked to a guy who harvest and sells honey for a living. He sets up his hives out in our cow pasture and tends them every couple week or once a month depending on the time of year and in exchange he gives us a couple cases of honey a year to use our property. Added bonus is I never have a pollination issue out in the garden. It's a win win for both of us.
     
  9. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    Bee Hives are great for a lot of things. It gives you an army of pollinators for your garden and fruit trees and the honey is liquid gold in a survival situation and as things start to come together again it is a great cash crop for trade.

    I have pollinated tomatoes with a small feather duster when the bees were having a problem but they have made a pretty strong come back here.
     
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