When I first started this Blog a couple of months ago, one of my readers referred me to The Great Sunflower Project
If you go to their site and register they will send you a pack of Sunflower seeds and a form for you to document Honey Bee Activity in your yard after your Sunflowers bloom.
According to their site they were overwhelmed with requests and people who wanted to participate, so it took them a little while to get everyones seeds out to them.
There is still time to take part in this project; especially if you have already started your own sunflowers.
Just click on the link above and print the form and conduct your own study and send it in to them so that they can calculate the data.
Remember... Bees: Responsible for Every Third Bite of Food
5 comments:
My seeds finally came on Friday. I would have planted them by now but the weekend weather was not the best. I have decided to start mine in pots and then transplant.
Hope these sunflowers help even in a small way.
Good luck with your seeds!
I stuck mine right in the ground.
I have not had good luck with my transplants of anything this year.
I have enriched my soil so I think they will do fine.
While waiting for the Sunflower Projects seeds, I purchased some at Wally World and out of the whole packet 1 came up!
I read on their site that they were having trouble with seeds sprouting too. I am going to soak mine over night then plant.
I did that with my third attempt to plant beans this summer and I have lots of baby bean plants now!
You may want to try the soaking thing. I know it works on soybeans.
Soaking the seeds sounds like a good idea! I will finish with the soil today and plant tomorrow alont with my usual sunflower and Moonflowers seeds.
Even with the huge amount of clover in my yard again this year I still have very few bees. The butterflies and hummingbirds are plentiful and nice to look at but very limited in the bee department.
This is the second year I have noticed this and I am hoping that with the blooming of my Mimosa trees and Crepe Myrtle they will be attracted.
I certainly hope so! Going without food is not my idea of fun!
Do you live in the country or the city?
I have found less bee's in the country because of the arieal spraying that is done. I lost a colony at my Granddads in Stockton because of it.
If you do live in the country and are interested in keeping bee's or sponsoring a hive I can assist you in that. I have since learned to ask the farmer when he is going to spray or be sprayed (exact date) and I close my hive the night before and don't let them out for two days. It's hard on them but I don't loose as many that way than I would from the poison coming out of the sky.
If you explain to your neighbors what it happening they are usually very cooperative, as commercial farmers are becoming increasingly aware and understand the importance of keeping the bugs alive.
I live in the contry almost surronded by the woods. There is lots of farming in my area but I have never seen the planes spraying this year and it is never very often. I will check into that though. Chemicals can drift for miles......
I have seen more bees today so maybe they are just getting around to me. There are so many weeds blooming in the fields nearby. If all of the mosquitoes I had were bees the bee population would be thriving!!
I have thought about bee keeping and have the area for them but I am not sure yet. I will let you know though. Thanks.
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