Water trays benefit these beneficial insects in more ways than one
A honey bee pauses for a bit of nectar as well as pollen from a coneflower. Honey bees search for water to cool the hive when temperatures get above 96.8 degrees. Kathy Morrison
People and pets aren’t the only ones who need ways to stay cool during triple-digit heat; bees could use some help, too.
Honey bees in particular benefit from water trays – shallow dishes of water with pebbles or marbles or corks – when temperatures go above 100 degrees. (The pebbles give bees a place to land so they don’t drown.) Honey bees are using that water not just to drink but to cool off their hives.
According to research from Oregon State University, honeybees use water – and wings – to create their own version of A.C.
“Honey bees are somewhat adapted to extreme heat,” report OSU researchers. “As soon as temperatures in a honey bee colony edge up beyond 96.8 degrees F., worker bees line up at the entrance and start fanning their wings. In addition, a special group of water-foraging bees begins scouring the surrounding area for water, which they collect and bring back to the nest.
“The bees distribute droplets of water around the nest, which works in parallel with the fanning to create the equivalent of honey bee A.C., or air conditioning. As temperatures rise to extreme heat levels, more honey bees will start to forage for water.”
Bumblebees tend to suffer most from the heat; they have trouble flying when it’s over 100 degrees, say the researchers. Bumblebees have been seen foraging for water (and may visit available water trays), but it’s not certain if they use the honey bee A.C. method to cool their nests.
Other bees don’t make as much use of the water trays, says OSU, but have other ways of coping. Ground-dwelling bees – which include many native bees – avoid the heat by staying under the cool soil.
One thing is certain: Most bee activity drops dramatically in triple-digit temperatures. Instead, they’ll forage (and pollinate) in the very early morning hours after dawn or just before twilight. Expect spotty pollination of squash and melons until weather cools back to normal.
How much longer will this current heat wave persist? According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento can expect afternoon highs over 100 through at least Thursday, July 11. That would match Sacramento’s all-time record of most consecutive triple-digit days – 11 – set in July 2009.
For more on bees and heat: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/pollinators/how-help-bees-survive-heat-wave.
For weather updates: https://www.weather.gov/sto/#.
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 12
Once the winds die down, it’s good winter gardening weather with plenty to do:
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* After the wind stops, apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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