HAPPENINGS IN THE MID-ATLANTIC FORUMPart #2

Hi, everyone!

We were getting a bit long on the other Thread.
It was time to move on...

Please refer back to the original Thread, as there were many
Posts re. JBerger's desire tp start a new Forum--just on
Holiday Cactus.
She is working with melody on this...

Check the DG Thread--let's support JB on this....

Gita

We came from here----

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1127054/#new

If a Cacti post was started here, anyone who comes to Dave's and does a search for Cacti specifically will be routed here. I don't believe there is a big need to start elsewhere. I have missed hearing all of Doc's lessons on the Christmas Cactus, but am open to learning any thing that any one offers.

Glad you made it home safely Gita but sorry to hear that you are ailing. I was sick a few weeks ago too and didn't realize how sick until my antibiotic kicked in and I began feeling better.

Expect a dmail from me Gita. For the most part, every thing you have ever given me has done well. You folks stay warm.

Ruby

Gita & JB,

I am very interested in there being a forum dedicated to the various Holiday Cacti.

I, for one, know so little about them (except how pretty) and will probably post many questions. I like the idea of being able to relocate info I have forgotten.

Younger daughter visited today ... we had lunch ...went to Khols ... way, way crowded ... could not wait to get out of there ... next stop was Michael's ... used a 50% off coupon for one item only to purchase a replacement cake pan that was priced at $17.99 .... last stop was an A T & T phone store ... we were the only customers ... daughter obtained a new sims card for grandson to use in an old phone ...he never found the one he lost while sledding last Sun.

It was much warmer today ... had to open window in car at times .... daughter laughed and reassured me that the heat was completely off and said she though it was too warm inside the car. Suppose to be warmer tomorrow ... and rising into the 50s by Sat. Nice weather for the Mummers Parade.

MARY

Thanks for the new thread Gita.

I put all your suggestions and comments together and decided to make a thread on the Mid Atlantic Forum instead of starting on DG. If it works here, maybe I will take the results to the Adm. and they can make their own decision. I felt it better if we crawl before we walk. We just may fall flat on our faces and no one will give a hoot after a few weeks. So, there is now a Holiday Cacti General Discussion Group open and ready to take us all on a Journey into the wonderful world of the Christmas Cacti. This will only be as good as the support and information we put into it. I hope we can all share and learn. Thanks so much for your great interest and input. Hugs to all. JB

YEEEAAAAHHHHH-----

Thank you JB! I am HAPPY to have it here....
Now to go see your new Thread....

Gita

Does anyone have MASON BEES?

MARY

Merrymath there is an old thread here on Mason Bees I think Doc had them.

What are Mason Bees? Hey Hello, I am so excited. There were 12 hits on the HC site and I was so excited I almost had an accident. At my age that is not uncommon for some people, for me, it take alot.

I bought ladybugs last year. About 1500 of them. I turned them loose in my greenhouse so I would not have to spray for insects and they would have warm place to live and could keep the plants free of whatever they eat. About two weeks into the winter we had a blizzard and the one panel blew off the GH. You guessed it..............the ladybugs were gone in no time and that was the end of my and buying bugs to help my plants. LOL
No, not one ladybug survived. What can I tell you, my luck is not too good.

Mary, where do you come up with all these things? You are so good.

Thanks to you all who came to the other site for a visit. I hope you will return and help keep the information coming. Hugs and thanks again. JB

JB .... one of my grandaughters in N carolina sent me some wonderful presents for Christmas. Amongst them is a mason bee house ... so I had to do a wee bit of research to learn about them.

A few links to info on mason bees

https://id408.van.ca.siteprotect.com/beediverse/catalog/masonbees.php

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/991898/


the following link offers a way to make money raising these friendly bees

http://www.crownbees.com./raise-mason-bees-for-

This is a better picture of the mason bee house resting atop the folding garden bench that grandaughter gave me for Christmas.

MARY

Sorry Mary, I can not see the bee house. Are they real buzzy kind of bees you are talking about. I will go to the links and check this out. Now you have my attention. LOL

Mason Bees are supposed to be very good little pollinators. I keep thinking about getting them for my MIL. She has mentioned a number of times that they do not have the bees in her area they used to have......

Another thing that helps is plants that are bee magnets...... I have sent her some of my plants that are always loaded with bees to help her draw the bees to her yard.

I have heard good things about Mason Bees.

I just figured out a simple and inexpensive (OK, i am cheap) to make a mason bee house.

Cut a cardboard toilet tissue roll in half, lengthwise. Use each half section to roll into a narrow tube ... use package tape to hold roll together lengthwise. Plug one end with paper.

Use an empty can that is approximately, the same length as your paper tubes .... afix some type of hanging device to the can .... attach some type of protective hood to can ... insert your paper tubes and place out in early spring ... making sure you have a basin with our wonderful clay soil and water near by.

I just thought this up ... so there is room for improvement and modifications.

Constructive criticism is welcomed. ^_^

MARY

If Mason Bees are what I am thinking of, they drill holes in wood anywhere to put their eggs & nest. We use treated lumber that they are not supposed to like, on our greenhouse & porch but they are there drilling away. Personally, I don't like them because of the holes they are trying to drill, yes, even under our carport & this last summer, one got under my nightgown & stung me on the back as I was going into the house under the carport and I got a bad reaction, so now I have to carry a bee sting kit (costing me $ 66) to inject into me, should I get stung again. I do spray them. We live surrounded by woods. There is PLENTY of wood for those little buggers in the woods. Sorry guys, but bad karma with them for me. Their abdomen is shiny and black. The females are the ones who sting.

Judy, Could you be refering to Carpenter bees? http://doyourownpestcontrol.com/carpenter_bees.htm

Buttoneer I think you might be thinking of the big Bumble Bees they are borers. Mason Bees live in holes but don't bore them. They will live in a hole that another insect has made. I think Mason Bees are about the size of Honey Bees.

Buttoneer,

Unfortunately, you are plagued with carpenter bees.

Mason bees are friendly bees

I am so happy that the thouhtful granddaughter who gave me the mason bee house has introduced me to them.

MARY

JB,

I copied this picture from the website my graddaughter used to order my mason bee house.

MARY

That is sooooooooo cool Mary! Do you just hang it anyplace? Do you buy the bees separately? We have had some bees this summer, more than the summer before, and I thought there was hope that they would return , but there are also those nasty killer bees that are moving in our direction. That is really scary. I hope they wear little signs so you can tell the good ones from the bad ones. O.K. so I am goofy. JB

Mason Bees can be accessed using Google. I have had them for seven or eight years. They are very small. It would take three or four of them to equal the size of a honey bee. The Mason Bee does not make it's home. It lives in small holes made by others including man. Man's best creation for Mason Bees is a cedar shake home. Those cracks between shakes and under them as they age are often used by the Mason Bee.

They are docile little bees. I have used houses for them I made by drilling a piece of wood as well as several methods of housing available commercially. I had few if any when my son started me out with a house and three tubes of bees. Today because two neighbors also keep them we have lots of the tiny Mason Bees. They cause no harm or damage worthy of mention. They polinate far better than any honey bees I used to keep.

Their promotion and home sales come from a family on the West Coast. Please read about them by using Google to get there.

Thank you Doc. That is so interesting. I will do that. Please tell me, are you to famous Doc who has all the great information people keep talking about on this thread. If so, please visit our new Holiday Cactus General Discussion Thread here in Mid Atlantic and help answer some of those questions. We need all the help we can get. Thanks so much.Off to Google the bees. JB

I believe this is the web sie Doc referred to

http://www.crownbees.com./educate-yourself

Someone on another thread found this awesome link with wonderful info on mason bees

http://phigblog.com/2010/02/27/making-mason-bee-homes/

MARY

This message was edited Dec 30, 2010 4:43 PM

Thanks for straightening me out on the difference between Mason Bees & Carpenter Bees. I do like bees but not the ones that sting & attack & drill holes. LOL. I have killed a lot in the past several years. They probably have my picture on a wanted poster & that's why I got stung. ROTFL

LOL!!! You've informed me too...as we kill the carpenter bees also...they are down right nasty and will drill into anything they can. We live in the woods and they have PLENTY of other places to drill without adding additional holes in all our lumber and out buildings. But no mason bees that I know of.

Carpenter Bees (Borer Bees) can be very destructive. I have been dealing with them for years!
They have drilled my split-rail fencing rails to death! SO MANY HOLES!

BTW---The big, buzzing Bees you see whipping around are the males protecting the
holes where the females now are laying their eggs in. They will NOT bite you or anything else.
They are just "strutting their stuff" to appear menacing. Have NO fear of them!

These males have the ability to hover in place...IF they sense your presence near the female's
holes--they will buzz you over and over....Such egotistic things!.....ALL bluff!

I carry a fly swatter with me--and when they buzz me and hover--I whack them good--and then
grind them into the soil with my shoe-- if I am lucky enough to get one.
Believe me--they can move faster than an Alien space ship.... Bzzzt--GONE!

These bees have drilled their holes in the support beams of my Patio roof as well....
I can just see the sawdust floating down....
They have destroyed the supporting beams of my "A"-Frame shed.....There are so many holes
that the beams are totally compromised...They will survive, though....

Last year--I bought a can of "Great Stuff" at the HD--and went around spraying this into
all the existing holes. Many of them are, by now, more than holes--it is like what Termites do to your
beams and other wood structures.....
This "Stuff" foams up as it dries and seals all kinds of cracks and openings.
Unfortunately--it also looks like some kind of yellow, mushroom fungus on the wood I have sprayed it on.

Other things I do to fight these vermin.....IF I find a hole (assuming the female is in there already) I will
cut a piece of a dowel, or branch, and pound it into the hole, so she, or her babies, cannot get out.
I have also sprayed Wasp and Hornet killer right into these holes.....

IF I see a male buzzing around on the underside of my patio sky lights--I get a can of the same and
aim it for the offending bee. IF I hit it square on--it will drop down in a matter of minutes and die.
IF I see them drop--I just step on them to finish them off....save them from the "agony of death".....

Here is the interesting fact!
The females are similar to slender wasps....Nothing like their macho males.....They look rather innocent!
SO! IF you see a wasp-like bee hovering around something wood--Kill it! She is searching for a nest....

Here is what the females do-----

--The males drill the holes (I think--the females are too small). The holes are the diameter of a pencil...
--The females move in and bore straight up from the hole. They make a long chamber...Lay an egg--
and then seal it off...Lay another egg--and seal it off.l..etc..
IF I can catch them inside--and spray right into the hole--they are goners!

Gory stuff--I know! But--then--I am not the queezy type....

Gita

Link to new Thread on HOLIDAY CACTI
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1146809/
I am going back myself to read up!

Thanks Sally, was just going to ask for that!

Gita,
We use old badmitten rackets......they're bigger and you stand a better chance of hitting them. I get some at a yard sale for.50$ apiece....and it's more of a challange than badmitten!

So Hall, you don't play with birdies, you have beeies. LOL I'll have to remember that this summer, I think I might have on old tennis racket laying around. And if I bat them near the pond my frogs will have fresh food.

Not a bad thing......

I was hoping the fish would eat the Japanese Beetles, but even the fish won't eat those....

We put in bullfrog tadpoles last year. Perhaps they will eat the JB's as well as the carpenter bees.

I have seen my frogs eat wasps and bees, the first time I saw that I thought froggie was a goner, but he showed no ill effects.

I have seen sparrows eat JBs but I think there are to many JBs for them to make a dent.

I bought bulfrog tadpoles last summer . aren't they neat?!? We kept them just in a large plastic bin in the yard, under a tree. Two grew legs and fled and the other two did not. We brought them in to the goldfish tank, I think after several weeks they did not survive.

I just dropped in to say Happy New Year and what do I find? You are talking about Sparrows eating JBs................that was enough to scare the H out of me. Then I read on and I realized you were talking about beetles. Whew....thank God. So, good night and have a wonderful New Year. Be safe and stay well. Love and Hugs. JB, not the kind that sparrows eat. ^_^

JB,

Leave it to you to make me chuckle!

I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what I must have done this summer to discourage the J beetles. I may have sceen at most 2 of them.

Well I cooked half a ham (glazed) and made some macoronni salad for my 22 yr old grandson. I expecting he will have a gang of friends over.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to each and everyone of you!

MARY

Lady, et al.....

IF you believe in using those JB traps with the pheromones--you are, actually, inviting JB's to your garden.
You would be a lot better off NOT doing that! Let them go somewhere else!

Many people are not aware of WHERE exactly to place these traps.
People tend to place them near the plants that the JB's attack. It is like saying--"Come and get it!"...
NOT that they will come and then fall victim to the traps....NOPE!

If you read the instructions--these traps are to be placed 30 feet down-wind from your garden beds.

Best treatment is for all the neighbors to get together on the application of Milky Spore on the lawns.
HD sells Milky Spore.....It is a natural product. Too long to explain it here. Google it!
It is a treatment that lasts forever--as the spores multiply and spread endlessly. BUT--If you do it--
and you neighbors do not--it will not be all that effective.

G.

I had a very small amount of JB s last year. And my neighbors are not gardeners so don't really care what bugs are in their yard unless the bugs are eating them.
Years that there are loads of JB I do put the traps out but far away from my beds, I do enjoy tossing full bags of JB in the trash.

Sally sorry your bullfrogs didn't make it. They really need a outside watergarden with muck on the bottom to survive in the winter. One of my early spring chores is to scoop some of the muck out of the pond, it's fun waking up the sleepy frogs, I have to be careful not to miss one and toss him into the compost pile. Luckly they are so sleepy that they are easly to catch and return to the pond.

You know I love your froggies, Chris!
~~~~~
Psst--anybody have a Lucky Bamboo? I am writing an article and need a nice picture of one. If you have one can I please get you to send me a pic, square format?