Subject: Wings

From: [email-masked] (Andy Nachbaur)
Date: Sat, 7 Sep 1996 00:57:00 GMT

*This is a request that I hope one of you in Arizona, or Texas can fill.
Please e-mail me at @beenet.com so I will know that someone is going to
help Olda in Holland and can stop asking around. ttul Andy-

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From: Olda Vancata <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 96 16:41:49 +0200
Subject: Wings

Dear Andy

I wonder if you can help me fetch wings from africanized (and local not
africanized) bees - say 30-50 of each. I would like to test a dataprogram
mesuring checking and counting out clusters (by mesuring 15 angles and
disances).

My snail mail address is :

Olda Vancata
Vallonvagen 2 D
730 50 Skultuna

Thanx

Olda
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 þ QMPro 1.53 þ - Busy As A Bee With This Mail

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From: [email-masked] (Pollinator)
Date: 17 Sep 1996 16:40:19 -0400

Crossposted from rec.gardens:

            Goldenrod - A Gift of God

    Many people seem to despise goldenrod, though their reasons are often
wrong.  There are few flowers that make a prettier fall bouquet.  I
especially like a wild bouquet with goldenrod and the little purple
asters.  When you see that, you'll understand why purple and gold are so
popular for school colors.

    Goldenrod is often blamed for allergies.  Unfortunately, ragweed
blooms at the same time.  Ragweed pollen is light and fluffy.  It can be
carried by the wind for many miles, and often winds up on the nasal
passages of sensitive people.

    Goldenrod pollen is heavy and sticky.  The only way you can get it on
your nasal passages is to stick a flower up your nose.

    Goldenrod requires cross pollination by insects, as it's pollen cannot
become airborne.  It fact the pollen is unusually high in protein, and it
"sweetens the pot," with a heavy flush of nectar.

    Goldenrod is the last chance of the season for a serious feeding of
our pollinators.  If you have some of it, treasure and preserve it.  Do
not be in a hurry to cut it down..... until after bloom.  Many a beehive
that has suffered and barely survived through the pesticide season has to
get its winter food supply from pesticide-free goldenrod.

     Bees of ALL kinds LOVE goldenrod, so it is a good chance for you to
check out your pollinator populations in the area.

    If you see goldenrod in bloom, and there are no honeybees, then you
can be sure there simply are no honeybees in your area.  The same is true
of bumblebees.  If you are missing both, you are in serious trouble for
pollination.

    Bumblebees are great pollinators, especially for late crops, when
populations are built up.  Early in the spring, there are only queens, no
workers, so they can help, but not as much.   Honeybees are the
generalists, who (used to be) always present and worked a large variety of
flowers.

    You will also see wasps on goldenrod.  Wasps are not usually good
pollinators, because they do not often go to flowers, but goldernrod is an
exception.  One tiny wasp is important in fig pollination, but most wasps
are valuable because they are insect preditors.

    Goldenrod nectar stinks to high heaven, and it seems to draw a lot of
insects, even blowflies. Honeybees that are making goldenrod honey will
smell awful, but the finished honey has a pleasant odor and a nice spicy
taste.  This is the time of year when bears are most apt to destroy hives,
as the odor draws them.

   Many solitary bees also visit goldenrod.  There are so many species,
and such a variety of life cycles that little generalization can be made
about their pollination value.  Many are important for one particular
plant, or at one particular time of year.

   Take some time to look at your goldenrod.  Enjoy it.  Give thanks for
it.  And learn by watching all the activity on its blossoms.  What
visitors are coming to yours?

[email-masked]                                   Dave and Janice Green
Practical Pollination Home Page    
http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html  
PO Box 1200, Hemingway, SC    29554

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From: [email-masked] (Joel Govostes)
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 19:26:58 -0500

Thanks for posting the goldenrod tidbits.

I am always amazed at the prevalence of this "weed,"  and just how much it
covers the countryside this time of year.  It dawned on me that maybe it
has some other significance as a plant, so I did a little searching around
in wildflower books.  I thought perhaps it had been deemed useful for some
obscure medicinal qualities, or that it had been used for SOMETHING in
years gone by, by the native Americans, for instance.  I couldn't find
anything.  Seems its abundance would suggest finding some use for it; does
anyone know if this plant has been utilized for any particular purposes? 
Also, what exactly does ragweed look like - does it too have a yellow
blossom?  Is it a nectar source as well?
Thanks,  JWG

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From: Kerri Piette <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 20:41:03 -0400

I find goldenrod a boon for my other hobby in that we dye wool with it. 
 Used fresh it makes a sunny yellow color and I have combined it with 
indigo to get a nice green.  

Goldenrod had many medicinal uses.   As a distilled water it was used as 
a diuretic, treatment of mouth ulcers, relief of nausea, and as a powder 
applied to external ulcers to aid healing.  Check out the book 
Culpepper's Herbal for uses of all sorts of plants and herbs.

 Now that my yarn is yellow, I can sit back and let the bees enjoy the 
remaining goldenrod knowing it is helping boost their stores for another 
New England winter.

Kerri