lark
peppermint oil can kill off fungus...might work for bee fungus??
?Is it a new Insect ally??????
Guiding Cauldron
this is fascinating!
Peppermint is an antifungal BUT it is also an insect repellant. The varying strength does varying things; ie in large amounts its a stimulant in low doses its quite calming and eases digestion, more so than chamomile.
Peppermint is an antifungal BUT it is also an insect repellant. The varying strength does varying things; ie in large amounts its a stimulant in low doses its quite calming and eases digestion, more so than chamomile.
Cat*
Can I just say how much I love this thread? I really like how everyone shares what they experienced/know/just found out/wonders about! I'm learning so much here, and I just love this sort of putting together the pieces of the puzzle. This is a kind of learning I really enjoy. Thank you, everyone who is contributing to this!
thorhammer
Hmm, a few comments to add to the mix - may help, may confuse
In Australia, European bees are something of a pest. We have native bees, which don't sting and are very *fragile* - the Euro bees take all the good nesting sites and, I think, aggressively hunt the native bees, which is very sad. Apiarists in Australia, I think, exclusively keep Euro bees, native bees being rather difficult to husband. The beekeepers take the box-like hives from pasture to pasture, and there is a lot to know about the industry, including heat-treating the honey, which flowers make the best honey (jarrah and blackbutt are very popular), blending for mass-produced, tasteless honey which likely comes from big producers who put their hives in canola pastures (amongst others, like lupin and other broadacre crops). The association of mass-production beekeeping with broadacre farming also points us to the problems of dryland salinity and all the inherent badness of monocultures.
Australia is a funny country, geographically speaking, and one of the effects is that produce cannot be brought with impunity from one side of the country to the other. The middle is a big, dry, inhospitable strip that keeps the West (where I live) "clean" from lots of pests, including fruit fly and a certain bee disease (I can find out more from beekeeping friends, if you'd all like). Technically, you can take Western honey/bee products East, but not the other way around. This includes beeswax and bee pollen.
I don't know if we have any species of Meloe in Australia. I could possibly find this out as well, though it would take a loooonnnng time and getting through to a lot of vague entomologists and trying to forge connections but I'll get there if you'd like me to try. Entomologists are notorious for wanting to talk about their pets to anyone who seems likely to listen
I have in mind that peppermint is important. I *think* that honey from peppermint flowers is special, but now I might be reaching. Also, you ate bread in your trance - bread->yeast->fungus.
\m/ Kat
In Australia, European bees are something of a pest. We have native bees, which don't sting and are very *fragile* - the Euro bees take all the good nesting sites and, I think, aggressively hunt the native bees, which is very sad. Apiarists in Australia, I think, exclusively keep Euro bees, native bees being rather difficult to husband. The beekeepers take the box-like hives from pasture to pasture, and there is a lot to know about the industry, including heat-treating the honey, which flowers make the best honey (jarrah and blackbutt are very popular), blending for mass-produced, tasteless honey which likely comes from big producers who put their hives in canola pastures (amongst others, like lupin and other broadacre crops). The association of mass-production beekeeping with broadacre farming also points us to the problems of dryland salinity and all the inherent badness of monocultures.
Australia is a funny country, geographically speaking, and one of the effects is that produce cannot be brought with impunity from one side of the country to the other. The middle is a big, dry, inhospitable strip that keeps the West (where I live) "clean" from lots of pests, including fruit fly and a certain bee disease (I can find out more from beekeeping friends, if you'd all like). Technically, you can take Western honey/bee products East, but not the other way around. This includes beeswax and bee pollen.
I don't know if we have any species of Meloe in Australia. I could possibly find this out as well, though it would take a loooonnnng time and getting through to a lot of vague entomologists and trying to forge connections
but I'll get there if you'd like me to try. Entomologists are notorious for wanting to talk about their pets to anyone who seems likely to listen I have in mind that peppermint is important. I *think* that honey from peppermint flowers is special, but now I might be reaching. Also, you ate bread in your trance - bread->yeast->fungus.
\m/ Kat
thorhammer
I've emailed a lecturer at my old university. I hope that he gets back to me - but it's the weekend already here, so prolly not for some time.
\m/ Kat
\m/ Kat
Milfoil
The Meloe do indeed have a relationship with bees and hives. However, it is seen as parasitic since the beetles eat the bee eggs and pollen.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v405/n6782/full/405035a0.html
http://clhs-chawks.org/sciblog/index.php/2011/03/search-for-oil-beetels/
What may seem destructive and parasitic to us, may actually be a kind of symbiotic relationship.
Interesting:
Similarly, over the last 30 years we have started to see increased diseases, parasites and now collony collapse in beekeeping.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v405/n6782/full/405035a0.html
http://clhs-chawks.org/sciblog/index.php/2011/03/search-for-oil-beetels/
What may seem destructive and parasitic to us, may actually be a kind of symbiotic relationship.
Interesting:
Similarly, over the last 30 years we have started to see increased diseases, parasites and now collony collapse in beekeeping.
Winterchild
What ifffff.....
I thought this exact thing..ok now I will read on and find out what happens next! Amazing story...
I thought this exact thing..ok now I will read on and find out what happens next! Amazing story...
