Delay fall bush hogging for pollinators?

[jmc]

Below is a comment about bush hogging later in the fall, for the pollinators' sake. It was sent to me without a citation but it seems reasonable:

"DO NOT MOW/BRUSH HOG DITCHES & FIELDS RIGHT NOW!!! I almost just crashed my car on my way home as I witnessed someone mowing down an ENTIRE field of blossomed goldenrod. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE wait to do this "fall cleanup" until it has dried up! Many may not realize that in Wisconsin and surround Midwestern states, a field of goldenrod like pictured is the last major nectar source for honeybees and other pollinators to prep for winter. This literally can mean a matter of life or death for wild pollinators as well as human maintained colonies. Please do your part to "Save The Bees"!"

On a related note, I've live on the same property for 27 years and used to slow down when mowing thru clover in my yard because of all the honey bees. Lately there are hardly any, like 2, this year. Still seeing bumblebees, for now.

 

[Alan W.]

Below is a comment about bush hogging later in the fall, for the pollinators' sake. It was sent to me without a citation but it seems reasonable:

"DO NOT MOW/BRUSH HOG DITCHES & FIELDS RIGHT NOW!!! I almost just crashed my car on my way home as I witnessed someone mowing down an ENTIRE field of blossomed goldenrod. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE wait to do this "fall cleanup" until it has dried up! Many may not realize that in Wisconsin and surround Midwestern states, a field of goldenrod like pictured is the last major nectar source for honeybees and other pollinators to prep for winter. This literally can mean a matter of life or death for wild pollinators as well as human maintained colonies. Please do your part to "Save The Bees"!"

On a related note, I've live on the same property for 27 years and used to slow down when mowing thru clover in my yard because of all the honey bees. Lately there are hardly any, like 2, this year. Still seeing bumblebees, for now.

My aunts fields have grown up and all the weeds are in bloom now. My son told me that the blooms are loaded with honeybees and other pollinators.

 

[Oaktree]

I get what you're saying, and try to leave wildflowers un-mowed as long as possible, but sometime you've gotta do what you've gotta do when you have the time. I do avoid using pest/herbicides.
We had plenty of all sorts of bees earlier this summer, especially when the milkweed was in bloom. Now it's mostly just bumblebees.

 

[JamesHW]

Checked some goldenrod in our field and it was swarming w/ a bunch of different species of bees and bumblebees and a number of butterfly’s.

 

[ruffdog]

This was a strange year. For the first half of the summer, we didn't see ANY bees. I talked with others about this and they are all wondering where the bees are. I have patches of white clover and normally it is full of small bumble bees. Not this year....NONE. Later in the summer we did start seeing a few but we are still down 95%. Even the wasp/hornet population is nearly gone. We are seeing more butterflies though!

 

[teejk]

This was a strange year. For the first half of the summer, we didn't see ANY bees. I talked with others about this and they are all wondering where the bees are. I have patches of white clover and normally it is full of small bumble bees. Not this year....NONE. Later in the summer we did start seeing a few but we are still down 95%. Even the wasp/hornet population is nearly gone. We are seeing more butterflies though!

Odd year in Wisconsin indeed. Like you, very few bumble bees and the wasps are only starting to appear now (not that I'm complaining there). We have a small wild flower patch (approx. 200 sq ft) that never really took hold because of a wet/cold spring and when it did the grasses had already taken over. That's my guess as to the reason for the lack of bees.

 

[Jstpssng]

The down side is that if you wait that long, you will end up with an ever increasing amount of weeds in your field. There is or was a federal program which paid people to not mow until late August, when nesting birds had raised their young and wouldn't get killed. OTOH I'm trying to knock back an invasive plant (Autumn Olive) in my mother's field, and make it a point to mow in July before the berries have time to mature. Birds will eat those and drop them miles away, spreading the plant farther.

 

[saxnbees]

I have been mowing my fields late in the season for years. One field was being hayed by local farmers for years but it was rutted up pretty badly earlier this year so I will probably tell the farmer to stop and let it go to wild flowers. I have tons of different types of bumble and other bees including honey bees from my hives. I doubt I would have so many if I cut on a regular basis throughout the season.

There is a good reason you may not see many bees early in the season. Only honey bees overwinter as a nest in colder climates. All other bees, wasps, and hornets have individual newly mated queens overwinter in some protected spot. So, in the spring, they start new nests with one individual. As the summer progresses, the nest grows and so does the population. At the end of the season right before frost, they are at their peak populations. Then they die off and start the cycle all over again. It is a natural part of the cycle to see more pollinators late in the season than in the spring.

The statement about nectar being important at the end of the season is spot on. My honey bees are currently working the asters and golden rod building supplies for the long winter months here in Maine. They need about 100 pounds of honey for each hive to make it through the winter. That requires a lot of flowers. Other pollinators are raising the queens that must be healthy enough to survive the winter to start new colonies in the spring. And other pollinators, like the Monarch butterfly, need those flowers to supply food stops during their long journey from northern areas back to their overwintering grounds in Mexico.

As far as trying to get rid of invasive plants go, I might just ask one question. Is it possible to target the problem plants without cutting the entire field? Even leaving a portion of the field as a wild flower meadow can be helpful.

Personally, I think more folks should consider leaving at least a portion of their unfarmed fields as natural meadows instead of cutting them regularly as lawns. Not only will you help save the necessary pollinator population from decline, but you will save yourself hours of cutting and gallons of fuel and the resulting exhaust emissions. Those fields also provide nesting areas for birds, etc.

 

[kcflhrc]

I'm pretty sure Kansas never got this memo.

 

[Jstpssng]

As far as trying to get rid of invasive plants go, I might just ask one question. Is it possible to target the problem plants without cutting the entire field? Even leaving a portion of the field as a wild flower meadow can be helpful.

That is part of my long term plan but right now I'm just trying to keep it from spreading, which means knocking it back before the berries mature. This year I spent two days cutting and stump treating the shrubs growing in the tree line, then hauling the brush off to a brush pile; my brother mowed the fields to knock what's growing there back. Next year I plan to cut and treat a few shrubs which I missed then spot spray the plants in the field, which will take several days. It's 200 miles one way, and every time I go down there I do about half of what I want to accomplished. I've IDed 6 different invasives on the property, 3 of which are causing problems. I just found out today that we also have bittersweet taking over the fruit trees, so that's now on my list for next year when I prune them.

My father always kept it mowed as a hay field, goldenrod and milk weed are banes to that goal. Besides, there are plenty o areas which don't get mowed; and since we no longer pick the apples, the fallen fruit is also a haven for bees and hornets.