I have been admiring my crab apple tree, which has been filled with blossoms. I don’t harvest the fruit but the robins do, sometimes in the late fall and, if any are left, again, when they return in the spring.
This year, however, the tree is different. It has been a very quiet tree — no bee noise. Curious, I have taken closer notice. So far, I have spotted only three bumble bees harvesting pollen. Yesterday, there were two and today the blossoms are falling.
Last year there were at least 10 to 15 bees on the tree and several on the blueberry bushes. Not this year. I found an article on the Internet that, according to Harvard researcher Chensheng (Alex) Lu, there is a direct link between the neonicotinoid pesticide imidacloprid and the fatal Colony Collapse Disorder that has been ravaging hives.
We have all observed how entrenched corporations remain when faced with a threat to their product sales. Instead of quietly finding a safe alternative they will refuse for years and years, at huge legal cost, to admit the truth. Just think of cigarettes, 2,4,5-TP, parathion, etc.
Because of that, along with signing pleas to ban the pesticides, I am going to make the change to organic apples, which I have bought in the past but now will always buy. I have read that the estimated increased cost of organic food is 30 percent, so I will be content to buy four organic apples instead of six.
Jenny Orr, West Paris
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