Beginning Beekeeper

Not all people are interested in beekeeping, but there are some people who would love to be a beekeeper. Before a person becomes a beekeeper, he needs to learn everything he can about honey bees and beekeeping to prepare himself.

There are many online suggestions, notes and different ideas on what are the things one should know about beekeeping or he can acquire a book about beekeeping in order to be well-prepared.

Some people would want to learn and start a beekeeping business especially now that many jobs have been lost. Beekeeping is an income generating business and a person can earn a lot if he knows what to do in this kind of business in order to be successful.

Though it looks so easy, a person should not take it easy; he should be knowledgeable and must be familiar with different strategies for beekeeping.

Beginning beekeeping is very fascinating at the same time tricky. Feeding bees is not like feeding your domesticated animals such as dogs and cats in your house. Bees are still considered dangerous simply because they tend to be aggressive when they feel they on threat. Bees defend themselves by stinging their supposed to be enemies and it can be dangerous for people especially those who are allergic to stings.

So if you are interested in starting a beekeeping business, keep in mind that the first thing to learn is how to protect oneself against bee stings. There are protective gloves and gears used by a beekeeper. There are also tools which serve as a protection for a beginner beekeeper like you such as smoke box which calm the bees when it puffs smoke. These are the first things to consider when beginning beekeeping.

Common Orchid Pests

Orchids are very strong plants and are capable of protecting themselves from the common pests and diseases. Environmental stress, however, can leave them vulnerable to pests that might already have taken refuge in your orchid, or in nearby plants. Treat them as early as possible as you don't want them in large numbers enough to use strong pesticides that could also risk the health of your plant.

Aphids. Small, green, yellow, or black insects. You will find them in clusters on new leaves and blooming buds. They penetrate through the plant surface that becomes an entry point for other diseases. Warm water and detergent is enough for wiping small clusters off the orchid. Use insecticidal soap for worse numbers.

Spider Mites. Very small green or red insects. Though hard to see, the webbings they create can be spotted by inspecting the underside of the leaves. They prefer dusty areas for attaching their webbings so keep the leaves clean by washing them regularly. Treat the leaves with insecticidal soap from time to time.

Scales. Brown, or white round insects. Bad infestation can scar and stunt the plant. Spray insecticidal soap or with stronger pesticides for weeks. Spray the other plants as well to keep the young scales from moving from one to another. They easily grow in numbers and could stunt the growth of the plant while leaving scars.

Mealybugs. For the untrained eye, they would look like webbings but in fact are white insects with cottony appearance and thread-like legs. They colonize areas such as inside bud sheaths and crevices between the leaves. They are less harmful than the other pests, but hard to eradicate. Like any other pests, frequent maintenance will keep them from multiplying to unsafe amounts. They can be killed with alcohol.

Slugs and snails. They are easy to spot, when they're there. You can detect their presence by the slime trails that they leave and chewed out leaves and buds. Simply remove if you find them. Should they keep coming, slug baits are commonly available to keep them away from your plants. It's also been found that beer is an effective home remedy. Place them in a bowl in any spot in your garden and they will fill themselves in.

Capturing a Honeybee Swarm

Why would you want to capture a swarm? Even established professionals buy their bees packaged already. So why go all the trouble? Well, one thing is for sure, you might find it is actually fun. It also means a free package of new bees for a new hive.

Swarming or Swarms are honeybees way of spreading the family. To ensure the survivability of the species, the queen must lead half of her most trusted workers to another location while leaving the new generation to grow on their own.

Capturing a swarm can be hard but not daunting. It is also rewarding as you are not only helping the neighborhood from such fear, you are also learning more of their behavior to improve your own hives.

Manual Capture

One easy way to capture a swarm is when they're on a branch of a tree, which you could cut off. You can place the cut off branch with the swarm directly in a box or a sack without even wearing protective gear. You got to keep steady though. If you jolt them in a hard way, they could fly away.

Another one is by using a bee vacuum. Now, there isn't an industry standard for this yet. Most are just custom made. A simple structure would be to use your existing vacuum and plug it into an air-tight box. Inside the box is a smaller box, with screen windows. This is to keep the bees from clogging the suck hole. Then, make a smaller hole on both boxes for a 2-inch pipe to fit in. This is where the bees will go in. It is important to note that the suction process should be slow, as you don't want to kill the bees. If you cant control the power, make another hole on the outer box as a means to decrease suction power.

Swarm Traps

For a passive way, you may opt for swarm lures. Lemon grass oil is commonly used, but nasonov mimic pheromones have also become available. Nasonov is a pheromone naturally produced by scout worker bees to guide swarms into a suitable place. Try to experiment on which ones you prefer as they seem not to differ much.

Then, ready a swarm trap. There are boxes specially made for these, but any 15 to 30-liter box will do. One small entrance is enough. Remember, the box must be a suitable place for bees to live in. Pheromones wont be enough to convince them into choosing this as their next permanent residence.

For the lures, you usually dab it into a piece of wood, or directly at the entrance of the trap. Other lures are in a vial. Simply open, place it at the entrance and the lure will disperse slowly into the air.

Place the box right below or near the cluster of honeybees. If your trap has been chosen, all the bees will eventually enter the trap for you to easily collect. Unfortunately, it is a skill that you have to develop as you might find your trap ignored several times during the first few tries.

Swarm traps can be set anywhere you might suspect a swarm could travel to. You'd especially want to do this if its a swarm that could come from your hive.

4 Common Mistakes To Avoid When Putting Your Baby To Sleep

Putting your baby into sleep is better said than not. All parents know it. However, the real horror starts the moment you are having a hard time putting your baby, which will create many sleepless nights for parents especially during the toddler night waking routine. With the parents, particularly the moms desire to go catch some sleep, many of them aimed to put their baby's day sleep routine a successful one, making them sometimes tend to overlook some of the safe cautions when putting a baby into sleep.

Below are some of the common mistakes that parents should avoid when putting their baby into sleep.

1. Allowing the baby to sleep on their stomach or side is a big no-no. Studies show that SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is heavily related to stomach and side sleeping. The best thing that parents can do is to let their child sleep on his or her back. If this is not possible due to some trouble when in back-only position, parents should look for some ways like having a baby sleep position for a more comfortable sleep.


2. Though it is sweet and tempting to do, parents should avoid the baby to go sleep with them on their bed especially if the baby is newborn because blanket, pillow, and even your body is a threat to the health of a baby that is still unable to rollover.


3. Leaving the baby alone while sleeping is definitely not a good practice especially if the baby is sleeping on the floor, couch, or any dangerous parts of the house, for there might be a tendency for the bay to roll or for the family members and pets to step on the baby.


4. Make it a habit to check labels from the baby's clothing to bedding's and make sure the item is flame retardant.

Avoiding the above-mentioned mistakes from happening will let your baby fall into sleep comfortably while giving you some peace of mind.

Yeast Free Diet

Our ability to adapt is a reflection of our body's ability to physiologically regulate its interior milieu. Despite the mechanisms that maintain the balance of our health, we are still responsible for what we eat.

Why would anyone want to have a yeast free diet? Yeast is part of the human flora and is well maintained by other microorganisms and our own immune system to stay benign, certain conditions could allow them to overgrow and cause negative impact in our bodies. You need such diet if you have a yeast infection, a weak immune system, or simply doing this as a detox diet.

Here's a short list of foods to avoid with reasons why you should.

1. Anything sweet. Yeasts love to feed on glucose which is supplied by refined sugars/carbohydrates in abundance. Sugar, chocolate, carbonated beverages, pastries, etc. Even sweet fruits should be avoided. Some condiments such as catsup also contain sugar and distilled vinegar that promotes yeast growth.

2. Dairy products. Yeast contained by dairy products mostly comes from the air but some products such as cheese are intentionally added with mold to produce different types.

3. Wheat. It is only recommended to avoid this due to the fact that many sufferers of chronic yeast infection tend to have gluten allergies.

4. Processed Meat. Most meats are treated with chemicals in order to produce popular consumables such as ham and sausages. Also take note of the terms cured, pickled, dried, and smoked as they usually have undergone chemical treatment. While most processes are made to actually cleanse the meat, some people with yeast infection react to processing residues.

5. Fermented foods. Fermentation is a process of letting yeast and/or bacteria feed on the sugars. This produces certain target by-products, such as vinegar, alcohol (beer, wine, etc), and chocolate. The effect can also be used as a preservation method, such as pickling.

It might be hard to avoid foods you might be used to eating. Understanding how it affects you will justify the need to adjust your eating habits.

Beekeeping Swarm Prevention

Swarming naturally occurs as a way for honey bees to reproduce more colonies away from the hive. Every year, during spring, a colony, with the queen, is most likely to decide to swarm, but it could happen anytime, especially if your bees may be having some problems with their living conditions.
Swarming poses as a problem because honey production drops down as the remaining colony attempts to recover while waiting for the new queen to emerge. Worse, if the new queen doesn't survive, it would be the end for that colony. No more honey production for that hive box.

Know the signs. Certain preparations are done by the colony before it decides to swarm. The queen would lay eggs on the queen cups, after which the worker bees would then build it up to become a queen cell. Swarm cells may then also be made. These are queen cells made to attempt swarming. You will find quite a number of these peanut-shaped cells at the bottom frames. There would be lesser eggs or none at all as the queen stops laying eggs in order to fly light for swarming.

Should they have swarmed already, you'll know as the number of bees will be obviously low. Only old larvae/capped broods and the queen cells will be left.

This can be prevented by a few precautions.

Remove all queen swarm cells. Be careful to identify that they are for swarming. Cells made for replacing the current queen due to weakness are called emergency cells and are located higher. If you remove these, you risk losing your queen with no replacement. If there's no upcoming queen, then they'll know and will eventually lose the impulse to swarm. You should also be sure to remove ALL swarm cells. Leaving even just one will not convince them to stop from swarming.

Introduce a new queen. Queens in their first years rarely decide to swarm. This may not come as an easy task, but you'll find the challenge worth it.

Maintain a suitable temperature. Make sure their place is well ventilated. Add a bird fountain or any source of water near their hive. Bees will make use of water as needed.

Avoid congestion. Take the initiative to provide more room before any overcrowding occurs. They are pretty stubborn and will swarm if they have decided to.

Make it a habit to check for swarming whether it is the season or not. It conditions you to become precautious and mindful not only of swarming, but also to other problems your bees may have.

Growing Underground Orchids

There are many types of orchids and many ways of growing them: right humidity, right soil, and most of all, right lighting. But how does one that lives underground grow? Rhizanthella gardneri is one of the two subterranean orchids that can only be found in Australia.

In May, spring of 1928, John Trott encountered the very first specimen of the underground orchid. A half-inch flower head composed of 10 to 90 small, cream to reddish colored flowers, protected by overlapping bracts that formed a hole at the soil surface. He then gave the specimen to Charles Gardner, the Government Botanist, who then forwarded it to Dr. Richard Sanders Rodgers. Dr. Rodgers, on the same year, described the flower and named it after Charles.

Between 1928 to 1959, the orchid has only been found 6 times, all by chance. It wasn't until 1979 after it has been found again at a private property, 300 kilometers south of its previous known locations. Over 300 flowering plants where then found thereafter. In 1980, it was declared as Rare Flora.

It doesn't grow normally like other orchids. It spends its lifetime underground, and only grows to bloom at the surface when it's ready to propagate. Leafless and lacking chlorophyll, it doesn't rely on photosynthesis but instead live myco-heterotrophic, meaning it has a symbiotic relationship with certain plants and fungi, with Rhizanthella gardneris case, a tea plant of the species Melaleuca uncinta, and a mycorrhizal fungus. This is also why most of the orchid is found 20 to 30 inches near the mentioned tea plant.

Though it can produce three daughter plants vegetatively, it still can reproduce sexually. Its flowers bloom between May and July. A pollinated flower will take six months to mature and will then produce a berry-like fleshy fruit containing a few to a hundred seeds. There are no hard findings but it is thought that certain animals eat the fruit and disperse the seeds with their droppings.

As of now, Rhizanthella gardneri continues to gain the interest of biologists all over the world for its unique lifecycle. Its beauty remains underground.