By Mary O’KEEFE

I don’t know about you but there seem to be a lot more insects this summer than past seasons. I did some research and found that the increase in insects, like flies, may also be why my tomato plants are producing fewer tomatoes.

I have made several trips to Armstrong Garden Center to ask for help. My tomato plants look healthy but didn’t have any blooms. I bought all kinds of additives that were supposed to help, and they did a little, but on my last trip to the Garden Center the specialist there asked me if I had seen any bees. I thought about it and I really hadn’t seen any this season. Usually there are bees around my plants and in the yard but this year all I saw were spiders and flies … lots and lots of flies.

As everyone knows, or at least they should know, bees are an important part of the ecology of the Earth. According to Friends of the Earth, bees help produce one-third of our food supply, help provide one-half of the world’s fibers, oils and other raw materials, help create many medicines, provide food for wildlife and help prevent soil erosion.

The bee populations have been declining globally over recent decades due to habitat loss, intensive farming practices, changes in weather patterns and the excessive use of agrochemicals such as pesticides. Air pollution is also thought to be affecting bees. Research shows that air pollutants interact with scent molecules released by plants, which bees need to locate food. The mixed signals interfere with the bees’ ability to forage efficiently, making them slower and less effective at pollination, according to the UN Environment Programme.

In an article in Salon, researchers compared data from a study done over a century ago to a recent study of data concerning an inventory of the types of insects visiting plants. The study was based in a village in Finland that has not changed much regarding land use – it is still a rural area – in over a century. The older research recorded 17 plant species near rivers and churchyards. The recent study found the plants still populated the area but the types of bugs visiting the flowers appeared to have changed dramatically. Only 7% of the observed visits to the flowers were from the same types of bugs recorded in the century old research.

“We have noticed drastic changes in the networks of pollinator,” stated Leana Zoller, one of the researchers.

In addition the study found hoverflies (like bumblebee hoverflies) and moths appeared less frequently on the flowers around the area of research. These two groups of insects are also pollinators.

And although the plants in the area are still being pollinated there is a concern on how the decline in insects, like bees, may affect future flowers and crops. It was found that the flowers in the research area were being swarmed by muscoid flies, which are in the family of the housefly … which brings me back to my house.

I have never seen so many flies. I know that flies, like most insects, would rather be inside a building where the temperature is normally between 75 and 78 degrees and they are out of the rain and wind. But still – this is ridiculous. We have cleaned inside and outside and all around to remove any enticements for the insects – but they’re still around.

We have one of those bug zappers but with my grandson and dogs always around I am a little concerned about those things. I did, however, find this electric flying insect trap that is really helpful. You just plug it in and a blue light goes on and voila! The flies slowly disappear. That whole situation would be a case of “out of sight, out of mind” until I was in the kitchen, near the insect trap, and heard a weird noise. At first I thought it was an oven timer left on, then maybe my phone on vibrate – but no: it was a fly trapped to the sticky trap.

And of course that noise then sounds like “Help me. Help me.” I don’t think anyone who has seen “The Fly,” either the one with Vincent Price or the one with Jeff Goldblum, can ever hear a fly buzzing again without hearing that cry for help. Even though I am fully aware it was just a movie, and am pretty certain the fly is just a fly and not a half man/half insect, I still just can’t use that type of trap.

So now I wait until the flies gather on the screen door, quietly sneak up on them and grab a piece of paper with the thought to whisk the flies into the paper and out the door. However, this theory of herding the flies is not going well because as I stealthily approach the screen my giant sheepdog thinks its time to go out and plows through the door, allowing not only the flies on the door to come back into the house but the open door invites more in.

We will be seeing another rise in temperatures with the hottest days over the weekend in the low 90s, which is close to our normal temperature of 90. On Tuesday we will see a little cooling with temperatures in the mid-80s. There is no rain or wind in the forecast for the next several days, according to Mike Wofford, NOAA meteorologist.