Don?t you love it when a plan comes together

[Lesgold]

Hi folks,

About 10 or so years ago I had a bright idea. (Well I thought it was at the time) My thinking was to plant a few gum trees that produce nectar in the late summer and early autumn to provide the bees with a pick and perhaps enough nectar to add to their winter stores. The tree that I chose was a bloodwood. It flowers every year at this time and often produces a surplus if there are enough trees within flying distance of the hives. Unfortunately, the nearest bloodwood tree is about 5km from my hives and there is very little chance that the bees would cover that distance to bring home nectar. I decided to gather a few pods, collect some seed and was pleasantly surprised that the seeds germinated a few weeks later. After potting them out for a few months, they were finally planted out and allowed to grow.  Four of them survived the bushfires of 2019 and started to grow reasonably well in the poor soil that they were planted in. About a week ago I noticed the first bud on one of the trees which is now about 20 feet high. This is something that I?ve been waiting for for a long time. Hopefully in years to come all of  the trees will begin to form blossoms and give the bees something to look forward to.

[Occam]

That's awesome Les. Always great having more trees and plants around in general especially if they help our girls

[BeeMaster2]

Back in the 1800s Dadant realized how valuable the Basswood trees were to beekeeping. They provided a very good flow, provided good protection for the hives and provided the wood needed to make the hives.
He planted trees in rows and planted a lot of them. At some point he started harvesting them to make hives as well as continuing to plant more trees. I?m pretty sure that this was why his company became so productive and is still around today.
If you have the land you might want to continue to plant trees but I recommend that you plant a variety of trees.
Some time in the past there was a Basswood disease/bug that pretty much wiped them out. Hence the variety recommendation.
Jim Altmiller

[Ben Framed]

About a week ago I noticed the first bud on one of the trees which is now about 20 feet high. This is something that I?ve been waiting for for a long time. Hopefully in years to come all of  the trees will begin to form blossoms and give the bees something to look forward to.

Congratulations Les!

Phillip

Good story in Reply 2 Jim, thanks for posting.

Phillip

[The15thMember]

That is so great, Les!  Sounds like that nectar is going to be worth the wait! 

[Lesgold]

I?ve often thought that if I had a large area of land, I would plant a variety of tree types to provide nectar and pollen during every season of the year. The trees that I did plant are actually on the outside of my boundary and well away from the road.

[BeeMaster2]

I have wanted to plant a lot of trees on my property especially fruit trees. Problem is if the trees aren?t inside of our fenced in yard, my cows eat them or if they are not edible they break them. Judy planted a maple tree in the pasture where the horses graze. First the donkey started using it to scratch his belly. I sold that donkey and now my horse uses it to scratch her belly. The tree is at least 8? tall but it is easy to bend over.
I planted 3 cypress trees in my pond, my bull would treat them as battering rams.
Jim Altmiller

[Lesgold]

It sounds like you have savag beasts on your property Jim. We occasionally have problems with buck kangaroos fighting and knocking young trees over. They can be a pain at times.

[Michael Bush]

I planted some tulip poplars 25 years ago.  They still haven't bloomed.  I planted some lindens (basswood) about 12 years ago and they've been blooming for several years now.  I planted some cottenwoods about 12 years ago and they are almost 30 feet tall now.

[BeeMaster2]

Michael,
Do Cottonwoods provide a lot of nectar and pollen? I did not think about planting them. My first year here in Florida I needed firewood to heat the house before the power was turned on. I found a massive cotton wood tree cut down in someone?s yard. It was only 17 years old but it was massive, I think it was 70 feet tall. Made lots of firewood. I?m not sure if the cows would eat it.
Jim Altmiller

[Terri Yaki]

Tulip poplars are pretty prevalent around here and I have a yuuuuuge one in my front yard. They do keep coming up in these discussions so I take it that they're good for bees? It may sound strange but I never looked at it for flowers but I do get strays germinating all over my yard so I suppose it's reproducing.

[Michael Bush]

>Do Cottonwoods provide a lot of nectar and pollen?

They don't make any nectar that I know of, but they provide pollen and propolis.