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Author Topic: Do bees use honeysuckle?  (Read 20255 times)

Offline Pond Creek Farm

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Do bees use honeysuckle?
« on: May 31, 2008, 11:36:14 pm »
The honey suckle in southern Missouri is in full bloom and putting off its heady fragrance throughout the edgeland between the woods and the pastures.  Do bees like this flower and use it to make honey?
Brian

Offline johnnybigfish

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Re: Do bees use honeysuckle?
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2008, 12:07:07 am »
Brian, I have tons of honeysuckle like youre talking about and when i got my bees last spring I thought that this was gonna be heaven for my bees!
 Well,...was I dissappointed....I think I've only seen a bee in the honeysuckle one time and figured she must've been lost.
 The tube on the honeysuckle is to deep for a bee tongue to get to the nectar. I suppose the bees could get some pollen though. Mostly the hummingbnirds and hawk moths like the honeysuckle.
your friend,
john

Offline Pond Creek Farm

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Re: Do bees use honeysuckle?
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2008, 12:39:36 am »
Thanks for the information.  Too bad, I have a ton of honeysuckle and I love its smell and its blooms.  Hopefully the other wildflowers around here will provide good food for the bees.
Brian

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Do bees use honeysuckle?
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2008, 12:42:44 am »
Brian, I have tons of honeysuckle like youre talking about and when i got my bees last spring I thought that this was gonna be heaven for my bees!
 Well,...was I dissappointed....I think I've only seen a bee in the honeysuckle one time and figured she must've been lost.
 The tube on the honeysuckle is to deep for a bee tongue to get to the nectar. I suppose the bees could get some pollen though. Mostly the hummingbnirds and hawk moths like the honeysuckle.
your friend,
john

What type of honeysuckle.  The west end of my porch is covered in Japanese honeysuckle and the bees love it.
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Offline Pond Creek Farm

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Re: Do bees use honeysuckle?
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2008, 12:47:49 am »
I do not know.  I will have to take a picture and post it.  It is everywhere here
Brian

Offline johnnybigfish

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Re: Do bees use honeysuckle?
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2008, 01:09:20 am »
Hey Brian,
 I have 2 types, the japonica, and the other(The one known as the MOST invasive)
Maybe it grows different in our different climates. I have seen bumblebees in mine but very seldon as the bumblebees are very rare here nowadays.
 When I get an east or south wind and open my windows at nite when its not to hot out, the smell comes through my windows.Thats why i got honeysuckle in the first place, because of the smell. It smells GREAT and can bring back tons of memories!
your friend,
john

Offline Pond Creek Farm

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Re: Do bees use honeysuckle?
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2008, 01:32:55 am »
It is that smell that always gets me.  It brings me back to home central Arkansas when I was growing up.  I will getsome pictures and see what it is that I have around here.
Brian

Offline doak

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Re: Do bees use honeysuckle?
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2008, 01:41:54 pm »
I have 2 kinds. One blooms early< Jan/Feb, and the other later.
The early is the bushy type with a short more open bloom, This is the one the bees go for.
The other, longer vine type with the longer narrow bloom, the bees can't get to the nectar because of the configuration of the bloom.
Hope this makes sense. No fret, the humming birds will take care of them.
doak

Offline Pond Creek Farm

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Re: Do bees use honeysuckle?
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2008, 01:48:50 pm »
That does help.  MIne is the vine type
Brian

Offline twb

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Re: Do bees use honeysuckle?
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2008, 04:23:37 pm »
On our property we have the bush type in reddish, pink, and white.  It is rare to see bees on it here.  However, I was out of town recently and saw bees all over some with white blooms.  I figure they are finding something else they like better here where I live.
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Sincerely,
TWB

Offline Scott Derrick

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Re: Do bees use honeysuckle?
« Reply #10 on: June 02, 2008, 12:32:45 am »
My mentor had some honeysuckle close to his house and he observed many honeybees working it hard. He said there had been a lot of water this year around his home and the honeysuckle was loaded with nectar and it made easy pickin's for the bees. I was under the impression that bees didn't work honeysuckle but my mentor taught me otherwise.
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