Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH => Topic started by: lisnnbeerawhoney on March 23, 2012, 05:14:12 pm
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:bee: anybody had any luck with using lemon grass to catch bee swarms? I tryied last year didnt have much luck.
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Move your bait hives. It's just like fishing. You have to find a good place...
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Where would one get lemon grass? I"m not sure if Oregon has lemon grass. I have a swarm attractant that I ordered but I have seen JP in his videos use lemon grass.
Khalen
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Lemongrass Essential Oil is available from most places that sell essential oils. That's what you want. The lures you buy will do as well but cost a lot more.
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Lemon grass it is then. :)
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You can get it from a lot of the bee suppliers and even on Amazon...
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Whether it matters or not, there are two varieties of LGO commonly found, Cymbopogon citratus and Cymbopogon flexuosus. Apparently both varieties work as swarm lures, but I get the impression that Cymbopogon citratus is the one you really want. It is actually stated as coming from "lemon grass" whereas Cymbopogon flexuosus is stated as coming from the Cochin or Malabar grasses.
Ed
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my wife works at local heath foods store thats where I bought mine at.
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ebay stores.
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Whichever has more citral would work better...
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Great info guys!!
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Definitely good info to have. Thanks.
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Hi all,
had anybody any success using lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) instead of lemon grass?
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>had anybody any success using lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) instead of lemon grass?
I have heard it works, I have not tried it. It contains some citral. Lemongrass oil sems to be the more proven method.
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The nasonov pheromone contains a variety of scents, including citral compounds (lemony scent) and geraniols (rose scent). The standard synthetic pheromone is 2 parts citral to 1 part geraniol. Not sure if a rose geranium oil works, it is loaded with geraniols, but my nose is not as discriminating as that of a bee's.
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i use a melisa officinalis branches and leaves to atract swarm, my college have some esential oil that he produce.
this year i got some swarm atractant wipes from vita europe so i will try..
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I had no experience of it.Let me know that what was your experience of it,,,,,,,
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this is my expirience, i am a voulonter for "beekeeping watch of city zagreb", allways is Mellisa branches and Vita Swarm wipw whit me.
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best for swarms old frame with honeycombs, black WHISOUT HONEY! If will be honey it is will be very bad!
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How far off the ground is my question.
I have one trap about a foot off the ground (on a friends patio), and another in a tree 15 feet up in my backyard.
My friend lives in an area where I once worked and witnessed several feral hives over the years, so I thought it to be a good location.
Before I kept bees, I had a homemade cedar birdhouse in the tree where I now have the trap in my backyard. The birdhouse eventually fell to the ground and then bees moved into it.
So is one location better than another, or is it just a crapshoot?
Having fun!
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Ideal height is probably quite a ways up. I try to put them as high as I can reach from a small 6 foot step ladder and they seem to work fine.
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I try to reach the 15' up a tree and put a hook with a pulley and rope on it. That way I only have to climb a ladder 1 time. This way I can pull the trap up and if need be drop it down to replace the lemon grass baggie. I screw a hook into the trunk to give me a place to hold the rope.
Under one trap I have 2 hives that were caught above it, last year, and slowly lowered down. They face opposite directions. Then when they were ready I changed them for full 10 frame hives. I have another hive in my neighbors yard that we did the same thing. I just brought the traps back out, a week ago, because I am seeing a lot of drones.
Jim
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I have planted lemon grass in my backyard and any time there is a swarm I just cut a bundle and rub it all over a nuc, the bees all come the nuc in a minute. This works for me every time.
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got mine at the health food store too :)
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got mine at the health food store too :)
Same here...About 6 bucks for an ounce at the local health food store, and it was the better of the two varieties (100% citral)....Didn't think that was bad at all.
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Lemon Grass essential oil work?
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Yep, that's the stuff
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Lemon Grass essential oil work?
This is my experience with lemon grass oil
If you use lemon grass oil do not use more than three drops if you use too much lemon grass oil it will drive the bee's away. You can renew about every three to four weeks. The second dose I always one drop.
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
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I have used swarm traps with success every year, using lemongrass oil. Cut a large party straw into 3" segments, fill them with a cotton ball or two imbued with lemongrass oil. Staple it to the bottom several inches from the small two inch entrance. It works. ;)
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This is my experience with lemon grass oil
If you use lemon grass oil do not use more than three drops if you use too much lemon grass oil it will drive the bee's away. You can renew about every three to four weeks. The second dose I always one drop.
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
Thanks for the information. Do you apply the drops to the entrance of the hive? Or frames inside?
I have many hives I can't use this year (trying to get all my hives on pallets and I have many with a bottom board built in), so I figured I can use them for swarms. A beekeeper places 1,000 hives here in the spring, I've caught several swarms I've been able to see from his bees.
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Down here before I started beeking I saw 4 different colonies in the water valve boxes. (all over the place)
trapping on the ground sounds good to me.
also I hear any places you have seen swarms before.
I will say this sounds like good advice.
4 swarms in the same tree out front 4 years in a row
after we started keeping bees 3 more swarms too high up in the tree 25 feet high, no ladders that tall
i must say those 3 were our wayward bees
jay
2 drops of lemon grass oil is not enough. 5 maybe too many
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on the ground here
in water valve boxes down here
hum earth equals insulation.
OH!
jay
wow were down here in south florida I feel like a stailion at the gate. can'bt wait.
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Thanks for the information. Do you apply the drops to the entrance of the hive? Or frames inside?
Inside on the top of the frame
There is another way you can do this get a small pill bottle the kind you get from the pharmacy put it in cotton ball it will take about 3 to 5 cotton balls to fill up the bottle put in eight or ten drops now drill a small hole in the top of the bottle the smallest you can find in a drill index will work fine this will last about a month take the bottle and duct tape it to the top of the trap or on the high side hope this helps you
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
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Thank you Jim.
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on the ground here
in water valve boxes down here
hum earth equals insulation.
OH!
jay
wow were down here in south florida I feel like a stailion at the gate. can'bt wait.
Keep one thing in mind. Those ground boxes are a favorite hive location for African Bees. Not so much european bees.
Jim
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tried it kind of sort of no luck
my mentor has caught many swarms using this method. "no need for queen lure".
my mentor down hea says "one or two drops is just not enough".
Kevin said " ya want to catch fish bait the hook well".
"use old comb for queen sent"
then on the inside of the box. "5 drops on the right side, 5 drops on the left side, and 5 drops on the inside top".
"all these applications made while that side or top is down. allowing the drops to absorb into the wood.
so as not to run or drip".
" put the nuc box together then set the trap".
jay
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Lemon grass worked well for me this year in Kentucky. More than 50% success rate with my trap hives!!!
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add some old comb to that
and you should have an attractive swarm box
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I use Lemon Grass Essential Oil.
I get it from http://www.bulkapothecary.com/ (http://www.bulkapothecary.com/)
I give $13.59 for a 16 ounce container which I will say will last a long time.
I am using the pressed fiber pots for swarm traps.
I glue a piece of old comb inside and alittle dab of lemon grass oil.
I only hang mine about 6 or 7 feet off the ground.
I put out 18 traps in town and have caught 19 swarms so far.
I had a total of 39 traps out.
The tornado back in April got some but I have caught in every trap.
The traps I used the pheromone attractant in never caught anything.
I still have 8 traps to bring in full of bees.
Here is a picture of of a couple.
(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/capt44/SwarmTrap5_zps6d2a7524.jpg)
(http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/capt44/swarmtrap7_zpsc1dd38c7.jpg)
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Thanks Capt.
That is a great price for 16 oz. I just bought 2-2 oz bottles, on amazon, for more than that.
They have every oil essence there is.
Jim
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Thanks Capt.
That is a great price for 16 oz. I just bought 2-2 oz bottles, on amazon, for more than that.
They have every oil essence there is.
Jim
Great post Capp. Thanks
Move your bait hives. It's just like fishing. You have to find a good place...
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
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I've found putting bait hives on top of hot water systems works well.
(Caution N=1).
The idea being that the heat from a gas hot water system keeps the lemongrass vapour in the air.
Also maybe the bees like a slightly warming hive ?
Cheers
Damien
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I have a huge amount of lemongrass, so I googled making lemongrass oil. One place I looked, it listed the things I'd need to make lemongrass oil and the list included a wine press. I googled wine presses and they cost hundreds of dollars.
Yeah, I'm going to spend $300 for a wine press to make lemongrass oil? Not real likely.
Gotta be a better way. Hope this is amusing to somebody.
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Hammer.
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I have tried to make lemongrass oil last year. Smashed the stems and put them in a jar with (I think ) alcohol and oil. It did not work.
Jim
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Here they raise mint and when they harvest it for the oil, it is chopped into a large enclosed trailer and then steam is forced through it. Then the oil comes out. I don't know what kind of apparatus you could use. Perhaps, you could use a canning juicer/steamer with the three compartments--one for the lemongrass, one for water, and one to catch the oil. We use one to juice berries and grapes on the stovetop.
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We have had great success with putting a small piece of comb between the middle frames and a few drops of lemongrass oil. We got 1 swarm in 2 days and a 2nd swarm in 24 hours!
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I have a bunch of pipettes.
https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Transfer-Pipettes-Gradulated-Pack/dp/B005IQTSE0
I put some lemongrass oil in them and then seal the end. I'm pretty sure I got the idea off of here. I just use a lighter and heat the plastic. Pull and it seals pretty well. I try to squeeze the air out of the pipette before I do so. I made these up a couple of months ago and it still smells nice.
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I've started putting more LGO near the entrance on the outside than on the inside. No more than four drops inside. A little more near the entrance on the outside can catch their attention without running them out of the box.
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We use alcohol with dead mated queens ( deadout or squished while shifting) soaking in it.
You can use it for years, fill up the alcohol once and again. Low cost.
Put a few drops on the box? outside. Some of my co-workers allow their hives to swarm every spring. Good success with catching their own swarms.
The bees seem to think there once was a colony lodging there. Add one empty old broodcomb, then it?s even better and put some drops on the wax..
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Dead virgin queens also work just as well.
Jim