BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM.
Do you plant for your bees?
CoolBees:
At my place, we've planted the following for the bees:
Black locust
Honey locust
Silver linden
Littleleaf linden
American basswood
Tupelo
Tulip trees
Japanese lilac trees
Japanese pagoda trees
Decorative plums
Asian pears
Bartlett pears
(I forget) pears
Bing cherries
Utah cherries
Tartarian cherries
Ranier cherries
Tallow trees
6 types of apples
2 types of grapefruit
3 types of oranges
Kumquats
Tangerines
Manderine
Limes
2 types of lemons
Plus various flowering, bee friendly bushes.
... And I forget what else.
I read somewhere, that 2 mature honey locust trees outproduced 10 acres of clover in honey production. Don't know if that's true ... but it's worth trying.
Question: When is the best time to plant a tree? Answer: 20 years ago.
Question: when is the 2nd best time to plant a tree? Answer: today.
Anyways - that what we've done for the last few yrs. I'll let you know in another 20 yrs if it was the right decision. :cool:
CoolBees:
--- Quote from: .30WCF on May 09, 2021, 08:55:23 pm ---I?ve tried to have this conversation a time or two. I?ve emailed the bee supply shops around and tried to encourage folks to plant a summer blooming plant or two. The naysayers always say it won?t make a hill of beans. Sure, my 4 sourwood trees won?t do much, but if you talked with the people you knew in the area and over a few years planted 50, or 100 as a group effort, I?ve got to believe it will make a difference. I feel like I don?t have to plant 50 acres of something if I can talk a club into talking their neighbors into letting them plant a couple trees here and there. But that all depends on what kind of contacts you have in your area. If you could get a local nursery to start promoting certain plants, over time it will help.
I would focus on derth relief over pretty spring flowers.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
--- End quote ---
I agree with everything said. I've got my neighbors planting tree that my bees need also.
My Focus was to have 3 types of tree in bloom each month of the year. (A neighbor has Eucalyptus that flower Nov thru Mar).
The15thMember:
I agree with most of the other posts. If you've got land lying around doing nothing there is no reason not to plant some sort of forage crop on it. Sunflowers are a great choice, not only for honeys but for native bees as well. Trees are never ever a bad way to go. The majority of my major flows here in the mountains are trees, and one tree can produce the same amount of nectar as a cultivated acre or more in many cases. And focusing on plants that bloom during your dearth is a great way to make a big impact. Some other non-tree heavy hitters in my experience are borage and sulfur cosmos.
--- Quote from: Pazuzu on May 09, 2021, 08:40:58 pm ---
--- Quote from: AustinB on May 09, 2021, 06:57:53 pm ---small or large scale.
--- End quote ---
I wouldn?t bother with worrying what to plant in ?small? scale, ie backyard setting as it will make zero difference for the bees. It?s the other way round and bees will be a benefit for a backyard plants.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: .30WCF on May 09, 2021, 08:55:23 pm ---I?ve tried to have this conversation a time or two. I?ve emailed the bee supply shops around and tried to encourage folks to plant a summer blooming plant or two. The naysayers always say it won?t make a hill of beans. Sure, my 4 sourwood trees won?t do much, but if you talked with the people you knew in the area and over a few years planted 50, or 100 as a group effort, I?ve got to believe it will make a difference. I feel like I don?t have to plant 50 acres of something if I can talk a club into talking their neighbors into letting them plant a couple trees here and there. But that all depends on what kind of contacts you have in your area. If you could get a local nursery to start promoting certain plants, over time it will help.
I would focus on derth relief over pretty spring flowers.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
--- End quote ---
I agree with WCF, it's drops in a bucket. Not much to look at, but makes a difference over time. The way I treat it is that if I'm going to plant something somewhere, for whatever reason, I always pick something that is pollinator friendly over something that is not. For almost any landscaping or land managing project, you have the option to pick flowers that will be helpful to your local pollinators, and that's always better than choosing some sterile flower that was bred to be showy but has no nectar or pollen.
.30WCF:
--- Quote from: CoolBees on May 09, 2021, 09:06:36 pm ---
--- Quote from: .30WCF on May 09, 2021, 08:55:23 pm ---I?ve tried to have this conversation a time or two. I?ve emailed the bee supply shops around and tried to encourage folks to plant a summer blooming plant or two. The naysayers always say it won?t make a hill of beans. Sure, my 4 sourwood trees won?t do much, but if you talked with the people you knew in the area and over a few years planted 50, or 100 as a group effort, I?ve got to believe it will make a difference. I feel like I don?t have to plant 50 acres of something if I can talk a club into talking their neighbors into letting them plant a couple trees here and there. But that all depends on what kind of contacts you have in your area. If you could get a local nursery to start promoting certain plants, over time it will help.
I would focus on derth relief over pretty spring flowers.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
--- End quote ---
I agree with everything said. I've got my neighbors planting tree that my bees need also.
My Focus was to have 3 types of tree in bloom each month of the year. (A neighbor has Eucalyptus that flower Nov thru Mar).
--- End quote ---
I got no reply to my emails from any of the 8 bee supply shops in my area.
I?m frequently met with in conversation, your two trees won?t matter. I guess they are the same people who don?t vote since their one vote won?t matter, but then complain about the results.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
CoolBees:
--- Quote from: .30WCF on May 09, 2021, 09:10:41 pm ---I got no reply to my emails from any of the 8 bee supply shops in my area.
I?m frequently met with in conversation, your two trees won?t matter. I guess they are the same people who don?t vote since their one vote won?t matter, but then complain about the results.
--- End quote ---
Sounds about right.
I live by 2 sayings:
1) 5% of the people think. 10% of people think that they "think". The other 85% would rather die, than think.
2) if you make people "think" that they're thinking, they will love you. But, if you ACTUALLY make them think, they will hate you.
Assuming an average spacing between trees of 25', I can fit 81 trees per acre. That ought to make a difference in honey production. That was my thoughts. (A General Disclaimer: Different trees need different spacing. Some need 40', & some need 12', etc.)
Anyways - I figure I'm right. :cool:
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