imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

No flowers, no bees.

I was looking at the blog page from the garden where I work and someone said the farm could not be organic because they did not see any bees.

It was a conclusion that was unjustified and not true.

Parts of the farm is organic, the aquaculture beds are organic. The hydroponic houses are not because they use synthetic fertilizer. The farm itself uses only OMRI certified organic pesticides. Neem and Bt being the ones they use the most. I don't work in the landscape part of the farm so I don't know what they use there but the plants are on a drip system.

The farm has its own beehive.

If you stick around long enough and know where to look there are ladybugs on the carrots, watercress, and the lettuce.
Dragon flies hover around the fish tanks. I have spotted a few toads. Also some not so nice critters ants, slugs, snails, aphids, white flies, scale, and moths that are not welcome.

Now, as to why they did not see any bees. Bees go out a couple of times a day foraging for nectar. The bees will not be foraging around lettuce, kale, beets, onions, or any of the vegetable crops that are harvested before they set flower. To find the bees you have to look around the ornamental plants on the farm, the flowering weeds on the perimeter, and around the fruit trees mango, lychee, longan, peach, and citrus when they are in bloom. You have to go out early in the early morning after sunrise and in the evening hours. Bees do not usually forage in the middle of the day when it is hot unless they have to. I usually find bees in the middle of the day taking a siesta in a flower until it gets cooler.

If you want to see bees, then there has to be flowers with nectar and when bees find a good source of nectar they will usually visit the same plants until all of the nectar is exhausted or the plants are no longer flowering. Then the scouts will go out in search of another source and tell the others where to go.

At the herb garden where I volunteer, I have a huge African basil. It needs to be trimmed, but I have only trimmed the parts that were hanging out because it is in almost constant bloom and the bees visit every day. Especially now at this time of the year when there are fewer flowers blooming, I don't want to take away a nectar source. I'll wait until more flowers start blooming before I do the pruning. The lemon basil is half grown and when they flower, or when the orchard starts to bloom again, I will be able to cut the African basil (it is long lived here) to a manageable size.

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Yep. Yep.

There are hardly anything flowering here now, and after the last couple of nights in the 20's it's probable that what little there were are now gone. But last week when it was still a bit warmer even after a few frosts, I had broccoli and peas blooming and hardworking honey bee or two that ventured out were clinging to those blossoms. A little before that, the raspberries were eeking out blossoms between frosts and ripening berries whenever the daytime temps rose to bearable level, so I know the honeybees and others were visiting every single one.

I even actually have a Jewelweed -which normally gets wiped out at first hint of frost- that is growing against the southeast facing wall of the house, obscuring the bottom part of a window, and apparently it's still warm enough there because there are a few blossoms on it, even this morning. :-()

Susan W
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1858
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:46 pm
Location: Memphis, TN

Well, some folks are well meaning but very ill informed. As we know, honey bees and others will go to flowers that are treated with about anything.
My yard is mostly organic, not to the letter. I have bumblebees, different small native bees and a few honey bees even though neighbor across the street has a hive.

As one looks at the bigger picture of a healthy garden, look at the smaller details including the native bees.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

It is true. And it is especially bad when people use systemic and long acting pesticides. I usually tell people to use the least toxic thing possible and if they have to resort to harsher chemicals, at least disbud until the chemicals dissipate to cause less harm to the bees.



Return to “Beekeeping”