Author Topic: bee friendly plants (Read 7809 times)

Understudy · « **on:** February 01, 2006, 11:39:39 pm »

Hi everyone.

As I sit here in a hotel in San Francisco working on a project for 10 days. I am wondering when I get back home to Florida, what small potted plants can I have in my yard that the bees would like. I have a large amount of butterfly friendly plants, but bee friendly and butterfly friendly are not always the same. So what are some plants I can have in my yard for the bees?

I live in south Florida. I am considered zone 10 for plant growing.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

thegolfpsycho · « **Reply #1 on:** February 01, 2006, 11:55:38 pm »

Since it takes about 2,000,000 visits for bees to make a tablespoon of honey, I don't know if you can impact them much with potted plants, or small planters. Throw some color out there and they will visit them.

Jerrymac · « **Reply #2 on:** February 02, 2006, 12:29:26 am »

Quote from: thegolfpsycho

Since it takes about 2,000,000 visits for bees to make a tablespoon of honey, I don't know if you can impact them much with potted plants, or small planters. Throw some color out there and they will visit them.

Have you ever wondered who sat there and counted all of that and done the math?

thegolfpsycho · « **Reply #3 on:** February 02, 2006, 01:11:38 am »

Your right. I didn't count them. Probably someone estimated the size of the honey stomach, the reduction of nectar to honey. yada yada yada. I count things like.. um... wow.. that load of nectar came from 1.2 beers away!! bahahahahahahah

Where have you been Jerrymac?? Haven't seen you around much lately?

Jerrymac · « **Reply #4 on:** February 02, 2006, 03:03:11 am »

I was off line for a bit. Then my son bought me a computer game for Christmas (Rise of Nations) Had to wear it out and got behind on a bunch of stuff. Stopped smoking (anyone got a cig???????????) Then just general goofing off and lurking.

About the Two million flowers how ever. That would be trips to flowers wouldn't it? Would several trips to same blossum be counted as several flowers in that number?

Michael Bush · « **Reply #5 on:** February 02, 2006, 08:05:46 am »

Plant things thare are early, late and bloom in droughts to fill the gaps. You can't plant anything that's going to make a honey flow in your yard. It's the 8,000 acres around your yard they are foraging that will make honey.

Jack Parr · « **Reply #6 on:** February 02, 2006, 09:25:12 am »

:?: Jerrymac, what type of suction motor are you using for your vac?

Thanks. Jack

Jerrymac · « **Reply #7 on:** February 02, 2006, 11:24:02 am »

Quote from: Jack Parr

:?: Jerrymac, what type of suction motor are you using for your vac?

Thanks. Jack

I pulled the motor out of an old canister floor vac and mounted it inside a coffee can. I don't know how to meassure the suction or tell you what type/model motor it is. For a 12 volt experiment I pulled a heater blower out of a car. Mounted it in a shroud made from a can also. Haven't realy tried it out yet so can't tell how it works.

Jerrymac · « **Reply #8 on:** February 14, 2006, 09:55:05 am »

I just had to revisit this again,

Quote from: thegolfpsycho

Since it takes about 2,000,000 visits for bees to make a tablespoon of honey, I don't know if you can impact them much with potted plants, or small planters. Throw some color out there and they will visit them.

Was trying to do the math but got lost in the numbers. This is what I have so far....

There is 768 teaspoons in a gallon. That would be 1,536,000,000 trips to flowers. (1.5 billion) for one gallon of honey.

SO.....

How many gallons of honey does one get from a hive in a season?

How many bees will it take to get that honey?

Is there enough hours in a day to do this?

Finsky · « **Reply #9 on:** February 14, 2006, 12:12:25 pm »

Bee math is difficult. Dimensions of cells are difficult enough.
Often trips, more honey

Few but long trips, but empty honey sac.

Let's calculate:

Bees have very good nectar sources. They do one trip per minute. In 10 hours one bee does 60 x 10 = 600 trips.

We have 50 000 foragers and they do 30 milj. trips per day. They may get 5000 g surplus honey per day. How do we calculate teaspoon? Is it 10 g? 500 teaspoons per day? So one teaspoon needs 60 000 trips.
.

Jerrymac · « **Reply #10 on:** February 14, 2006, 12:35:20 pm »

Quote from: Finsky

Bees have very good nectar sources. They do one trip per minute. In 10 hours one bee does 60 x 10 = 600 trips.

We have 50 000 foragers and they do 30 milj. trips per day. They may get 5000 g surplus honey per day. How do we calculate teaspoon? Is it 10 g? 500 teaspoons per day? So one teaspoon needs 60 000 trips.
.

I'm not following your math here. thegolfpsycho's statement is a visit to 2 Million flowers per teaspoon. Your 30 million trips would only produce 15 teaspoons per day, meaning it would take 51.2 days to produce a gallon of honey.

But some other questions emerge here.

Are there 50,000 foraging bees per day from one hive?

We must maintain this amount by replacing the bees that die off. So how many bees will we need to have in the egg stage to the young emerging bee stage?

How many nurse bees are needed to raise the brood?

How much honey is needed to feed the brood and nurse bees?

Also, do bees collect pollen and necter during the same visits to a flower?

How many flowers will be producing necter throughout the day?

Finsky · « **Reply #11 on:** February 14, 2006, 01:48:51 pm »

Quote from: Jerrymac

I'm not following your math here. thegolfpsycho's statement is a visit to 2 Million flowers per teaspoon. Your 30 million trips would only produce 15 teaspoons per day, meaning it would take 51.2 days to produce a gallon of honey. ?

Yes but most of summer they get nothing, just fly.

Quote

Are there 50,000 foraging bees per day from one hive? ?

If you have 90 000 bees, 40 000 is as nurser bees.

If you put 5 kg swarm into 2 langstroth box bees properly fill boxes. =50 000 bee. If you have 6 boxes, do you think that there could be 90 000 bees?

Quote

How many flowers will be producing necter throughout the day?

I do not know but one fool can ask more than 10 wise are able to answer :roll:
.
.

Jerrymac · « **Reply #12 on:** February 14, 2006, 02:24:03 pm »

Quote from: Finsky

I do not know but one fool can ask more than 10 wise are able to answer :roll:

It's just that I doubt the 2 million flowers per one teaspoon theory. If one is going to harvest 15 to 20 gallons of honey that's going to be anywhere from 23,040,000,000 to 30,720,000,000 flowers (or trips to flowers?) just to make that. Then there is the amount of honey the bees consume while raising brood, there is the gathering of pollen, propolis, and water. Now after you add all of that into the mix we are going to have many more flowers to visit in the course of a season. I'm just wondering if there are enough daylight hours in a season to gather all this stuff.

Then we'll get to the number of hives in one area and if there is even that many flowers around.

Jack Parr · « **Reply #13 on:** February 14, 2006, 09:42:34 pm »

I would say that the bees will know what to do.

You guys must be bored silly???

Finsky, your country was recently in the news. I read in my local newspaper that you have newly re-elected your current President, Tarja Hanloen, to a second term. It seems like an American Comedian,
Conon O'Brien helped her get re-elected. :D

Conon O'Brien was recently in Findland for a visit and said that since he helped with the lady's re-election he wanted to be appointed to a government post, as Inspector of Women's Saunas. That is what I read. :P

Did you read about anything on this issue :?: :?: :?:

TwT · « **Reply #14 on:** February 14, 2006, 09:53:10 pm »

before someone can average the trips to the flower per teaspoon of honey, wouldn't it depend on the nectar source first? I have not seen it but have heard on a strong flow that a hive can fill 3 honey supers in a week...... thats alot of spoons, and in a strong flow the bee will fill with nectar on alot less flowers, I think the nectar source would change the amount of flower visits,,,,,,, I just had to get in on this one,,, :twisted: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!,,,,, something to think about ha!!!

Jerrymac · « **Reply #15 on:** February 15, 2006, 02:45:26 am »

And I would have to doubt the one minute turn around. Leave the hive, go to flower with necter and suck it up, go back to hive, find place to unload in one minute...... I think the flower would have to be only within a few feet of the hive. Don't think you'll find 2,000,000 flowers in a ten foot radius of the hive.

mick · « **Reply #16 on:** February 15, 2006, 04:48:47 am »

I dont know the local names you use for plants ok, so you might have to google the names.

Really you want plants that you like so you will actually look after them.

Pick you favourite colours.

Perfect is one largish plans that flowers everytime you cut it back like a daisy, cammomile, lavender etc. Underneath are smaller plants covering the base of the pot and spilling over the edges that flower all the time.

Lobellia comes to mind. Than you have a few Cosmos or Snapdragons etc thet flower between those and your main plant.

You will have flowers all year round sunny spot or shade wont matter and you will like your plants and get to see your bees working. As long as there are flowers you will make the bees happy.

Ideally you will have terracotta pots, paint the inside to slow down the porus transfer if you want to. get best potting mix you can buy and most of all tell the guy in the nursery that you want those 3 stories of plants so you get flowers all year round. Dont mention bees, you only confuse him.

Drill more holes in the bottom of the pots and dont use a saucer under them. Buy one of those $10.00 moisture and PH probes so you dont over water them.

You want the 3 elements of a cottage garden in a pot. Big ball of a plant, long plants underneath and small ones spilling over the edge and covering the top. You should have about 15 plants in each pot.

Dont worry about overcrowding. Soil is just a medium to support roots. The slow release fertilizer in the potting mix does the work and the plants sort themselves out.

mick · « **Reply #17 on:** February 15, 2006, 04:59:40 am »

sorry duplicate

Finsky · « **Reply #18 on:** February 15, 2006, 06:19:43 am »

Quote from: Jack Parr

Conon O'Brien was recently in Findland for a visit and said that since he helped with the lady's re-election he wanted to be appointed to a government post, as Inspector of Women's Saunas. That is what I read. :P

Did you read about anything on this issue :?: :?: :?:

Yes everything seems to came true what he says.

Conan has been favorite here. Television has folowed him many times and everywhere. Yesterday Conan met our president and president said that here is now more press than along ordinary state visit.

There a lot of writings in net http://www.google.fi/search?q=conan+O%27Brien+sauna&hl=fi&lr=&start=20&sa=N

.

Michael Bush · « **Reply #19 on:** February 15, 2006, 07:49:24 am »

My view of planting is this. The bees will forage a 2 mile radius like it's their back yard. That's 8,000 acres. Unless you own that 8,000 acres you probably aren't going to plant enough to make a honey crop. BUT you can plant to fill gaps in the calendar. Early pollen and nectar are precious as is late nectar and nectar and pollen in a drought. If you plant to fill those gaps you can make a difference.