bees on cotton

[jaseemtp]

Ok,
I have moved my bees to an area where there is alot of irrigated cotton.  I hear they should produce a decent honey crop from this, but my question is should I or do I need to provide them with some pollen sub?  I have done some pokeing around on-line and have not found any thing about the cotton plants producing pollen. 
Thanks for the feed back
Jason

[AllenF]

They will do fine.    Don't worry about it.   And you will get lots of white honey from it.   

[Lone]

Fluffy white honey?

[FRAMEshift]

Fluffy white honey?

Exactly!

[Jim134]

I hear they cotton produce a lot of honey dew is this T or F I do not know  :?


    BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

[jaseemtp]

I was told they do produce excess "nectar" through a gland on the leafs.  I did look at the plants while I was there, they are not blooming yet but you can clearly see the gland on the undersides of the leafs.  My main question was if I should give the girls some pollen sub as I am not sure if cotton plants would produce enough for them to keep building up.

[Blackwater Bee]

I was told they do produce excess "nectar" through a gland on the leafs.  I did look at the plants while I was there, they are not blooming yet but you can clearly see the gland on the undersides of the leafs.  My main question was if I should give the girls some pollen sub as I am not sure if cotton plants would produce enough for them to keep building up.

Honeybees are pretty resourceful creatures, they will find the pollen they need, IMHO.  :)

[JP]

Bud's bees in Macon, Ms do quite well on cotton and I rather like the taste of it. I will tell you though cotton honey is not for everyone. Its the kind of thing you love or hate. I would assume your colonies should be able to find enough pollen in the area as bees always seem to be able to find pollen. Always being able to find enough nectar is always a challenge for them.


...JP

[jaseemtp]

I understand how resourceful bees can be. The reason for my concern is that they are in west Texas. There seems to be nothing out there other than the cotton that they are farming. They are irrigating it, te places that are not being irrigated seem pretty barren. Lots of red dirt, sand, and rocks showing out there

[bud1]

no problem; just tell the farmer to spray late if possible, and he will have to spray.  no problem with pollen there is plenty there . i tried to return yo email, but dont guess i suceeed  try a pm if you got mo questions and willl send no.

[jaseemtp]

Thanks bud. Supposedly they are not going to be spraying because of the boweivle eradication project.