North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[tanis cuff <tanistanis@hotmail.com>]

My yard has a wild honeybee hive which didn't get any extra feed nor heat 
that long cold winter, and I expected it to die out.  But this spring it is 
as strong as ever, possibly more assertive (does a hive change, or have my 
perceptions changed?  bumble bees also seem crankier this spring), especially 
about water.  Try a shallow tray of water where you want the bees to work.  
Set sticks in the tray so the bees can climb out of any water deep enough to 
trap them.

I see honeybees more on flowering weeds than fruit trees.  But when they work 
trees, they seem to prefer pear to apples, and prefer one of the apple-crabs 
to the other apples.  So I'm considering interplanting these preferred trees 
amoung the less preferred. 



> Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 10:28:54 -0500
> From: billg
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] honeybees
>
>> I think my secret to attracting native bees early is the thousands of 
>> crocuses (croci)that I've planted in the grass in the orchard floor---they 
>> make a great show and draw in bees starting in April.
>>
>
>
> What, dandelions won't work? :-)
>
> Seriously, do you have to worry about competition at all? Do bees on
> flowering plants mean that they don't need to visit your fruit trees? Or
> does the attraction effect of large numbers of blooms counter that?...
>
>
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