Beehive's

brooksville · January 5, 2016

I know that tomatoes are self pollinating, but does anyone have any experience with adding a beehive to the garden? My dad bought my wife one for Christmas and thinks that overall garden production should increase 30%. Any thoughts?

John

PhilaGardener · January 5, 2016

Bumblebees seem to be the primary pollinators of tomatoes. The floral architecture requires a heavy "buzzing" to shed pollen, like shaking salt from a shaker.

Honeybees will benefit other crops (especially fruit trees), however, and given the general issues with pollinator abundance these days are certainly worth a try. Good luck with them!

Worth1 · January 5, 2016

Don't expect them to go running to the garden they seem to have favorites and go there.
Even planting things to attract bees doesn't seem to work for me.
That is what they go to not the garden which is right next to it.
The bumble bees pollinated my cucumbers this year.

Here is another odd thing I noticed.
If I plant things in the front yard that need pollination honey bees don't bother with it for the most part.
If I plant it in the back yard the blooms are covered with them.

I also had a red wasp nest at my garden I left alone this year because they were on my flowers and cucumbers.
I would pick cucumbers right next to them (1 foot) and they never bothered me.

Worth

PhilaGardener · January 5, 2016

I've been trying to encourage native pollinators. There are other benefits too; in my garden, wasps keep the cabbage white caterpillars under control with little added effort on my part.

Fusion_power · January 5, 2016

Brook, as a beekeeper for 46 years, I can tell you that average garden production will not increase 30%. There are lots of good reasons to have a couple of colonies of bees that do not depend on gardening. Among them is having fresh honey to eat, seeing apple blossoms loaded with foraging honeybees, and seeing the occasional dog sniff at the entrance to the hive and take a sting or two to the nose before running away yelping. The obvious caution is to avoid locating them directly beside the garden. They don't like hot sweaty people trying to hoe the tomatoes and they very much don't like tillers and lawnmowers running nearby.

There is an excellent forum dedicated to beekeeping topics. http://www.beesource.com/forums/index.php

brooksville · January 5, 2016

Thanks, should be a useful resource....

Cole_Robbie · January 5, 2016

Maybe that 30% number is for melon production? I know honey bees help a lot with melons.

Ricky Shaw · January 5, 2016

The floral architecture requires a heavy "buzzing" to shed pollen, like shaking salt from a shaker.

A beautiful sentence, in both structure and description.

Carriehelene · January 5, 2016

My hives are located right next to my tomatoes. Not once have i seen bees on them. They do love the cucumbers and peas though.

Worth1 · January 5, 2016

We had I think 7 hives with supers in the back yard growing up.
My father and I built the hives from kits we bought from Sears many years ago.
We even ordered our bees from Sears except for the colony we collected from the woods and brought home.
I had too mow the grass around the hives.

Those bees kept our garden and orchard pollinated.
They can be a pain because they can get infested with moths and so on.
In the fall of the year you could see the worker bees kicking out the drones.
When I was growing up a worthless lazy person that didn't do anything was called a drone.

Worth

Fusion_power · January 5, 2016

me says: drone!
worth1 says: worth1!
me: drone!
worth1: worth1!
me: drone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best laugh Worth, we all turn into drones as we get older.

Worth1 · January 5, 2016

The word for drone now is couch potato.

Worth

brooksville · January 5, 2016

Thanks guys!

Salsacharley · January 6, 2016

I've got a tomato patch with 150 tomato plants in a suburban yard right next to a yard with hives. I thought the hives would be great, but I hardly ever see bees, and when I do there is usually only one and it usually come after me. One dang bee chased me out for about a 1/2 hour one day.

On the other hand, I've got a Russian Sage plant next to a pool and it is swarming with bees, and they never bother me. I have to rescue bees out of the pool just about every day.

Bumblebees and sweat bees are the big pollinators in my tomato realm.

Ricky Shaw · January 6, 2016

I did not see a bumblebee in my yard last year, the year before only a few. Tens years ago there were gobs of them.

January 5, 2016	#1
brooksville Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2014 Location: South Georgia Zone 8a Posts: 179	Beehive's I know that tomatoes are self pollinating, but does anyone have any experience with adding a beehive to the garden? My dad bought my wife one for Christmas and thinks that overall garden production should increase 30%. Any thoughts? John

January 5, 2016	#2
PhilaGardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Near Philadelphia, PA Posts: 1,940	Bumblebees seem to be the primary pollinators of tomatoes. The floral architecture requires a heavy "buzzing" to shed pollen, like shaking salt from a shaker. Honeybees will benefit other crops (especially fruit trees), however, and given the general issues with pollinator abundance these days are certainly worth a try. Good luck with them!

January 5, 2016	#3
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Don't expect them to go running to the garden they seem to have favorites and go there. Even planting things to attract bees doesn't seem to work for me. That is what they go to not the garden which is right next to it. The bumble bees pollinated my cucumbers this year. Here is another odd thing I noticed. If I plant things in the front yard that need pollination honey bees don't bother with it for the most part. If I plant it in the back yard the blooms are covered with them. I also had a red wasp nest at my garden I left alone this year because they were on my flowers and cucumbers. I would pick cucumbers right next to them (1 foot) and they never bothered me. Worth

January 5, 2016	#5
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	Brook, as a beekeeper for 46 years, I can tell you that average garden production will not increase 30%. There are lots of good reasons to have a couple of colonies of bees that do not depend on gardening. Among them is having fresh honey to eat, seeing apple blossoms loaded with foraging honeybees, and seeing the occasional dog sniff at the entrance to the hive and take a sting or two to the nose before running away yelping. The obvious caution is to avoid locating them directly beside the garden. They don't like hot sweaty people trying to hoe the tomatoes and they very much don't like tillers and lawnmowers running nearby. There is an excellent forum dedicated to beekeeping topics. http://www.beesource.com/forums/index.php

January 5, 2016	#7
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Maybe that 30% number is for melon production? I know honey bees help a lot with melons.

January 5, 2016	#8
Ricky Shaw Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Zone 6a Denver North Metro Posts: 1,910	The floral architecture requires a heavy "buzzing" to shed pollen, like shaking salt from a shaker. A beautiful sentence, in both structure and description.

January 5, 2016	#9
Carriehelene Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 300	My hives are located right next to my tomatoes. Not once have i seen bees on them. They do love the cucumbers and peas though.

January 5, 2016	#12
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	The word for drone now is couch potato. Worth

January 6, 2016	#14
Salsacharley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: New Mexico Posts: 2,052	I've got a tomato patch with 150 tomato plants in a suburban yard right next to a yard with hives. I thought the hives would be great, but I hardly ever see bees, and when I do there is usually only one and it usually come after me. One dang bee chased me out for about a 1/2 hour one day. On the other hand, I've got a Russian Sage plant next to a pool and it is swarming with bees, and they never bother me. I have to rescue bees out of the pool just about every day. Bumblebees and sweat bees are the big pollinators in my tomato realm.