Bees Going for One Plant and Ignoring Another

[wdolson]

I know this is primarily a forum for beekeepers, and I'm not a bee keeper, though I have been cultivating a colony of orchard mason bees in the last couple of years.  It appears we do have a wild hive of honey bees close by because I have seen a growing number of them in recent years.  I like the idea of beekeeping, but my SO is allergic to bees as well as being terrified of them and I think she'd probably leave if I got honey bees.  She has enough trouble with the mason bees even though they don't sting.

Anyway, I'm in the outer fringes of Portland, OR.  I know most of North America is still deep in winter weather.  However, the West Coast is seeing an early spring.  This is normally the wettest month of the year, but most of February has been dry and sunny.  My orchard mason bees are just beginning to emerge, but I see a lot of honey bees this year with our warm early spring.

We have about 20 fruit trees.  The plum trees usually bloom around March 1 and they don't get well pollinated without some help.  With the orchard mason bees the last couple of years, my plum crop has been much bigger (two years ago was a staggeringly massive crop, last year was good, but we lost a lot of fruit in a hailstorm).  I have two younger plum trees that are just beginning to come into their own this year.  One of them appears to bloom a couple of weeks earlier than the mature tree.  It's in full bloom now.

This is where the weird behavior comes in.  About 20 feet from the plum tree in full bloom, we have some rosemary plants that have been blooming for about a month.  The rosemary plants have a virtual swarm of bees, mostly honey bees, but the first few mason bees too.  The plum tree in bloom is around the corner of the house in a spot that only gets sun this time of year starting about 2 PM and the rosemary bushes are in full sun from about 11 AM on, so it is somewhat warmer around the rosemary bushes.  However, even when the plum trees are getting sun, I never see more than one small bee buzzing around.

I'm just curious about the odd behavior.  I would think that such a nice pollen source would also be getting a lot of attention.

Thanks

[rwlaw]

Offhand guess the plumb blossoms don't have the nutritonal value that other plants are offering. I know commercial beeks have to feed their hives when they put them on blueberries. And the plumb tree might be offering the most nectar in the early morning and they're only hitting for a couple hours each day.

[GSF]

another thought comes to mind, I've heard once they start feeding they don't stop and go looking for something else. Like RW said, if the nutrition is there they'll stay with it.

[wdolson]

Interesting.  I never thought about the differing nutritional values of different flowers. 

I can see why the mason bees might hit the rosemary first.  Those bushes are closer to the bee house I put in the greenhouse.  The honey bees are coming from a longer distance.  I suspect the nearby woods in the greenbelt.  They would fly past the plum tree to get to the rosemary.  Maybe rosemary offers a lot more nutritional bang for the buck so to speak.  I have noticed that the rosemary gets a lot of attention whenever it blooms, even in the late spring when there are a lot of other flowering plants available.

The scientist in me likes to understand why critters do what they do.

Thanks again

[Maggiesdad]

I think all the sages and mints are yummy to bees.

[Michael Bush]

Plants have to compete for bees.  If the bees get a better "offer" they go there.

[minz]

Friend of mine (just east of you) told me about how great his mason bees were for years (flew at 45 degrees and rain), but he never got an Asian Pear. The way I explained it to him was that his bees were Seal Team 6: a team of 15 highly trained bees would fly out and hit prime targets when they were due, not dependant on weather or difficulty. My bees were the Chinese Army: First 50 degree day 200,000 would descend like a hoard and hit every single blossom.
Bottom line is that the entire county is blooming now (30 full days early) and the bees will work what they need (pollen or nectar) with the least amount of expended energy. I have a Grandma?s plum, full bloom, never see any bees on it, and it always produces so much fruit if I do not thin it the tree breaks in half.

[Joe D]

I have several acres of Crimson Clover and Hairy Vetch.  The Masons bees hit the Vetch most of the time and the honey bees work the clover.  You will see very few honey bees on the Vetch, and the Mason bees seem to be mostly on it.




Joe

[GSF]

dang minz, I'm in central Alabama and we are still struggling with cold/cool weather. To add insult to injury, once again the weather forecast has over shot the high by about 10 degrees. That's a lot when the wind is blowing.

[OldMech]

Some good answers here.
   
   If someone set two plates in front of you, one with a perfectly cooked prime rib and a baked tater, and one plate with some plain corn tortillas on it which are you going to eat? Both will satisfy your stomach....
   Well, actually I dont know about you, but i am going for the meat!, bees are much the same. They will go to the best stuff first. AND, also as already stated, once they are ON a good source, their efforts are tuned to taking advantage of it as much as they can, so they will probably not leave that source until it begins to fade, then those scouts will be out searching for something to replace it.

[minz]

here is a chart that the bee club has been sending out on what is available in this part of the country, what months and what amount of sugar it has as well as pollen.
nope, looks like I can not post a pdf.