tobacco flower foraging

muradulislam · July 06, 2011, 02:27:51 AM

Do honey bees forage from tobacco flowers, is it toxic to them or not and if they forage from them, how long tobacco flowers bloom and what is the effect on future crop (so i can get a contract 4 myself after telling this to a farmer ;) )

kingbee · July 06, 2011, 02:43:26 PM

Quote from: muradulislam on July 06, 2011, 02:27:51 AMDo honey bees forage from tobacco flowers...

I don't know about there but here tobacco is "Suckered" meaning the flowering portion of the plant is cut off before the flowers appear. This is done to force all the plant's energy into growing bigger and better leaves. Of course if your farmers are intrested in saving seeds from the current crop to plant next years crop, then some tobacco will need to be left in the field to flower and go to seed.

Here bees can be a bad thing thing in tobacco, not because tobacco is poisonous to bees but because bees or other insects may bring unwelcome pollen and cross pollinate the tobacco with wild tobacco varieties, contaiming any superior seed the farmer likes with undesirable traits that lessens his yield. Hope this helps.

FRAMEshift · July 06, 2011, 05:10:18 PM

Nicotine is a powerful insecticide, but I doubt that it appears in the nectar from the plant. That would not be a good pollination strategy. As kingbee said, bees will not increase the leaf yield of tobacco. Unless your farmer is raising the tobacco to make seed, he will not benefit from bees.

I live 0.1 miles from a large tobacco field and I am watching to see if it provides any summer nectar.

Vance G · July 06, 2011, 09:50:50 PM

I was given a chew I mean a sample of tobacco honey and it tastes strong and it is black. Try to let them use it to fill their winter stores.

schawee · July 06, 2011, 10:10:20 PM

same here ,the sucker is cutoff so there is no flowers.

muradulislam · July 07, 2011, 01:50:39 AM

I think i'll leave this escapade for now, what about cotton flowers, will honey bees love them.

schawee · July 07, 2011, 01:59:22 AM

yep, cotton honey is great.

muradulislam · July 07, 2011, 02:14:51 AM

problem with cotton here in pakistan is that temp reach upto 115F during cotton blooming, at this time i'm a northerner (near Abbottabad, hope everyone know where it is :-) ) and still a newbee in beekeeping but i'm thinking of adopting it as a side business after my studies. So, now to the problem, will bees forage in such a heat or will be cooling their hive all day long and how long cotton flowers bloom and can anyone hint the honey harvest from a full functional hive with cotton all around them upto their flight limits.

FRAMEshift · July 07, 2011, 09:06:45 AM

Quote from: muradulislam on July 07, 2011, 02:14:51 AM
problem with cotton here in pakistan is that temp reach upto 115F during cotton blooming, at this time i'm a northerner (near Abbottabad, hope everyone know where it is :-) ) and still a newbee in beekeeping but i'm thinking of adopting it as a side business after my studies. So, now to the problem, will bees forage in such a heat or will be cooling their hive all day long and how long cotton flowers bloom and can anyone hint the honey harvest from a full functional hive with cotton all around them upto their flight limits.

It's not 115 all day long. There will be plenty of time for foraging in the morning and evening. I'm not sure what the effect of extreme temps is on individual honeybees outside the hive. Bees do fine in Arizona and that is as hot as where you are. Uh, yes... we've heard of Abbottabad. :-D

CapnChkn · July 07, 2011, 02:04:03 PM

Yes they do work Tobacco, I watched them go in the flower from underneath. We suckered the field about 3 days later, so I can't tell you what the honey may taste like. Cotton is great.

If you situate the hives so they get morning light, to warm them and get them started working, then shade in the hottest part of the day and afternoon, they will concentrate on other work than keeping the hive cool.

AllenF · July 07, 2011, 08:12:44 PM

Cotton is king. Blooms when nothing else is blooming and great white honey.

muradulislam · July 11, 2011, 03:31:59 AM

how long cotton blooms last, mean a month, two ,three........

FRAMEshift · July 11, 2011, 01:26:11 PM

Quote from: CapnChkn on July 07, 2011, 02:04:03 PM
Yes they do work Tobacco, I watched them go in the flower from underneath.

Do you mean they chew through the bottom part of the flower to get in?

CapnChkn · July 11, 2011, 03:39:14 PM

I don't know! That was 35 years ago, and 150 miles away. All I can tell you is they didn't climb on the flowers, they climbed on the flower stalks and pushed their tongues into the bloom from underneath through a kind of notch between unopened purple looking petals. Looking at the photos of Tobacco flowers I can't figure out what they were doing, but they worked an acre and a half for about 3 days in Russell County Kentucky.