Why aren't ditches being used as bee pasture?

[Smertrios]

Went for a drive around the small city where I live just to see if there were many pivot corners not being used. Only found 1 that was definitely not being used for anything *but* its hard not to notice all the ditches chock full of weeds that could otherwise be utilized as bee forage. Has to be a reason they are not being used and I assume its pesticides.

That said there was also alot of pasture ground with surrounding ditches that doesn't see too much pesticide which should make it good for bees. By my math there is anywhere between 17 and 40 acres of ditches within a 1 mile radius at any given point depending on the size of the ditches. Thats alot of potential bee forage! In a square with 9 mile sides and assuming the square has roads every mile making a 9x9 grid there is *easily* 353 acres and likely over 640 acres (1 square mile) of ditch surface area.

640 acres of different flowers providing nectar all year long instead of thistles, marijuana (likely hemp) and other weedy things... To me that sound like $$$ going to pot! j/k but you get the idea.

EDIT: Who owns the ditches anyway? Bee pasture rights for ditches as something that can be owned or at least rented with confidence that it can be renewed sounds awesome so long as its done well. Pretty easy for a bee owner to get "pinched" if they cant have the rights!

[10framer]

where do you live?  in alabama and georgia most of the right of ways and ditches have clover.

[Smertrios]

South Central Nebraska

[little john]

Sorry to be a 'party pooper' and spoil an otherwise excellent idea - but - "fields of flowers, blooming all year long" would require management. And once you have cleared your ditches of all those nasty, unwanted 'weeds' - who will perform this management ?

The idealistic hay meadow scenario only came about because of farming practices at that time. Without taking off that crop of hay, and if it were left to it's own devices, then a field full of wild grasses, thistles etc would automatically develop. The weeds you see in the ditches are pretty-much the 'default status' of the land in your area. Grazing is also an integral part of meadow management.

There are a couple of exceptions: if you were to seed those ditches with goldenrod or similar perennials, you'd have forage at least during one period of the season - but over time those woody stems would eventually begin to choke any water flow along those ditches, which presumably have been made to provide drainage.

Another alternative would be Himalayan Balsam - an ideal plant for bee forage. But - the cost of planting this would be very high indeed, for it totally blankets out any other plants or grasses (weeds), so that following die-back in late autumn, it would leave the sides of your ditches completely bare and prone to erosion by winter rains. Over time the ditches would collapse and cease to exist as water courses.

There's never an easy solution, I'm afraid - quite often things are how they are for a reason, although that reason may not always be that obvious at first sight.

'best
LJ

[Michael Bush]

What happens in Nebraska is the State plants native wildflowers in the right of ways and then the counties spray them with 24D and kill them...

[Colobee]

Much of the bee forage I see is along highways and such. Originally planted to stabilize the soil after the construction "dirt work", and can propagate & prosper for decades. The unfortunate thing I see is that it is often mowed at the peak bloom. This year has seen a bumper crop with all the excess rain this spring.

[YpsiBee2015]

I thought bees really like thistle! I would like it if it wernt thorny

[BeeMaster2]

Bees do like thistle.
Jim

[Eric Bosworth]

I don't know if the state planted the median of I88 in New Yuck but they do mow it... It drives me crazy. How much of my tax dollars do they spend on fuel, equipment and salaries for people to sit on a tractor and drive up and down the median?

[BeeMaster2]

And why does the median in the middle of no where, always need to look like a freshly manicured golf course.
Jim

[Eric Bosworth]

Because they have to waste my tax dollars somehow.

[KeyLargoBees]

Its New York .....and the tractor drivers are union employees :-)

[Eric Bosworth]

Yeah I know...
But it is New Yuk when referring to anything government related.

[GSF]

I've often wondered why the state didn't lease the medium to hay farmers. Up and down I 65 there's some great area's with a lot of thick grass growing. A hay farmer would probably mow it at least 3 times a year.

[Wombat2]

In Australia land beside main roads ( not highways) is known as the "Long Paddock" With a permit a farmer can graze livestock beside the roads so long as they are "supervised" usually by a couple of outriders with dogs. Warning signs have to be displayed saying " Livestock on Road" and if a motorist hits one the motorist is liable. Usually only utilized in times of drought or feed shortage or to move livestock from one area to another. 

[Hops Brewster]

And why does the median in the middle of no where, always need to look like a freshly manicured golf course.
Jim

Fire control.  Mowed grass/weeds burns slower and the flames don't get as high/hot, therefore easier to control wildfires there.
Plus, elected types think it "looks tidy".

[BeeMaster2]

Hops,
I hear what you are saying about the fire hazard but that does not justify cutting it every week. The politicians like it that way because, I'll bet, there is a lot of donations that they get for the laws that say it must be mowed that way.
Jim

[Eric Bosworth]

I think GSF is on to something. I have actually thought the same thing for a long time. If the state is going to mow the median anyway they might as well let a farmer hay it. It seems stupid to me that they don't. Perhaps the hay wouldn't be much good because of the salt that is used in the winter time but on a year like this one where it has been quite wet it seems like  they could easily get a couple cuttings. Maybe it has to do with getting tractors into the median... but if that was the issue it doesn't seem like the state would be able to use their tractors to mow the median either. Even if they don't get any money for leasing the median, think of the money they save by having a farmer mow it rather than the taxpayer funded state... Oh wait... that would require logic and common sense...

[Hops Brewster]

where I live Jim, it gets cut once and it won't grow after that because it's too dry.
I guess the politicos have to show that they're "doing something" and making it "look beautiful".

The State tried to grow a sorghum crop one or 2 years to sell for alco-fuel, but that failed.  It might have turned out differently if they'd had farmers try to grow it instead.

[cao]

I think that the problem with using the medians for hay is all the trash.  I don't know many farmers that would like to feed there animals hay with trash in it.  On a side note, I always wondered why the don't plant trees in the highway interchanges.  There's plenty of room in the cloverleafs to plant trees, especially fruit trees.