Author Topic: Which plant attracts the most bees  (Read 5406 times)

NaturalGreenthumb

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Which plant attracts the most bees
« on: March 02, 2014, 02:26:15 AM »
I'm curious as to which one of your fruit plants attract the most bees.

gunnar429

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2014, 02:57:22 AM »
Don't have an orchard or anything, but my coconut tree has a steady stream of bees pollinating it virtually all the time.
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bangkok

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2014, 05:19:07 AM »
My mangotree

Greenhaven

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2014, 06:18:12 AM »
My citrus trees seem to bring in bees from nowhere. Also seem to have plenty of bees in the banana bells.

jcaldeira

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2014, 07:50:44 AM »
Purple Vitex (Vitex negundo) is one of the best for attracting honey bees.  For a ground cover, white and yellow clover are among the best.  The vitex and clovers bloom over a long period.

Citrus is great for attracting bees, but the bloom period is relatively short.  Honey bees do not work mango for nectar or pollen.

Beware that attracting honey bees to a location with one floral source does not mean the bees are likely to jump to other floral sources in the area.  They normally will exhaust the highest sugar content nectar before moving to less appealing sources, and communicate the particular odor to each other in the hive.

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savemejebus

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2014, 08:33:32 AM »
Last year the bees were having an orgy in the carambola flowers. We couldn't even get close to the tree to harvest mature fruit. Had to wait until night when less bees were around. It was crazy.

shaneatwell

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2014, 11:00:24 AM »
Blueberries followed by citrus.
Shane

NaturalGreenthumb

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2014, 11:09:24 AM »

Beware that attracting honey bees to a location with one floral source does not mean the bees are likely to jump to other floral sources in the area.  They normally will exhaust the highest sugar content nectar before moving to less appealing sources, and communicate the particular odor to each other in the hive.

John

There goes my plan for the feijoa plant.

shaneatwell

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2014, 11:15:22 AM »
Might also ask what attracts the most hoverflies, as they are thought to be better pollinators for some fruits. My avocado appears to attract more hoverflies than other plants. Hoverfly larvae also eat aphids :)
Shane

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2014, 11:33:18 AM »
I think bees are to some extent opportunistic.  They do seem to have a hierarchy of preferences in my yard.  I almost never see them on mangoes.  They much prefer lychee and citrus.
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Mark in Texas

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #10 on: March 02, 2014, 12:58:47 PM »
I have at least 6 flying pollinators working my greenhouse, wild bees are just one of them.  For some strange reason there is a widespread belief that bees are the only pollinators out there.

zands

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #11 on: March 02, 2014, 01:02:22 PM »
The fly is known to pollinate mangoes, as farmers in Taiwan discovered during the early years, when the only mango trees in an entire field to fruit were the ones growing around a rotted pig carcass.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg1214171915143.html?29


phantomcrab

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #12 on: March 02, 2014, 02:09:43 PM »
Citrus attracts the most bees among my fruit trees.
Richard

CTMIAMI

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #13 on: March 02, 2014, 02:21:07 PM »
Mexican race avocados. The stronger the anise smell in the flowers the more bees it attracts.
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FlyingFoxFruits

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #14 on: March 02, 2014, 02:35:49 PM »
imbe always attracts lots of bees...
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HMHausman

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #15 on: March 02, 2014, 02:59:25 PM »
imbe always attracts lots of bees...

Yes, at my house two.  It might give citrus and lychee a run for their money now that I think of it.  Mine's just going into bloom again.
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jcaldeira

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #16 on: March 02, 2014, 03:03:16 PM »
I have at least 6 flying pollinators working my greenhouse, wild bees are just one of them.  For some strange reason there is a widespread belief that bees are the only pollinators out there.

You are right that there are many pollinators.  Hummingbirds, butterflies, bats, many species of insects, wind, and even rainwater, are all essential to pollinate some plant species. 

The focus on the honey bee is many economic.  Where there are many hectares of a single crop, all blooming at the same time, there aren't enough natural pollinators available.  The honey bee is usually the most practical to import temporarily for pollination services.  We wouldn't have much of an almond, apple or blueberry crop without them.

However, some species of insect-pollinated fruit have flowers that are not attractive to honey bees.  Sometimes the flowers have inaccessible nectar or flowers that are too small.     
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shaneatwell

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #17 on: March 02, 2014, 03:42:05 PM »
The fly is known to pollinate mangoes, as farmers in Taiwan discovered during the early years, when the only mango trees in an entire field to fruit were the ones growing around a rotted pig carcass.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg1214171915143.html?29

Awesome!
Shane

gunnar429

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #18 on: March 02, 2014, 05:49:14 PM »
so now i have reinforcement that rotting pig carcasses = better mangoes.  And my wife thought I was crazy---lol
~Jeff

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MangoFang

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #19 on: March 02, 2014, 05:56:34 PM »
Citrus...and believe it or not, the really stinky mango flowers attract bees and much more....the Keitt
especially....

Gary

simon_grow

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #20 on: March 02, 2014, 06:46:22 PM »
Lychee and citrus in my yard.
Simon

Kay

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Re: Which plant attracts the most bees
« Reply #21 on: March 03, 2014, 09:33:56 AM »
seen as Taiwan was mentioned above, ti is common practice for jujube farms to get netted, sacks of manure laid and flies breed like nuts!  I hate jujube simply because it creates a MASSIVE fly season here.  No idea what type of fly.  Never seen anything other than manure sacks used to attract anything in mangoes here though, now they tend to just stick with spray on hormones and chemicals.