# Some questions



## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

I am wanting to get a bee box for my garden this year. The bee population the past few years has declined so much that many of our vegetable plants did not produce. My question is, if my neighbors around me heavily spray weed killer,will that kill my bees? Or will the bees stay close to their box?


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Not the answer you are looking for, but my wife planted bee attractant shrubs and flowers. Plants like butterfly bushes, lavender, marigolds, herbs, and on and on have them swarming and remove any pollination issues for our fruits and vegetables gardens and orchards.


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

GTX63 said:


> Not the answer you are looking for, but my wife planted bee attractant shrubs and flowers. Plants like butterfly bushes, lavender, marigolds, herbs, and on and on have them swarming and remove any pollination issues for our fruits and vegetables gardens and orchards.


I will try that as well thank you. Been wanting more lavander and herbs anyways


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Roses, lilacs, sunflowers, honeysuckles.
I struggled with bee boxes and then I began noticing how well certain plants really took off, the closer they were to here garden.


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

GTX63 said:


> Roses, lilacs, sunflowers, honeysuckles.
> I struggled with bee boxes and then I began noticing how well certain plants really took off, the closer they were to here garden.


May be a lot easier and all the extra flowers would be pretty


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## dmm1976 (Oct 29, 2013)

I have most of the flowers listed above. But im unsure what to do about my butterfly bush. I might pull it. I read that while butterflies love it, the eggs or larvae or something cant survive on it.so the butterflies love it so much they lay their eggs on it but none of those survive. So now i feel like it's just a baby butterfly grave yard. 

I dont know they have it up where you are but lantana is also a good attractant, its a sprawler and gets pretty bushy but low to the ground. Yellows deep oranges ans purples.. And we have a couple knockout rose bushes that are 20 years old. They get huge every year and bloom all summer and fall.in the winter we cut them down to the thick stump and the next year it grows 6 ft tall again. Love those things. Ill likely plant more. Also. Gardenia bushes. Its wierd because i smell it most strong when it isnt blooming. 

Anyways im rambling. But i love flowers. 


And now i too want a bee box for my garden. Lol


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## dmm1976 (Oct 29, 2013)

Also.plant trees that have blooms in spring. We have some tall skinny trees that bloom white along the front of our house. And a couple pink blooming trees...i think maybe it interests them in my property early and when the trees are done my garden starts blooming.

Oh and i do put out about 8 hummingbird feeders that ive seen the bees on.


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## TroyT (Jun 24, 2008)

Timing is everything, pollinators operate at different temperatures. Here in WA, much like OR, the fruit trees bloom when in some cases the outdoor temp is too low for honey bees to be actively flying, which is why we have Mason bees as well as honey bees. Mason bees fly at lower temps than honey bees and are better pollinators than honey bees (they also don't sting). 

That being said our garden and the gardens around our house did much better when we added honey bees to our home. Some vegetables like squash need to be visited many times by a pollinator before they will set a fruit. Honey bees however do need to be maintained or they will more than likely die. If you fail to maintain your bees, they may well have an adverse effect on other bee hives within flight rang of your hives, both wild bees and "cultivated" honey bees. If you are willing to maintain your hive(s) then go for it, our country can use more healthy bee hives. BTW: The honey is nice too!!!


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

dmm1976 said:


> I have most of the flowers listed above. But im unsure what to do about my butterfly bush. I might pull it. I read that while butterflies love it, the eggs or larvae or something cant survive on it.so the butterflies love it so much they lay their eggs on it but none of those survive. So now i feel like it's just a baby butterfly grave yard.
> And now i too want a bee box for my garden. Lol


Don't pull it. While my wife has literally dozens of BB bushes around the yard and garden, it is only one of numerous species she planted to bring the bees and butterflies in. I can't add to the good or bad of the bush other than to say that butterflies swarm, and I do mean swarm it all summer. All types of butterflies and colors. Butterflies and bees.
If you are concerned it may not be an overall benefit, plant some complimentary flowers and shrubs.


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

TroyT said:


> Timing is everything, pollinators operate at different temperatures. Here in WA, much like OR, the fruit trees bloom when in some cases the outdoor temp is too low for honey bees to be actively flying, which is why we have Mason bees as well as honey bees. Mason bees fly at lower temps than honey bees and are better pollinators than honey bees (they also don't sting).
> 
> That being said our garden and the gardens around our house did much better when we added honey bees to our home. Some vegetables like squash need to be visited many times by a pollinator before they will set a fruit. Honey bees however do need to be maintained or they will more than likely die. If you fail to maintain your bees, they may well have an adverse effect on other bee hives within flight rang of your hives, both wild bees and "cultivated" honey bees. If you are willing to maintain your hive(s) then go for it, our country can use more healthy bee hives. BTW: The honey is nice too!!!


Thank you for the information. By maintain what exactly do you mean?


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

dmm1976 said:


> I have most of the flowers listed above. But im unsure what to do about my butterfly bush. I might pull it. I read that while butterflies love it, the eggs or larvae or something cant survive on it.so the butterflies love it so much they lay their eggs on it but none of those survive. So now i feel like it's just a baby butterfly grave yard.


I don't know of any butterflies that lay eggs on butterfly bush. If you want butterfly babies plant spicebush, milkweed and dill or parsley. Larval host plants draw in more butterflies than butterfly bushes. Butterfly bushes also bring in birds and mantises which hang around the bushes and catch the insects coming in to feed.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

To answer the question having neighbours that spray round up and other herbiside plant killers will not effect the bees in your hive(box).
How ever if they spray a lot of pestsides and plant GMO ssed for plants like soy beans & corn it can effect you colony of bees.


As for Butterfly weed, 3 reasons you should not plant it. 
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/a20706544/never-plant-butterfly-bush/

Things to plant instead of butterflybushes.
_Abelia x grandiflora_, glossy abelia
_Ceanothus americanus_, New Jersey tea
_Cephalanthus occidentalis_, buttonbush
_Clethra alnifolia_, sweet pepperbush
_Cornus_ spp., dogwood
_Kalmia latifolia_, mountain laurel
_Lindera benzoin_, spicebush
_Salix discolor_, ***** willow
_Spiraea alba_, narrowleaf meadowsweet
_Spiraea latifolia_, broadleaf meadowsweet
_Viburnum sargentii_, Sargent's cranberry bush.

Non invasive.
_Buddleia_ Lo & Behold® ‘Blue Chip’
_Buddleia_ ‘Asian Moon’
_Buddleia_ Lo & Behold®‘Purple Haze’
_Buddleia_ Lo & Behold® ‘Ice Chip’ (formerly ‘White Icing’)
_Buddleia_ Lo & Behold® ‘Lilac Chip’
_Buddleia_ ‘Miss Molly’
_Buddleia_ ‘Miss Ruby’
_Buddleia_ Flutterby Grande™ Blueberry Cobbler Nectar Bush
_Buddleia_ Flutterby Grande™Peach Cobbler Nectar Bush
_Buddleia_ Flutterby Grande™ Sweet Marmalade Nectar Bush
_Buddleia_ Flutterby Grande™ Tangerine Dream Nectar Bush
_Buddleia_ Flutterby Grande™ Vanilla Nectar Bush
_Buddleia_ Flutterby Petite™ Snow White Nectar Bush
_Buddleia_ Flutterby™ Pink Nectar Bush

One important thing to remember, though, is that _Buddleia_ is still an exotic plant.


Instead plant Milk weed there are several types and not only do we have the common milk weeds we have the swamp milk weeds.
Joepye weed is another good native plant to have.

We have a bee garden we planted and some plants not in the garden. Koren box wood one of the earliest midwest blooming plants. Also the maple trees in the spring.
Autum joy one of the last blooming even after golden rod to bloom in the fall.

Honey bees will fly in the middle of the winter at 20F on a wind less sunny day for a short flight.
But normally they will fly any day in the spring and fall above 45F with little wind. They do not do well in winds over 15 mph when it is only 45F.

We also try to keep a good population of bumble bees in the area. since our home, pole barn and honey house is wood we do not incourage mason bees.

 Al


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## TroyT (Jun 24, 2008)

Oregon1986 said:


> Thank you for the information. By maintain what exactly do you mean?


The days of just setting up a bee hive and forgetting about it are pretty much over. There have been always diseases that attack bee hives, but there are now some newer ones that are really causing problems. For example varroa mites (varroa destructor) is a major killer of bee hives. If you don't treat for mites, you will more than likely loose your hive(s), and you will be infecting other hives within flight range. We call untreated hives "mite bombs". Last summer we had a major battle controlling mites in our hives, only later finding out that a neighbor didn't treat their hives. Another example would be swarm control/management. If you don't swarming and your hive(s) are reasonably healthy they may swarm. Swarming isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can leave your hive(s) to weak to make it through the winter. There is much more to it however, if you're looking for a 30,000 foot guide on bee keeping your local library may have a copy of "Bee Keeping for Dummies", good very basic info on bee keeping.


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

alleyyooper said:


> To answer the question having neighbours that spray round up and other herbiside plant killers will not effect the bees in your hive(box).
> How ever if they spray a lot of pestsides and plant GMO ssed for plants like soy beans & corn it can effect you colony of bees.
> Al


BUT it will appear in her honey, wax and finally herself...
And that would be for me enough to make my neighbors life as miserable as possible so that they either move or stop spraying...
IF he would not stop voluntarily after asking...


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Farmers won't stop spraying. MAKES THEIR LIFE SO MUCH EASIER ALONG WITH GMO SEEDS

 Al


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Oh i was more thinking of a residential neighbor...
And roundup will be history soon i hope...


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## TroyT (Jun 24, 2008)

Meinecke said:


> Oh i was more thinking of a residential neighbor...
> And roundup will be history soon i hope...


I wouldn't count on it nation wide. Perhaps in a state by state kind of thing. 
https://www.capitalpress.com/nation...cle_a3d1defa-46c9-11ea-8067-93b92ee5422b.html

If it's a neighbor perhaps you could get them to try 30% vinegar and epsons salt?


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

Bayer will take it out since the law suits will become to expensive...
And the EPA, since kidnapped by Mr Wheeler (After leaving Congress, worked for years as a lobbyist for some of the largest coal, chemical and uranium companies in the U.S.), it is not really a surprise that the substance is safe...He would probably agree to asbestos in kindergarten's if it brings him an extra dollar


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## TroyT (Jun 24, 2008)

Meinecke said:


> Bayer will take it out since the law suits will become to expensive...
> And the EPA, since kidnapped by Mr Wheeler (After leaving Congress, worked for years as a lobbyist for some of the largest coal, chemical and uranium companies in the U.S.), it is not really a surprise that the substance is safe...He would probably agree to asbestos in kindergarten's if it brings him an extra dollar


Not likely I'm sure any law suit will be tied up in court for years. But this forum is about bee keeping is it not?


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## Meinecke (Jun 30, 2017)

U r absolutely right...


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

Oregon1986 said:


> I am wanting to get a bee box for my garden this year. The bee population the past few years has declined so much that many of our vegetable plants did not produce. My question is, if my neighbors around me heavily spray weed killer,will that kill my bees? Or will the bees stay close to their box?


Yes, and no. I have followed bees for miles in the desert before finding the hive.

Note: Do not attempt to harvest honey from a hive of Africanized honey bees without a full head to toe suit.


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