Posted on 04/27/2012 8:13:43 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde
Good morning everyone! I'm looking forward to hearing your gardening challenges and successes today. Please check in and let us know how it's going.
This morning I've put together a little pictorial of how Mark and I cut a honey bee hive out of a wall or similar place. This is a medium-sized cutout that we did back in March. The hive was located in an old shed that the owner wanted to tear down, but they were trying to reclaim windows and the old boards and the bees weren't having any of that. So, the owner got her building back and Mark got a beautiful and productive hive of bees! Talk about win-win!
I hope that you found that interesting and informative. Inviting your questions and/or comments.
Have a great week!
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/johnny
I love italian food season! Isn’t that ALL year long???
Nice save of the hive too many would just kill all the bees and clean up even some of the bee people are so afraid of getting Africanized bees from wild populations that they pass.
Cool post! Good luck on a fully successful relocation. I assume there is still some chance of failure? Or is that a high-percentage operation?
I do love it fresh.
/johnny
We have a 90% success rate of the hive after a cutout. Really, complete success now because the one hive that we lost was the second one we ever removed and we didn’t get the queen. We’ve learned so much and refined our methods with great results. From the bee forum that I read regularly, most people have about a 50% success rate with hive survival. I don’t know why it would be so low.
Last year I found that by using shade cloth both the tomatoes and basil continued strong and producing well. I lost most of my tomato plants but experimented on six plants with shade cloth and those six plants continued to produce until the first frost. This year I ordered and received a 20 by 32 foot shade cloth and am in the process of covering that much of my garden. I’m near Aiken, SC
What percent density? I’ve dealt with that South Carolina sun...ye gads.
/johnny
Very cool about the bee hives, interesting and informative. Thanks for the pics.
AWESOME pics! I could never do that. Bees and wasps hate me and the feeling is mutual.
The glads started blooming yesterday and there’s more caladiums finally coming up so the flower bed will be looking nice any day. I see that one package of caladiums was a dud.
I did get off my duff this week and attacked some of the weeds, but then I messed up my knee so have been off it for the past three days. If it’s not one thing it’s another. Had a couple seed packets waiting by the door but no can do now without a knee. Didn’t get the weeds done and there’s a week’s work of them still out there.
I noticed some broccoli FINALLY coming up but need to fill in with more of them and cauliflower. I did fill in more in the lettuce and greens area. I moved the stray cuke back where he belonged and it looks like he won’t make it (not that I expected him to but had hoped). Got some old okra seeds soaked and in the ground so who knows if they’ll sprout. Mr. b is still parking his truck by the little side garden so the heat off it is burning everything up so that won’t help the okra either. Here in TX, it’s already in the mid 90s. I had watered yesterday morning and by late afternoon things were starting to wilt.
Started some herbs indoors but the cat keeps sitting on them. I holler at her but she just stares back all innocent, uh huh. If they do manage to come up, they’ll be moved outside into containers.
I really want to dig up the grass (cough, weeds) between the veg garden and the house and put in berries along the garden fence and roses along the house with mainly herbs and a few flowers in between. Mr. b can move one of his fountains over there and a couple of chairs. But that’s not happening any time soon. Maybe next year.
On that note, I wonder how many here are aware of the following:
Monsanto buys leading bee research firm after being implicated in bee colony collapse
FTA: To translate, it appears as though Monsanto plans to use even more chemical inputs to supposedly solve the bee collapse problem, even though it is these very inputs that are largely the cause of the bee collapse problem. Several recent studies, after all, have definitively linked crop pesticides and herbicides, as well as high fructose corn syrup, to CCD.
The future looks bleak for bees, in other words, as Monsanto appears poised to slowly gobble up all the competing companies and organizations that threaten its own GMO products, while pretending to care about the dwindling bee populations. And unless drastic action is taken to stop Monsanto in its continued quest to dominate global agriculture, the food supply as we know it will soon be a thing of the past.
This is some scary stuff..........
Our maters are staked and doing great with a few blooms. We have some baby squash and the peppers are growing good. We have a few zuke blooms also. I guess we are off and running on this years garden.
I think that Monday or so, I will till the okra bed and get it going. My county guy said to wait till June for okra, so I still have time to soil test that area.
Don't I know it. I gave up on the garden about the end of June. Our lawn didn't make it so it's now all weeds. You're right about no weeds last summer but they've more than made up for it this year. Everyone is complaining about so many coming up. I've never seen the weeds like they are now. I'm thinking it's like a prairie or forest fire and the next year sees lots of new little plants popping up.
The hills are still covered with dead cedar and such so we're still in danger of one spark setting everything off.
Colony collapse disorder can be causes by viruses, mites and other parasites, and just plain bad beekeeping practices that isn't actually colony collapse.
That was a great tutorial! Very interesting and informative. Thanks
I soaked some okra seed for 3 days before I got a chance to plant them, & planted them in a combination of peat pots (which I normally HATE) and little plastic pots. That was last Sunday & they are already 1/2 high! I have them sitting on a bed of compost inside my greenhouse. It’s perfect right now for seed starting & I’m hoping to plant them at about 6” high. I did this last year with pretty good success. The reason I didn’t direct seed is because I, too, have cats and they like to roll around in the dirt and I didn’t want them to roll on my newly sprouted okra. I water them each day & they stay moist since they are on the compost.
I have no doubt that you are correct -— I’m more concerned about Monsanto and what they are doing.
Absolutely fascinating pics of your bee rescue operation!
Thank you so much for sharing. Seeing all that honey had both me and hubby salivating. ;-)
Eventually, I WILL get our hives going...but not this year. This year we have too many projects, including construction of a small green house, an enlarged garden, storage building for the tractor and truck... and a new puppy will soon be a part of this family.
I might have to try that this year. I haven’t had problems keeping basil going all season here in ATL, but the tomatoes don’t do well.
Help!!!
Looks like I over watered the 15’ honey locust trees I planted last fall.
Has anyone had any success or tips on how to revive suffering trees?
We’re in eastern New Mexico. My soil is powdery clay. When the trees started to die back, I put a shovel in the ground. The soil on top was dry,but quite wet about 10” down. The last time I watered was 8 days ago.
What to do? Wait another week to water, or sprinkle a little water on the surface (gal or less).
Can they get really, dry dry and recover?
The trees are green under the bark, and I don’t see any sign of rot around the base.
Any help or encouragement would be deeply appreciated.
It is so frustrating that some anti-whatever zealots take advantage of a situation -- colony collapse disorder in this case -- to further a somewhat hidden agenda that they are pushing.
The tabacco-derived pesticides they are referencing can be found with several different brand labels in our equipment shed. All pesticides will kill bees if they come into direct contact with them ... DUH! they are designed to kill insects! I have used them around the property for years, and I have seven hives and two nuclear hives in my yard, that are exploding in population and healthy as all get-out. I practice totally "organic" beekeeping, which means that I do not medicate my bees at all, or use mite or beetle baits. There are actually insecticides that are placed INSIDE hives to control beetles. They look like a black plastic roach hotel. Because the bees don't come into contact with insecticide, they are not harmed.
While I have not yet read the article about Monsanto purchasing a bee research group, my first thoughts are that it is in Monsanto's best interest to do extensive research and testing on bees because they do produce agricultural chemicals. Rather than starting a 'bee department' from scratch, why not buy an existing and established research group. I may be totally wrong, but that is my first impression.
Monsanto may be many things, but they are not the monster that certain groups make them out to be. Without many of the chemicals developed and produced by Monsanto, including worm-resistant corn and weevil-proof cotton varieties, the world would be a hungrier and less-dressed place to live. Certain herbicides have advanced farming practices beyond imagination. Many don't realize how much time, equipment and fuel is saved by proper and effective use of herbicides. That makes food cheaper and more available for everyone.
Sorry, rant over.
Posh - there was absolutely nothing at all wrong with your comments.
I do realize that Monsanto has done much good, but I am also aware of problems they have caused and like to cause - they are involved in the labor dept rules about kids for example -
You are far more knowledgeable than I will ever be, it just so happened that I was reading the article at the same time your bee pictures were loading here and I had been on a rant about corporate farming yesterday! call it the perfect storm for me to go off on!
IMHO, Monsanto = satan.
Thanks for those pictures & explanation.
We are FINALLY getting some Spring rain. The gauge has just over 1.25” of soaking-in, not running off, rain in it so far, and still slowly falling.
300’ of potatoes planted; 250’ or so to go. After reading some articles, I decided to space at 15” instead of 12” this year.
3 weeks to go to “last frost”; I may risk some things, but not the really tender stuff.
This year I ordered a 60% shade cloth and am currently building the frame to put it over. I used 8’ landscape timbers that we had here and set them 1 ½’ into the ground and am putting 2x3s at the top from pole to pole to drape the shade cloth over. The poles are set 8’ apart both ways. So that puts the shade cloth about 6 ½’ above the ground.
BTW I lost most of the rest of my garden which wasn’t shaded as well last year. Bottom line is, what I shaded kept producing and what I didn’t died.
My daughter's father-in-law (old cambodian f@rt) uses the same technique in his garden, but last year in this part of Texas.... I don't think anything helped.
/johnny
Our predicted April chill is at hand! The forcast keeps changing, but I’m anticipating an actual freeze, not just frost, this weekend. I’m most worried about the strawberries. I know the plants themselves are really cold-hardy, but I’m not sure about the blossoms and the undeveloped fruit, so last night I covered what I could. Today they all looked fine, although some of the other plants in Dad’s flower garden were looking worse for wear. I’ll keep covereing the berries at night until the weather warms up again. There are just so many blossoms on those plants, it’s ridiculous, we’re going to need help picking this summer!
Appreciate the info...I was looking at 60-70% myself...
Very cool moving the bee hive. I’ve long been interested in beekeeping but never seem to have time to get started. Maybe after I retire from the rat race?
Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts are thriving in the garden. Tomatoes and peppers are thriving in pots - is still too early to set them out - couple more weeks. Sweet corn is pegged, stand looks a bit thin but I used year-old seed so can’t complain too much. Potatoes are up and looking good.
Started pruning my palm trees this morning. One down, nine to go.
Training the limbs on my Dorsett apple tree in the front yard is coming along. Was able to remove a few of the restraints, so I no longer refer to it as the Harrison Bergeron apple.
The Anna apple in the back yard, which had such a bad year last year that I've put serious thought into yanking it out and starting over, put out blossoms everywhere. I assume that I should remove the blossoms or young fruit, since I would kind of like to see some growth this year. Or maybe I'll let it go and fall over like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.
Man vs squirrel is pretty much a stalemate at this point. Pepper spray on the tomatoes seems to have worked, I found one bitten and dropped right at the plant, and nothing since, as compared to finding a half eaten tomato in the yard every day. However, given the number of times I have been hit by the motion detecting sprinkler, it might be advantage vermin. Habeneros are doing a good job protecting the hydroponic tomatoes.
The okra vs weed whacker contest, is, well was, decidedly one sided.
Fantastic pictures. How do you know which pieces to select when moving the hives? What do you do with the rest?
All the vining plants (cukes, melons, squash) as well as the zucchini are coming along fine. Except for a volunteer tomato plant and one we purchased at a nursery, tomato’s seem to be struggling this year, as are the okra. Corn is coming along. About 50% of the seeds germinated and most of the plants are 18in tall. Peppers are still producing in the greenhouse. In fact, we refer to the tabasco plant as a tree. It’s 5ft tall.
Are you all growing tomato in pots? My Julienne tomato’s produced throughout last summers’ heat with a weekly deep watering, no shade. They are in a deep bed of composted horse manure.
Your post is absolutely fascinating! I guess you can’t get any fresher honey! Good job!
How exciting. You were able to retreve the whole hive. How much of the honey were you able to “save”? We painted a house about 10 years ago, 2 stories. It was built in the country about early 1900s. The west end of the house had a hive. We “dressed” a couple of men so they could remove the slats and expose the hive. The Menenite fellow we called was able to get the hive and the honey. It was something to see. The men then scraped the wax and residue, then lightly torched the wood to get as much resideu as we could from the frame of the house, then painted the inside frame and put the west end back in place. The two fellows who removed and replaced the slats were paid extra. It was a looong day.
/johnny
My lawn is weeds. Dallas grass, some other green stuff, some bermuda, and some St Augustine. I just mow it and hope the St Augustine takes over. During our annual BBQ the cooks do a job out there, the food is so good, I just keep the weeds, cause they always come back. Shoot, it’s green all year long.
YIPPEE, we have planted the first 3 rows of veggies and some watermelon in the Community Garden!! Now to disk more ground, and get ready for the fall/winter crops. Get more people involved. We’ve had some school kids over doing some of the ground work. I’ve been at this for 4 years, 1 year knowing where it will be, 5 months waiting for the trees and scrub brush to be removed, NOW..it’s becoming a place for everyone who wants to....plant something.
Nice pictures of a cool process! I’ve been keeping bees for most of the last 37 years and I’ve hived a few swarms but I never was willing to go quite that far. Right now I have some colonies that moved up into their winter feed boxes and I haven’t had the time or inclination to cut the comb out and plug it into the frames but it’s something that needs to be done. You’re energy is an inspiration!
Campari Tomatoes sustain me through the off season here in Benderville. I buy mine at Costco...
I get tired just reading and viewing your exploits!!! Oh to to be younger and blonde again...
Yeah, we don’t get those 100 plus days one after the other so it may have been the heat. I lived in Texas for about 5 years and remember quite well.
The shade cloth I got wasn’t all that expensive. The total for the 20x32 was only $98.85 shipped to my door. It came from http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/60-percent-black-bulk-shade-cloth/shade-cloth which was much cheaper than others. I didn’t get the one with the grommets already put in because I am going to staple to the frame.
See post 47. I should have read your post before I posted that and included you in my response.
I have everything in buried pots. My tomatoes are in 4 gal pots buried to the neck with the bottom cut out. Each year I simply pull the pot up and dump the dirt into a wheelbarrow and change the dirt in the pot to keep from growing tomatoes in the same dirt. New dirt comes from my compost pile now that I have it going and the old dirt goes into the compost pile or into pots that I’m growing something else in. My way of rotating crops but their always in the same spot in my garden! LOL
Our Dutch Irises bloomed this week. The deer don't eat these so they don't need a fence!
I planted a few mounds of winter squash and a bit more lettuce today. These absolutely have to be in the fenced area.
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