Ep 152 Relocating Bees – Being Kind to Pollinators
Sat, Mar 16, 2024 10:03AM • 11:01
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
bees, honeybees, garden, hive, relocating, pollinators, yellow jackets, winters, dilemmas, olive tree, pheromones, entries, tree, plant, turns, butterflies, porch, marvel, enjoy, mary stone, garden, nature, inspiration
SPEAKERS
Mary Stone
Mary Stone 00:00
Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone and welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens, it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.
Mary Stone 00:26
Hello there, it's Mary Stone on the screen porch enjoying a mid-March anomaly of 70 degrees. I want to thank those who reached back after last week's chat about Rockin Alpine Gardens of Acceptance. I cannot wait to visit James's garden this spring to see all those beautiful bulbs in bloom.
Mary Stone 00:47
So I have to say I opened up the screens in the kitchen to get some air flowing through the home, and this cross-country ski figurine that I keep out until the official end of winter fell to the floor, kind of smashing to smithereens as if to tell me it's time to retire the skis and enjoy the new beginnings of spring. And they do! While walking Jolee this morning, I was admiring the crocuses on the side of the road that magically grew there. Or maybe somebody planted them. A white one sits solo with purple lines on the petals, almost like runways, leading pollinators to the yellow puffy pollen. As I stood above it, watching the dance of two honeybees. I marveled at how they managed to work around each other in such a tiny space, sharing the bounty. It makes me think of my college roommate’s dilemma from years ago that resulted in relocating bees, and it starts like this.
Mary Stone 01:46
Hello, fellow readers and listeners. We had a near-stinging episode from a garden pot begging for its annual dressing, a task not yet done. This was in late June, by the way, and a side effect of helping others in their garden. A client grew tired of deer spraying and passed along Hosta which I nested into the pots as a temporary measure, a slew of yellow jackets emerged as I began to dig them in. I high-tailed it out of there and thankfully avoided their sting. Once, I did not get so lucky, and let's just say that I ended up with a very bad infection. The doctor said they are dirty bees, which is not really true because Yellow Jackets are predatory wasps that feed primarily on insects, including garden pests. But their garden benefits turn dangerous if their nests are disturbed, often hidden underground. At first glance, yellow jackets and honeybees look similar. However, yellow jackets have distinctive yellow and black bands, while honeybees sport brown and yellow. Plus, honeybees are hairy and perfectly designed to collect and disperse pollen as they go from flower to flower. Yellow Jackets are hairless. Please don't hold that against them, though. They can still serve a pollinating role when hunting insects or seeking sugar from nectar in late summer, preparing for the next year's queen.
Mary Stone 03:14
In February, my lifelong friend Linda in Mission Viejo, California, shared the story of honeybees inundating their 60-year-old olive tree. I remember during a visit convincing her that the tree, though technically too close to the front door, should remain. Mr. Olive has such character, with multiple gnarly trunks bursting into a dense green canopy offering a shady seating spot below. Now, with all the bee activity, there is no sitting under the tree. More problematic is their dog Sugar had a near-death experience when she was stung. In the spirit of saving the crucial pollinators rather than extinguishing them with pesticides, Linda sought out a bee relocation company. They closed the tree openings and installed a metal mesh cone that allowed the bees to exit the hive but not reenter. Pheromones enticed the estimated swarm of 20,000 bees to enter a temporary box hive below the tree.
Mary Stone 04:16
I checked in on Linda to learn the bee status. Four months later, they are still there. The first box of Pheromones did not attract them. And it turns out Linda's honeybees are acting oddly. According to Dan, the bee man of We Save Bees, he never saw anything like it. After seven visits to seal up entries, the bees managed to find a way into their hive by digging in the ground each time. Linda described the bubble of bees working and the bee pile of lazy buggers who opted out of the dig. It turns out there was a subterranean hive and the underground caverns around the roots. At last, it seems they've managed to plug up all the entries. The estimated 50,000 Honeybees are in the box hive, ready to be relocated to Temecula, California where they will work on a farm. I have enjoyed my bee experience and will miss the little guys wrote Linda, who added we're not for Sugar. I would have set up a hive and officially become a beekeeper. Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone.com
Mary Stone 05:25
I just love the happy ending of relocating 50,000 Honeybees. If you need to relocate a honeybee hive, you can contact your local Beekeepers Association, which will guide you to find a relocating provider. Many are beekeepers themselves and don't charge for their service. However, they advise that after the bee removal, you may have some expenses to make repairs. Linda paid about $325, well worth the good deed to save the honeybees.
Mary Stone 05:59
So, there's an update to the story. Here we are seven years later, and Linda had another population of honeybees in her beloved olive tree. I spoke with her today to get the skinny. It turns out that the remedy of filling the entries from the first hive failed as the tree grew and the cavity became accessible again. Linda wondered if the Pheromones were so potent despite the years gone by and lured another colony. Or maybe the ancestors of the initial honeybees were genetically guided back to their old haunts? Is that even possible? Do any of you know?
Mary Stone 06:35
Interestingly, this time, there isn't a demand for honeybees in Southern California, as there was last time, so the remedy was different, Linda explained. Rather than gathering the bees to move them, they smoked them out and stuffed the cavity with steel wool, a temporary fix. Linda will have to hire another company to install a permanent way to block the entries into the olive tree. The bee man said that more rain than usual and California in the last two winters has encouraged the migration of honeybees from the desert areas to Southern California. Southern California is a Mediterranean environment with hot, dry summers and wet, cool winters. However, they've had many dry winters in the past few years until recently.
Mary Stone 07:21
Linda asked the bee man where will the bees go? And he pointed to the neighbor's house. They'll follow the direction of his sun to find a new abode. The cost this time was the same as it was for the full-service relocation, requiring numerous visits. Isn't it interesting that honeybees are no longer in demand there? In fact, there's a surplus of them. Can there ever be too many bees? What we once sought out is now considered a pest to some. Yet there's a decline in honeybees and other essential pollinators elsewhere due to the use of pesticides. Maybe we shouldn't make judgments about beneficial insects versus pests. Perhaps we should just let them be rather than modify environments, as we do by irrigating things like deserts. I'm thinking about people who moved to Arizona and then installed irrigation because they wanted lawns, which is not natural for a desert environment. Not to say we should have 50,000 Honeybees right outside our front door. But there are kind ways to move them along. Thank you, Linda, for doing just that.
Mary Stone 08:31
We can all do our part to protect pollinators. Plant a pollinator-friendly garden using native or non-invasive annuals, perennials, and other shrubs with a sequence of blooms so nectar and pollen are available throughout the growing season. Include plants like dill, fennel, and milkweed, on which butterfly larvae feed and provide a water source, such as a pond, fountain, or birdbath. Lay off the chemicals, even organic ones, as they can also be toxic to bees and other insects. However, the organic approach is far safer when appropriately applied when pollinators are inactive in the early morning or late evening. You can add feeders to help attract hummingbirds and butterflies and provide shelter by letting a hedgerow or part of your lawn grow wild. Let a dead tree stay standing or fallen, creating looks for butterflies and solitary bees, and most of all, marvel and be grateful for the magnificence of nature and how we're all part of the cycle. Hopefully more of us will not interfere but help them. And sometimes that may be helping them to move elsewhere so you and your family and beloved pets aren't harmed. But we can do that in a kind way, a safe way, as nature intended. Because we share this world with nature. We're all one in this world. So be kind.
Mary Stone 09:56
So, thanks for coming by and joining me on the screen porch on this warmer anomaly in March. I know we're going to have some cold weather coming back. It's funny to see everyone just thinking it's time to plant. It's too early. It's too early, but enjoy the magnificence of all those early bulbs that are serving our pollinators, waking up the world and marvel and its glorious pace and rhythm that we look forward to each year. I look forward to the next time visiting with you on the screen porch and I appreciate every time you sit with me. Have a great day.
Mary Stone 10:31
You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden Dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag Mary Elaine Stone. Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch. And always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.