I went out for my morning walk with the baby and my dog and every brug tree I approached had 'Honey Bees' swarming the insides of my brugs. You could hear them buzzing all over the yard! I think I'll have pods everywhere at the end of summer! Anyone else have this problem or had it in the past??????
Anyone have problems with Honey Bee's?? lol
Wow - actually I think you are very fortunate to have honey bees. Up here in the Northeast they are a very scarce sight because a few years back they all died from some tracheal mite (came from Russia) and so anyone keeping bees now has to buy them and have them shipped in and then they have to give them medicine so they can resist the infection.
It does seem like it will guarantee lots of pollination but I guess you will have no clue which brug pollinated whom. LOL
Diane
LOL Wow Diane LOL this is way too funny! Well, not the part about brug pollination hehehe cos' you're right, I won't know who they did it to :-> RoFlMbO....Want some??? Come on down, bring a net!
Maybe they all flew down here, cos' my yard is buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz'in. I'm almost scared to go out there and water LOL...DH said not to slap at them when watering and they'll think it's just raining. But this bother's me somewhat *sigh*
Julie
Glad someone has bees. They're scare out here from that mite. I used to see dozens of them, now when I'm in the yard I can count them on one hand. You could ship them out here, but packing them could be problematic to say the least. LOL Have you been watching that old "B" movie about The Killer Bees? Just tell them to buzz off!
Mary
I saw one!!! yesterday. I usually have lots like Julie all in my brugs.
Julie,
It must just be a Southern thing!!! My place is swarming with all sorts of bees, bunches of honey bees but I've also got many, many young Bumble Bees. They are about half the size of an adult so I searched the internet just to make sure they weren't something else. Problem here is I'm highly allergic to them but it's not me they are after, buzzing all my flowers and clover.
I've been working outside at least half of every day and we just ignore each other. Just be careful not to step on one when wearing sandals.
If you happened to get stung, immediately wet the place where you were stung and put salt on it, draws out the poison. I carry salt packets, like from a fast food place, with me during the summer when I go away from home. (and mustard packets to cure hicups)
Judy
Donna did you have alot of pods in the Fall??? lol This is interesting to say the least...but I can see why they would be attracted to Brugs...they're sweet, alluring, smell probably makes them drunk lol! Donna, they must have left MS and came to my house!!!! Wayyyyyyyy too many. It's a shame too because I won't know which one's were pollinated by which....grrrrrr
LOL Mary, I'll think about that when I go out tomorrow....can see me now, BUZZZZZZZZZZZZzz off! Ya think they'll listen? Do we? lol Somehow I don't think they'll listen to me.
Judy, they are everywhere! Must be a Southern thang lol...and all this rain, wonder if that's got anything to do with it too. I have never ever seen so many darned bee's in my life! Thank goodness I'm not allergic. Well...I've never been stung by a bee *knock on wood* but my daughter is. Usually I see wasp around the front porch but not 'honey bee's'...there must be a hive somewhere in the pecan trees here.
You have me wondering if I go in the kitchen and get me a spoon of mustard if my hiccups will go away LOL...I have them right now as we speak, you must be psychic lolol! I never heard of putting salt on the wound if they sting but I'll tell my daughter what you said and to try it if she ever gets stung again...hopefully not though lol.
DH said, just don't blow on them or swipe at them and they won't bother you. But I don't like them swarming around my head, its just too close for comfort, givin' me the willies thinkin' about it Eeeeeek!
I've got lots of bees of varied nationalities! I hadn't noticed them in the brugs yet. Guess I'll tip up some blooms in the morning and see who's visiting. :) Or some morning... tomorrow may actually be a late wake up.
We only had 3 days in the 90's in 2004 and have already had six this month. Plus... today we're hitting 97 which will be the hottest day we've had in six years. With the humidity that comes with it I'm thinking this may be a heavy Bud sipping, Brug sniffin' evening.
LOL Blaine - starting today we are back into another heat wave also - temps in the 90's and high humidity for the next week. My husband and I already have an appointment set for tonight - back patio at 5:50pm with Gin and Tonics! LOL
Judy - I never heard of mustard packs to cure hiccups..but I have used this remedy since I was a kid and it never fails. If you get hiccups take 1 rounded tablespoon of granulated white sugar (don't drink anything with it)-- within 1 minute - hiccups gone. I actually read some where the scientific reason this works...something about it scratches the area in your diaphram where hiccups are generated or something...
Diane Krny
LOL Blaine, I can't miss mine...I can see them inside the bloom without tipping them geeeeeez! It's kinda scary at times whilest watering LOL
We've been going through heatwaves for a couple of months now....a/c has BEEN on, but I'm glad for the rain to a certain extent. Watering the brugs for me is great, but too much water on tomatoes can be devastating. Alot of peoples crops are messed up due to the rain we've had here in the south.
Judy,
Remember last night when you gave those wonderful tips on how to get rid of hiccups...and I actually had them at the time of your posting??? ....Well....I went into the kitchen, got a tsp. of mustard and I waited and waited for the next hiccup and BAM it worked!!! I had already turned my computer off for the evening but I wanted to crank it back up to tell you it worked!!!!!! I wish I knew why it worked (I'm so inquisitive like that) but I'm going to be doing this again :-)))) And spreading the new's lol...
Diane, it works with the mustard for sure, and alot less fattening than the sugar!!! And Lord knows I don't need anymore sugar :-( lol!
McDonald's Emergency Kit:
packets of salt, sugar and mustard
Who would have ever thought!!!
Judy
I don't know Judy, but I'm glad you did! You're a pretty smart lady, and I just want you to know a sweet lady too :-)
We have an antique bee hive, it's been here for 100+ years that we know of, we call it our floating bee hive because it has been at many locations on our property. We had to have it moved by a professional bee man a couple of years ago. Now, it's moved to a tree about 30 feet from where we had it moved. Glad it's in the tree - we couldn't get in our storehouse for several years before we had it moved. The honey that comes from it is the one the bee man says is most popular, crepe myrtle honey, and it is wonderful. Here's a photo of the bee man with the hive...
LOL Sherry, great pic! Now, if I ever locate where these bee's are...if in one of our tree's...where might I find a 'bee man' and how much do they charge??? lol I think they got tired from being drunk on pollen cos' they are taking a break this morning. All is still and no buzzing. I can visually see any today...they just used me for my pollen...I should be able to have some of the darned honey, what ya think? Eh? :-(
Hugs
Julie
We have lots of honey bees after anything with a flower on it! They love the brug flowers and palm tree flowers. We also have hundreds of those giant cicada killer bees. They don't sting unless you step on them though.
Ut oh...I saw one on the ground the other day and told my husband about it and he said he didn't know what kind of bee would live in the ground but he used to have a bee cage, whatever it's called...lol...when he was younger and he knows these are honey bees on the brugs. It's really not surprising though that they attracted to the sweet, alluring smell of the brug. This is the only time or year I've ever notice any around here. Most of what I see is wasps here in the summer or yellow jackets. Bee's fly around the other flower's but I've never had honey bees.
Oh Cala - you talking about the hornets that dig holes, catch a cicada (or we grew up calling them locust) then drags them down in the hole and lays eggs on them (they're just paralyzed, not dead... yet) ?
When I was growing up in NM/TX we'd grab a broom stick then go to one of those hornet colonies and get a little batting practice in. They make a real nice thump.
The bee man is from Houston TX and he didn't charge anything, he sells the honey and, like I said, he says ours is the most popular, it IS good!! You cannot tell it in that pic but the hive is HUGE, there were several parts of it and he says it was the largest single hive he's ever seen and he's never seen one in town that size. Oh, he said our bees are very gentle, which I already knew. My crepe myrtle is Natchez White and they bloom from spring to fall, so the bees are our constant companions. Guests ask, what's that buzz and when they find out it's bees, by looking up, lol, they fear being stung. My puppy got stung, when he snarfed up a bee in his mouth, ouch, and the bee man got stung 4 times, and that's it, leave them to their work and they leave us alone. I really think they have already pollinated my brugs before I got out there this morning...can you say, busy as a bee?? Those suckers are on duty from sunup to sundown and they take their vacations in the winter...
Wasn't it Glory who put tin foil over the stigma so that it couldn't be pollinated by critters? With so many bees, you may have to do that in order to have crosses that you want to make. We have very few honey bees anymore in Iowa. In the fall we have some kind of bee that gets into everything. Pop cans, tea glasses, flowers, etc. Resembles a honey bee, but twice the size. They love watermelon and cantaloupe rinds too.
lol Blaine, that may be what we have here in the ground that I saw, and if so, that's not a good thing for me as I like to walk in the grass barefoot occasionally lol...my feet would tell you different though. lol
Hmmmmmm Sherry, maybe thats where they are going to now that they've gotten drunk from the pollen, to one of my crepe myrtles...gotta get somebody to check I guess, cos' I don't think I wanna.
At least, I do know for a fact that if they sting you, they'll die soon thereafter. So says the husband. LOL poor doggie getting stung in the mouth. I can't let that happen to Molly, she's always sniffing around the grass! And I totatly agree, they are definetely 'busy as bee's'!!! lol working overtime up there eh? Into winter is alittle much, I hope they go away before that!
Hmmm Brugie, never thought about covering the stigma with ten foil, but it seems it would work though. Thanks for the help. I wonder if after they take all the pollen does that make the flower wilt faster? Seems they've accomplished that in some I've noticed. I just wonder.
The husband told me last night in our discussion of him as a child raising bee's that he used to get a watermelon and cut a slice and let them have it and they love that! So do the yellow jackets around here, but then they love everything in cups that's sweet, etc. I just don't like bee's at all! *knocking on wood again* I never want to get stung by one...shoot, an ant is bad enough!
Hugs
Julie
Julie, my Arky, homesteading bees do not build hives in the crepe myrtle and show very little interest in any of the crepe myrtle, except the white, don't have a clue why, except, the Natchez White blooms all season. Oh, for the last two years, I've had a small fountain, the bees LOVE it - I've always laughed about them being drunken sailors on nectar but now I find that they are addicted to water too, apparently many of them prefer a daily bath. I never knew bees could be funny but these are.
BTW, with bees and all sorts of other critters, hummers, butterflies, moths, etc, it seems, to me, that they would contaminate the plants and carry viruses, etc, assuming a plant has something contagious, if a bee stopped by for a cup of nectar, then moved on to another plant, wouldn't the bee carry the virus to the next plant?