pollinaton vs honey value ?

[Radical Bee]

I have a neighbor 6 miles down the road that raises 5ac each of watermelons and pumpkins for the mkt. His first year results were not too good and he wants some bees for polination. There is a good all weather road to his field and lockable gate, which is within sight of his front door. The property is bounded by wetlands with lots of tupelo and willow on two sides and thousands of acres of irrigated soybeans behind. His pasture land is going into the program this year and he must replant the forage. He has offered to plant up to 16 acres of white dutch, or any other approved legume if i will leave bees there year around w/o charging a pollination fee.

Two questions;

1. is this a fair exchange?

2. will bees work melons or pumpkins with blooming dutch, ball, or sweet clover available?

[mlewis48]

If it were me, I would go for it because a good outyard that is that close to home is a good thing to have. How many hives will he let you put there to make it worth you while? But that is my opinion.
Marc

[Jim 134]

How hives will he let you put there ?

5 acres of watermelons ?

5 acres pumpkins ?

16 acres of approved legume ?


How hives are you going to put in?




BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

[indypartridge]

When considering the pros and cons of this as a possible site for your bees, watermelons and pumpkins usually end up on the "con" side of the ledger. Given that's only 10 acres, it may not be a big deal, but many beekeepers are wary about pollinating vine crops. This thread discusses it further:
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=227800

[beedeetee]

Does this guy sell his melons and pumpkins at his own market? If he does consider having him sell your honey there. A neighbor farm is a u-pick place. He lets us sell our honey there. In the beginning he wanted it because the honey brought in more customers who would buy more stuff so he didn't take any money to sell it. We didn't have to answer the door all of the time, so it worked out well for both of us.

He kind of sells it on consignment. He either gives us the honey back at the end of his year or the money. We have started giving him $1/lb and they seem to push it a little more, asking if each customer would like to buy some local honey. He gives us a receipt each time we drop honey off showing how much we left.

Anyway, you could work a deal like that or have your bees work for all of the watermelons you can eat since it is so local and accessible. Well maybe you don't want to bankrupt the guy, so there might be a limit.

[BuzzinBerries]

I agree with Beedeetee. Ask him to sell your honey at the markets. If this guy is halfway human I can't imagine him not tossing a few melons and pumpkins your way for free. Just like I'm sure you would give him a jar or two of honey when you extract. Win win situation especially if he plants 10 acres of clover. Neighbor helping neighbor like it used to be. And you might make yourself a new friend.

[Radical Bee]

The point is well taken with the question of how many hives are involved. I do not believe he has any limits in mind. Speaking for myself believe i am looking at 10 hives yeararound that would take care of the obligation for watermelon blooming season and pumpkin blooming season which here do not overlap. Then at first clover bloom move in an additional 20-30 and leave them in thru soybean bloom which does overlap and extend the clover.

Does this now sound reasonable?

still wondering if bees will pollinate a pumpkin crop with a desirable clover flow within line of sight?

thanks for all the thoughts on marketing, from conversations i believe he wishes to buy bulk and lable his own.

[RAlex]

My inclination is yes they will work the pumpkins anyway . I have a farmer who raises pumpkins (12 acres) and has a market as well. They sell my honey,cut comb and my creamed honey . They take no commission, and I give them a gallon of honey at the end of the year. He usually gives me a bag of sweet corn when its ready or tells to grab some when I am in the yard. Its a win win. According to him the bees work the pumpkins up till about 11;30 or so then in the afternoon not so much. There is also a lot of wild flowers in the area as well as a good bit of basswoood.I dont know about the watermelons but would think they would work them as well.

[Kurt.Kemp]

I do basically the same thing. I have various places I put bee hives in trade for the local fare, what ever that might be. Anything from rasberries to other edibles the bees work on. Watch that soybean field though. They planted soy beans in a 200 acre field behind me and came in and sprayed what they said was "bee friendly" junk for apheids and it killed my bees within 3 days. Been all summer trying to build those hives back up.

-Kurt