Value of tomato and pepper plants to honey bee

[jeremynj]

Do tomato plants provide nectar/pollen to honey bees?

Do pepper plants provide nectar/pollen to honey bees?

I have my bees at a farm that will have mostly pepper/tomato/corn and I'm wondering if I should leave that at the farm or bring them home after the strawberry/orchard is finished blooming. I know the corn won't do the bees much good but if pepper/tomato is good that I will just leave the bees at the farm all summer. I haven't looked around to see if there were a lot of plants outside of the fields.

[Connor]

I usually put out about 50 to 60 each of tomatoes and peppers and I have rarely seen a honey bee on them. What my bees seem to like is cucumbers. The cucumbers seem to bloom at a normally low period or something because the honey bees go ape over them. I have taken to planting many many more cucumbers than I could possibly eat or give away just to let the girls forage on them. The vines will be positively full of bees.

[larrythebeek]

Cucumbers are a real favorite for my bees, especially the lemon cucumbers. I occasionally see honeybees on peppers, but seldom on the tomato blossoms.

I planted cukes and Borage in several places in the garden last year in the hopes of getting the bees interested in the tomatoes. It did bring in a lot of Bumblebees, they spend equal time with the other plants.

Larry

[robherc]

Tomatoes & peppers are pretty much "flowers of last resort" to honeybees...legumes, vines, clovers, and fruit trees tend to occupy the top of their "preferred food-source" lists. (although the honey they make from sesame flowers tends to occupy top-spot on my & my wife's lists)

[Vermillion]

I agree with the input on lemon cucumbers. They are also quick to grow and bloom, and of course are delicious.

[Beregondo]

Both tomato and pepper plants are (like corn) wind pollinated.
While they benefit from bees if they are visited by them, they reproduce well without them.

They have little to offer the bees, who would benefit more form other forages.

[TriJim]

If you're looking for easy-planting forage for the bees - try buckwheat. You don't need much soil prep, it grows to flower in 3-4 weeks and reseeds so a Spring planting could provide nectar all summer. Bees prefer to work it in the morning. Good luck.

[robherc]

If you're looking for easy-planting forage for the bees - try buckwheat. You don't need much soil prep, it grows to flower in 3-4 weeks and reseeds so a Spring planting could provide nectar all summer.

You forgot about the "and it yields up to 160lbs of honey per acre, per growing cycle" part! lol, gotta love buckwheat

Oh yeah, and I intended to mention that buckwheat is a "pseudo-legume" (except for some reason it fixes P instead of N...interesting byproduct) in my prev. post....oops.

[Ben Brewcat]

Pretty much zero: bees' probosci are too short to reach their nectaries. But bumbles may hit them.

[JYawn]

I can tell you that the corn will certainly be a good source of pollen for your bees.

I planted a very small amount of corn last season and it was unbelievable how many bees hit those stalks just for the pollen. I dont know if they were just hurting for pollen or what but you could hear the buzz from a good distance away.

[Ben Brewcat]

Corn is a very low-value pollen (though the bees don't really know that); they usually hit it only during a real dearth. Wind-pollinated plants in general, with their tiny pollen grains, are emergency rations only.

[sammyjay]

I've rarely seen honey bees on tomatoes or peppers, but bumbles seem to like tomatoes.


Nathan

[beeherder]

I have a plot about 3 feet by 6 feet or radishes, thick, and my bees love the flowers on them. I planted them for flowering in winter time, mild here, and they didn't flower till a month or two ago and the bees almost seem to prefer the radish flowers to the orange blossoms while they were blooming.
I have thyme and lemon balm and the bees like the soil in these pots... odd

[pascopol]

Tomatoes and peppers are pollinated by a breeze, or plant vibration (under greenhouse conditions) Cucumbers need insect pollination, but I never see any honeybees on my cucumbers (my wife says your bees ain't worth crap) beside that I live further discussions to the "experts"

LOL

[Michael B]

Zilch. Not much value.

The cucumbers....bees not like them but they really dont have much value either. Here in the Connecticut river valley, we use to have cains pickle factory. They planted hundreds of acres of cucumbers for pickles. Year after year we would place hives near the fields. Bees would work them pretty hard. We never did see brood or surplus honey from the cukes.

[John C]

I can tell you that the corn will certainly be a good source of pollen for your bees.

I planted a very small amount of corn last season and it was unbelievable how many bees hit those stalks just for the pollen. I dont know if they were just hurting for pollen or what but you could hear the buzz from a good distance away.

Same here. Watched them grabbing it from where it accumulated where the leaf met the stalk. They were going nuts on it.