Planting trees

[Kirk Osborne]

Ignore Acebird in this thread. He seems to care more about his post count than the actual quality of his comments.
As stated before, diversity is key. Bees will benefit from adiverse plant selection.

[BeeManiac]

It is just my opinion but I think the bees would prefer humans didn't screw up their habitat. In other words leave it alone.

I have a wildlife degree. In college, they told us that if there was no man intervention, the majority of the forests in the Eastern half of the country (eastern decedious forest) would be beech/maple forests. We are in the era of habitat management. Manage your land for what you want and bees do prefere what gives them more just as deer and turkeys do better on oak hickory forests just like beaver do better on willow and poplar lined muddy streams. Manage away it if your intention is to help a specific species go for it! Its awesome!

[Acebird]

So your saying just let it grow up with oaks and hickory and pinetrees how does that help honeybees?

Are you saying those are the only vegetation growing or the only ones YOU are concerned with?

[Kirk Osborne]

Acebird, did your bees come from your land? ...or did you buy them? My guess is that a majority of beekeepers buy bees at some point. You introduce the said bees to your backyard, or whatever, and then try to improve the environment for them by introducing more plants/trees that are beneficial for the bees (and many times, other wildlife). This is about as basic as is gets.
You say "leave it alone". I'm curious... do you believe that you left your environment alone when you started beekeeping (you didn't)?
Judging from your 5,000+ posts, I'm guessing that you have something invested in beekeeping. Most likely you find some satisfaction from it, as I do. Try to be helpful. GIVE REASONS for why it should be left alone. I have given reasons for why it should be diversified. Try to help this person out... he is looking for advice - SOUND, reasonable advice. There seems to be only growing evidence that suggests plant/crop monocultures are not healthy for bees. Diversity of plant selection in key for bee health and if the plants/trees planted have different bloom times, it will also contribute to a more balanced honey production.

[Acebird]

There seems to be only growing evidence that suggests plant/crop monocultures are not healthy for bees.

I am in full agreement with this. I feel if you leave it alone a balance of vegetation will grow that is beneficial to the bees. It will become a variety all on it's own. I can't see how you can plant what the bees needs at the right time better than nature can.
I got into bees to benefit my gardens. I didn't plant my gardens to benefit my bees but that doesn't hurt them because it is such a small representation of what they require.

[cerezha]

I am in full agreement with this. I feel if you leave it alone a balance of vegetation will grow that is beneficial to the bees.....

I feel it is more complicated. Honey bees are not natural to Americas, thus, it does not sound natural to create a special habitat for HBs. We also need to remember that HBs compete for resources with native wild bees and other incests. Technically, HBs are invasive (but beneficial to us) specie. There are bunch of other invasive species in every habitat - plants, weeds, fish, sea-weeds, you name it! Indigenous species in many cases are not able to compete with 'visitors". Thus, it is very important to keep invasive species under control - do not let them to replace indigenous species. "Leave it alone" is quite dangerous because could easily change fragile balance towards more aggressive (an not local/native) varieties... I was very aware of this when start bee-hobby. What is interesting, it seems to me there is less controversy in beekeeping in urban environment. Look, there in LA we have practically all greens exported from somewhere and planted. Bees foraged from so many different sources. I also noticed that my girls are not interested at all in my native-California garden - they are foraging in community garden 2 miles away and leave my natives for wild bees. In fact, with introduction of my beehives, we have more wild insects around, which is sort of counter-intuitive.

In more wild areas, any tree/plants planting needs to be evaluated to see what kind of impact it could do for existing eco-system (if any). HBs are very beneficial to us, but they are not only one specie on the Earth.

[Autonomy Acres]

Humans have been manipulating nature for at least 200,000 years. Plant selection, controlled fire, hunting, terra pretta, irrigation, food forests, you name it, we have been molding our landscapes to our needs for a long time. It is only with the rise of industrial agriculture that this has become a real problem. As far as I am concerned, the word "invasive" species only applies to humans, and I am not a misanthrope, just a realist.

Acebird, your thinking is flawed that nature will just give the bees what they need. We can intentionally plant multiple varieties of ground covers, shrubs, mid - story trees, and ultimately upper - canopy trees that will benefit not just the bees, but wildlife, domesticated critters and us humans. And the kicker, if done with a design that is well thought out and implemented properly, will last for generations. I don't see how that is a bad thing. Humans are a part of nature!

[cerezha]

... the word "invasive" species only applies to humans, and I am not a misanthrope, just a realist.

I completely agree on human. Unfortunately, some other species also invasive as a human.

... We can intentionally plant multiple varieties of ground covers, shrubs, mid - story trees, and ultimately upper - canopy trees that will benefit not just the bees, but wildlife, domesticated critters and us humans. And the kicker, if done with a design that is well thought out and implemented properly, will last for generations. I don't see how that is a bad thing. Humans are a part of nature!

Agree! But what to do with Monsanto?

[Autonomy Acres]

In my opinion, the only "invasive" that needs to be dealt with in our world today are GMO crops and those that brought them into this world. How we do that, I do not know???

[Andrew Dewey]

thus, it does not sound natural to create a special habitat for HBs.

This is exactly why my goal in planting (thus far Linden, Fruit (multiple Apple varieties, Peach), vetch and clover) is to improve the habitat for all insect pollinators and not just honey bees.

On a commercial level the big advantage Honey Bees have over native pollinators is that they can be moved out of the way of harmful chemical applications and brought in again when there is a crop to pollinate.

As a hobbyist, I'm trying to keep honey bees on site year round, with a variety of blooms that benefit both "my" honey bees and the native pollinators. So far it sure looks as though the native pollinators take more advantage of my planted crops than the honey bees do. So it goes.

And as for not using chemicals to kill nasties, a consequence is certainly some big strange looking and destructive insect pests in my garden!