Joined
·
141 Posts
Any tricks for catching your own swarms? I would assume there is more to it than just placing an empty deep in a tree near by. Thanks for the help.
How large is a large branch ? Then you just stand it up in the middle of the hole in the PVC ?An oldtimer (1 of 8 Master Beekeepers in NC) does a neat trick. He cuts some large Hemlock or Cedar branches and digs a hole about 15 ft in front of his hives and buries those limbs in the holes.
When he digs the holes he makes them about 1 1/2 foot deep maybe 2 ft and puts a pvc pipe in the hole.
Here's a trick: don't put those boxes right in your bee yard. You'll do much better moving those boxes 1/4 mile away. Follow the creeks and sheltered areas, find a good sized tree and hang the nuc box, or swarm trap, as high as you are comfortable.Any tricks for catching your own swarms? I would assume there is more to it than just placing an empty deep in a tree near by. Thanks for the help.
If you're talking about height then around 5 to 6 1/2 feet tall. Doesn't have to be real bushy but enough that you could picture a swarm attaching to it. Just common sense and it will work. I thought it was crazy, but it was neat to go out there almost everyday and see a swarm from his hives attached to it. He packs some mud in the PVC pipe for stability but other than that, that's pretty much it.How large is a large branch ? Then you just stand it up in the middle of the hole in the PVC ?
I see,the hole in the ground is filled in to hold the limb in the PVC ? I guess you could just knock (drive) a pc. of PVC in the ground, fill with water and stick the branch in it,right ?If you're talking about height then around 5 to 6 1/2 feet tall. Doesn't have to be real bushy but enough that you could picture a swarm attaching to it. Just common sense and it will work. I thought it was crazy, but it was neat to go out there almost everyday and see a swarm from his hives attached to it. He packs some mud in the PVC pipe for stability but other than that, that's pretty much it.
Yes that is correct. I wish I had a picture of it, but I haven't been there since April. You have the idea though. Cedars sometimes aren't as bushy as some other evergreens but they will probably work. Leyland cypress limbs work well.I see,the hole in the ground is filled in to hold the limb in the PVC ? I guess you could just knock (drive) a pc. of PVC in the ground, fill with water and stick the branch in it,right ?
We have several cedars around,so I guess we need to check them each day or so.
I got a lot of scrap drain PVC from the Interstate crew expanding I-24. They are about 12" across (ID).
Got them to use so that the trees would not soak up all of the water in the ground away from flowers and small shrubs. Cut the PVC into lenths of 18" to 24". Dug a hole larger than the diameter of the pipe. If putting in several of them I basically dug a pit the depth of the PVC length and as big around to accomodate all of the pipe. Filled the PVC with my own mixer of the soil (crumble fine by hand removing all rocks/Arrow heads/50 caliber balls or Sharps/old metal from a barn years ago/Civial War buttoms/Geodes). Mixed with compost and peat to give nutrients and keep water.
It worked! But I had a PVC left over and used a few for sitting some hives above the ground. Really didn't like that so I pulled them up and replaced them with cinder block.
Anyway, I digress. My question is: I should be able to use 1 or more of these PVC pipes in the ground filled with water/peat/soil as mud as a container to put the cedar branches? One thing we have a lot of in Middle TN is cedar. Plenty of poor land so much of it is in cedars that spring up everywhere.