# WHOOO HOOOO No more mowing!!!



## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

We had a conference attendee who was in trouble with their town...the grass was too long. They figured out that the lawn statute only applied to grass....they got around the statute because there was no limits on how tall weeds can be.


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## Maplevalleykennel (Aug 1, 2014)

Well, I live in a rather rural area (unincorporated village) and around here we usually temper beuraucratic overvelousness by exercising our 2nd amendment rights!


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

Don't shoot this messenger: your yard, unless it is estate-sized, will look like a postage stamp to your bees which forage over a much larger area than a mere residential yard. .

At the same time, keep in mind that weedy areas right around your home seriously increase your risk of tick-borne diseases. I'm no particular fan of pristine mowed swathes, but I hate ticks! 

Enj.


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## Maplevalleykennel (Aug 1, 2014)

enjambres said:


> Don't shoot this messenger: your yard, unless it is estate-sized, will look like a postage stamp to your bees which forage over a much larger area than a mere residential yard.
> Enj.


Yeah, we are only on about 1.5 acres so I didn't think it would make much of a dent overall but I think you missed my point. My WIFE said I don't have to MOW the lawn anymore  I am going to try and concentrate on very early and late blooming flowers in the hopes that it might make a little bit of difference during spring buildup and fall's final storage.


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## Santa Caras (Aug 14, 2013)

enjambres said:


> Don't shoot this messenger: your yard, unless it is estate-sized, will look like a postage stamp to your bees which forage over a much larger area than a mere residential yard. Enj.


I agree with Enjambres. Planting for bees may be a worthwhile effort but not sure that the bees appreciate the attempt to provide for them. we all do a lot of reading and not to sound like a broken record but......I read that bees are genetically and behavoirlly set to forage 1-2 miles away. I live on 5 acres with plenty of plants and in my observation this first year....they are straight up and out to......somewhere....but it aint anywhere close. another observation i've made over the years.......if that front yard really starts to look seedy and overgrown...then the remarks from the "other-half" start to increase and do not let up uintil the issue is resolved. Bees forage on the roughly 8,000 acres that surround their hive. That would be the area you'd have to plant to provide for them.


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## Maplevalleykennel (Aug 1, 2014)

[/QUOTE]I read that bees are genetically and behavoirlly set to forage 1-2 miles away[/QUOTE]
Really? I haven't done ANY research on this side of things other than to find primary forage sources for my area. But 1-2 miles is just perfect. I have a large lake to the north and to the east about 1/4 mi away. The area to the south and west is all various types of farming and orchards and about 2 mi to the west is Lake Michigan. So, the area that they will be funneled to should have rich resources for them. But if this is true why do pollinators it hive directly in orchards?


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

The answer to that is because orchards, by their nature are usually very concentrated monoculture with all the flowers blooming at pretty much the exact same time (measured in days, or even just hours). So it takes vast numbers of bees to pollinate all the blossoms in the short window - and orchards provide incalculable numbers of blossoms which artificially keep the bees focused on their short bloom.

For normal foraging, a large area (thousands of acres) with varied sources of pollen and nectar is the best. It's better nutritionally for the bees. It's more likely to be reliably able to provide because of the varied sources with in it. And because of microclimates caused by slope, damp soils, air drainage, etc. even the same species of flower blooms at slightly different times (by days) spreading the foraging opportunity out. This also de-centralizes the bees, allowing them avoid too-close contact with other honeybees which could spread bee diseases and pests.

I live on a large farm, with my bee yard adjacent to a forty-acre open meadow that is full of blossoms from May to October. My bees do use it, i'm sure, but I see them off foraging around a mile, or more, away in my other fields as well. I watch the pollen they bring in and match it to what's blooming in my outer fields to track their nectar source locations. Believe me it's a hike to get out to where they buzz off to.

But I live in a high-tick area, so my "yard" around my house, barns, my veg. garden, laundry drying area and around the bees (about 3 acres in all) is kept mowed right down to suppress them. Providing the mower is working, which it has been balky about this summer. That's on my hubby's Honey-Do list!

If you want to improve bee forage in a small lot, concentrate on flowering trees not flowering weeds. Plant a linden, or a black locust, a sourwood or a bee-bee tree which provide the intense nectar flows which will interest your bees.

Enj.


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## Maplevalleykennel (Aug 1, 2014)

So if I put my hive next to alfalfa fields they won't necessarily make "alfalfa honey"? How then do you know what "type" of honey the are producing? Do they bring nectar AND pollen from the same source on each flight? I know you can identify the plant by the pollen but don't know about nectar.


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

Another thing to think about is that as you let your lawn go you're starting down the succession road. To keep things under some control I'd plan to mow after the first heavy frost.


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## Maplevalleykennel (Aug 1, 2014)

Maplevalleykennel said:


> How then do you know what "type" of honey the are producing? .


I ask because there is a county park, which is basically a defunct golf course of about 80-100 acres that was left to literally go to seed, called Vetonica Valley that all the locals and tourist both like. They have stocked a couple of the ponds and mow a few walking paths around the property. I have a friend who owns land adjacent to the park and I was going to start an apiary on his property next to the property line and to really take advantage of the "buy local" craze I was going to market my honey from that yard as Veronica Valley Wildflower honey. Do I have an ethical problem here?


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

If you want alfalfa honey you'll have to have enough alfalfa (and the right weather and temperatures during bloom) to keep your hive focused just on that. I don't do honey, so I can't say for sure, but I think you would also have to remove and extract that honey as soon as it was ready, or it would become commingled with later flows.

Yes, they bring in both, when the plant offers both. The pollen gathering is pretty much a side-effect of nectar gathering. Bees and flowers have co-evolved so that getting in close enough to slurp up the necter exposes the bees' pollen baskets to pollen on the anthers. Some adheres to the bees, but some also is transferred to the plant's pistill and thence to the ovaries which is what prodces a seed to reproduce the plant. It's plant sex, facilitated by bees. Humans get a piece of the action because we either eat the seeds ( i.e. grains) or the fruits (tomatoes and apples) and nuts (almonds) which the plants produce to mature and nurture the seed and then the new seedling once it germinates. The bees get the nectar to make honey and the pollen with which to ferment up into "bee-bread" to feed their brood. Some beekeepers harvest pollen on the bees' way into the hive by using tricky entrance boards that partially scrape it off the bees' baskets as they pass. Pollen is a valuable, but very perishable, hive product. I let my bees keep all they gather.

ETA: Keeping bees at your house will make your early learning curve faster and smoother. I think I saw some where you planned on six hives on the first year? That's lot to have the care of, from scratch. I had three and it seemed a monumental, life-devouring, project at times. I added one more this year and it's still manageable, but I think too many in your first year or so keps you so busy you don;t have time to really have fun with your bees. I'd definitely start with at least two, preferably three. I didn't choose my three, they chose me and arrived as swarms. I was grateful this year that more swarms didn't arrive and need my care. It allowed me to begin to feel some tiny sense of mastery about my nascent beekeeping skills. Constantly feeling overwhelmed and knowng your bees are in peril from your own cluelessness is not a good learning environment. Sink or swim means dead colonies and beekeeper frustration, very often. I'd suggest starting with a smaller number than 6, and planning on increasng the following year when they've survived the winter and emerge ready to burst. Or you could start with three and delay the second three until the following spring and use the first year's bees not for splits to increase from, but as honey-producers. The first many (perhaps most in the north?) produce little surplus honey anyway.

Enj.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>white & red clover

White dutch, yes.
Red clover, the honey bees cannot reach the nectar. If you want to help the bumble bees, it's nice to plant.

>Alfalfa

Yes.

> Birds foot trefoil

Yes

> Thistles

Don't let the weed board catch you... if the neighbors report you, you'll be fighting the thistles the rest of your life...

> Goldenrod

Yes.

> Yellow rocket winter cress

I don't know anything about it...

White and yellow sweet clover. Chicory. Hubam clover. Alsike clover. Ladino clover. Crimson clover. Asters. Joe Pye Weed. Ironweed. Hairy vetch.


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## D Semple (Jun 18, 2010)

Wife doesn't care what the yard looks like? :scratch:


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## Maplevalleykennel (Aug 1, 2014)

D Semple said:


> Wife doesn't care what the yard looks like? :scratch:


Well the yard is 1/2 weeds already. We'll just have taller weeds instead of nice trimmed weeds.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

star thistle grows nicely up there and makes great honey.

Of course, some in your state are in a full out battle against it.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Maplevalleykennel said:


> My WIFE said I don't have to MOW the lawn anymore


Which doesn't mean that the lawn won't get mowed. I live on a 103 acre farm and my spouse mows the lawn.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Maplevalleykennel said:


> Well the yard is 1/2 weeds already. We'll just have taller weeds instead of nice trimmed weeds.


But are they nectar producing weeds? I know, it doesn't matter. You don't have to mow the lawn anymore.


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## Maplevalleykennel (Aug 1, 2014)

AstroBee said:


> star thistle grows nicely up there and makes great honey.
> 
> Of course, some in your state are in a full out battle against it.


Yep, there is a ton up here. One guy the next county over specializes in it. Yeah, I heard something about that but have no idea what the controversy is.


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## Maplevalleykennel (Aug 1, 2014)

sqkcrk said:


> But are they nectar producing weeds? I know, it doesn't matter. You don't have to mow the lawn anymore.


Yes, many of them are. And did I mention, I don't have to mow the lawn anymore


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Funny, during a dearth my bees will forage on anything that is close by in my garden.
Nyger and Borage they like over the Russian sage. They're all within 25' from the hives.
Mustard and canola will reseed themselves readily.


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## nlk3233 (May 19, 2014)

I would highly recommend any variety of milkweed, The butterfly milkweed is a favorite of bees in my fields. 

There are a lot more than bees you're benefiting by planting for them. Native bees are in sharp decline as well as butterflies, and up the food chain, songbirds.
What you're wanting to do is awesome. And its a plus to not mow your grass!


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