# ideas for smoker fuel ???



## boukers (Aug 4, 2010)

would just like some input with what beeks are use to run there smokers. I've heard many things from cardboard to wool to tobacco... would like to here some thoughts on the different smoker fuels. what works and what doesn't etc....bouks


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## honeybeekeeper (Mar 3, 2010)

Road Apples....:lookout:


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## peacekeeperapiaries (Jun 23, 2009)

hay works just fine, pine needles, burlap,


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## Pete0 (Mar 30, 2002)

Grass clippings are what I use. Good excuse not to rake up around the hives.


Pete0
Bena, VA


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## chillardbee (May 26, 2005)

Whatever you do use make sure it's not treated with chemicals. I've used binder twine for haybails, hay, burlap, cardboard, pinecones, leaves. I mostly use the burlap.


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

Straw - it's cheap and a bale last a very long time. It loads easily, lights and burns easily too.


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## Capricorn (Apr 20, 2009)

A local coffee shop sells it's burlap coffee bags for 50 cents a piece. I've been using those.


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

I tried pine needles and shavings and wood pellets liked burlap the best.
Walter T. Kelly bee Co. sells burlap by the bag ( 5 lb for $7.00) already cut up, clean and safe to use.


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## Adam (Aug 19, 2009)

Pine straw


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## Erik the Red (May 27, 2010)

I've been told (though never tried) dried sumac berries. Just wait till winter to pick them, and you should be good to go.


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## boukers (Aug 4, 2010)

and not the poison sumac,, right Eric??


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## WilliamsHoneyBees (Feb 17, 2010)

I use a sheet of paper get that going good. Then throw in a handful of pine shavings (animal bedding) and get that going and then fill my smoker 2/3 the way with shavings and top with green grass. This produces cool white smoke, it lasts a long time, and the shavings are cheap cheap cheap. If you need to reload, pull out green grass, put in more shavings put green grass back in and give them some more green grass. I could blow cool white smoke all day long like this and never worry about it going out. I load down some gallon bags with shavings and throw them in the tool box that way I'm not lugging around the entire bag. 

-Dan


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## Erik the Red (May 27, 2010)

I've never encountered poison sumac, but yeah, definitely stay away from that stuff.  (Normal) sumac, on the other hand, grows all over MI, so you'll probably be able to find some in ON as well. Best part is, it's free if you feel like taking a walk in the woods.


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## treeoflife (Aug 20, 2009)

I use a mix of staghorn sumac heads (which looks NOTHING like poison sumac) and wood shavings. I bought a huge bale of shavings for $6, and at the pace I'm going, this should last me another 20 years.  My bee mentor swears by sumac heads, citing some research that found the smoke produced from it knocks varroa off the bees. That's not to say they don't climb back up, but hey, it's something. Just collect your sumac heads in the fall. They'll keep a very long time. I still have some from last year that look like I picked them yesterday. :thumbsup:
Cindy


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## Bsweet (Apr 9, 2010)

I use wood pellets, just bought a 40# bag at a stove store for $2.00 as the bag had a tear in it. The bag weighted 39.8 

3 when I got it home. Jim


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## Mike Snodgrass (Mar 11, 2010)

I do the Pine Ridge thingy...Pine bed shaveings....But i know wood stove pellets work well and are cheaper!


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## beekeeper_sd (Oct 30, 2008)

alfalfa pellets. 

start with burlap, pine needles, dry grass, hay, etc. but then alfalfa pellets. They burn slow and cool and put off lots of smoke. Fill your smoker once and it lasts for hours. 

Just make sure you either put green grass on top or, as we do, cut a circle of hardware cloth to go over the top to keep the pellets from puffing out. You can stuff the circle of hardware cloth into the top of the smoker and then you never have to take it out to put pellets in.


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## Rick 1456 (Jun 22, 2010)

I use a little news paper to get"er goin,,,then I add some wood shavings from my planer,,,once that get s a goin,,,I add wood pellets,,,puff that up hot to get some embers,,,add pine needles,,make sure the fire gets hot,,,,and then,,,I add Kibbles and Bits dog food,,,,,,,every time I puff the smoker,,,I get a little "Bark" sound,,,wonder why???:scratch: 
Come on,,,,,Gotta have a sense of humor now I'm just taking it to the next level

Rick SoMd


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

Pine needles, or pine straw are my favorite. Don't have a pine tree so I'll go out of my way to collect a garbage bag full.


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## afss (Mar 19, 2009)

corn cob bedding topped with some green grass/weeds once its lit. The grass helps hold the bedding in if you lean it to far ahead, found that one out the hard way one of the first times i used the corn cob bedding, little coals in between frames LOL.
I light the corncob (a couple of hand fulls) with a blowtorch for 30-40 seconds and then puff it for a bit until the flames go out then top with grass, will stay lit with the occasional puff for hours, had it lit for over 4 hours this week end and only half the fuel was spent when i dumped it.


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## Happy Honey Farm (Feb 14, 2010)

I have been drying corn husks and using them works great


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## river_rat2005 (Jan 19, 2009)

i like pine straw but i cut firewood so i have used the saw cutting from that too


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## Brooklyn (Nov 14, 2009)

I have started using our old shredded bills. Works great so far.


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## dabb (Jan 10, 2008)

I use untreated bailing twine and if I'm going to be at it a while I'll throw in sumac-read some where that it has an anesthetic effect on the bees plus it last a while in the smoker. Seemed to work on the one "hot" hive pretty well this past weekend.
----Deb


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## stripstrike (Aug 29, 2009)

Brooklyn said:


> I have started using our old shredded bills. Works great so far.


$20's or $50's?:applause:

I'm in the staghorn sumac camp, on a bed of wood shaving coals.


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

HI
after 50 yrs of beekeeping we have used string,pine needles,burlap,sumac,
etc. now we use wood pellets. a little hard to light, but works good and its cheap. use a t shirt cut up on top to keep the pellets from falling out. most hay string has a chemical to keep mice from chewing it. probably not good to breath.

good luck


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## newbee1025 (Sep 1, 2010)

I saw a commercial guy on some Ehow videos and he used pine needles and dried cow manure. He said the pine needles started easily and the manure burned for a very long time. I think I'm going to try it, got plenty of pasture ground around.


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## Brooklyn (Nov 14, 2009)

The Benjamin s my girls deserve it


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## kbenz (Feb 17, 2010)

roll up a 5" wide strip of cardboard bout 30" long. got loads of it at work


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## roger33 (Feb 7, 2010)

I use untreated cedar shavings from PetsMart. Work pretty good but they sure gum up my smoker.


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## WilliamsHoneyBees (Feb 17, 2010)

river_rat2005 said:


> i like pine straw but i cut firewood so i have used the saw cutting from that too


Careful could be some oil from your blade/bar mixed in with the shavings. Probably very little but I wouldn't want to blow oil smoke into my hives. 


-Dan


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## Bodhi (Aug 30, 2009)

kbenz said:


> roll up a 5" wide strip of cardboard bout 30" long.


I've just started doing this myself. I used the boxes some new equipment was shipped in and have 5 or 6 rolled up and ready to go. I start it with a 1/2 sheet of newspaper and stuff the spout with green grass.


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## Jerry Kinder (Jan 16, 2009)

Paper pulp egg cartons work great and are free. I have also used pine needles, dry sunflower leaves and cedar wood chips; just about anything in the yard. I have also used cardboard that I cut into strip and role up to fit into the smoker can.


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## honeybees (Oct 19, 2009)

shredded paper, have to burn it anyway, so why not as smoker fuel. like the criss cross cut paper much finer, packs nice and burns longer


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## crazytranes (Apr 7, 2009)

Interesting. Those of you who burn cardboard, do you use corrugated cardboard (Amazon or Dadant shipping box) or cardstock cardboard (like a cereal box)?

Jerry, if you like the paper pulp egg cartons, ask your grocery store if they can set aside the paper from between layers of apples for you. It's the same stuff, and they will have lots of it.


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## Bodhi (Aug 30, 2009)

crazytranes said:


> Those of you who burn cardboard, do you use corrugated cardboard (Amazon or Dadant shipping box) or cardstock cardboard (like a cereal box)?


Plain, brown corrugated, no ink or print, and nothing glossy. When rolled up, it's like a thousand little chimneys.


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## kbenz (Feb 17, 2010)

Bodhi said:


> Plain, brown corrugated, no ink or print, and nothing glossy. When rolled up, it's like a thousand little chimneys.


same here


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## ccar2000 (Aug 9, 2009)

My list:
Corn husks and cobs, egg cartons, pine cones, duff and needles in any combination. Thick white smoke and stays lit too!


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## BuzzyBee (May 28, 2008)

I'm in the pine needle camp because it's available free from my neighbor. I know another longtime beek around here that uses "punky" wood from the woods around his house. Punky wood is the crumbly stuff usually found inside of a dead and downed tree. He squirts a tablespoon or two of diesel fuel, lights it and lets the fuel burn off before he closes up his smoker. It stays lit for hours and produces a nice cool smoke.

I know someone will lambaste me for suggesting diesel fuel, but he's been doing it for almost 50 years and says it hasn't had any bad affect on his bees. I did say he lets the fuel burn off before he closes up the smoker. When I helped him, it was a little over 10 minutes between the time he lit the smoker until he puffed any on his bees.

BB


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## Countryboy (Feb 15, 2009)

Those compressed wood pellets used for horse bedding work pretty good. They are a little hard to get started, but once they are going they stay smoking all day long.


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## nunarr (Aug 7, 2010)

I use to use old sacking, now i use the recycled egg cartons work great


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## caberwife (Jun 25, 2009)

I use cardboard tightly rolled up into a smoker-sized cylinder and tied with string, plus wood shavings. But the thing I like best is the new little propane torch I light it with! Sure beats matches. 

I have also used dried pine needles and sumac bobs. And of course I always put some nice green grass on top of it all once the smoke is going.


Natalie


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Smoker fuels I have used:
Bailing twine, undyed and dyed
Pine straw
Wood chips
Wood pellets
Burlap
Horse manure(as a supplement)

Never used cardboard or cotton, but have heard of them being used.

99% of the time I use bailing twine. But never the plastic kind. I know someone who tried it. What a mess.


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## theriverhawk (Jun 5, 2009)

Old white cotton t-shirts, corn husks, pine needles(I buy a bale) and old grass from the hive yard.


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