Soybeans are in bloom throughout the Arkansas Delta. The soybean is a member of the important family of bee plants, the legumes. The legumes are the bean or pea family. It includes a number of flowering plants which produce large amounts of nectar and pollen that is gathered by honey bees. The legume family includes both trees and smaller flowering plants. Among the trees are the Kentucky coffeetree, black locust, honey locust, redbud, and mimosa. Flowering plants, shrubs, and vines in the legume family include the peas and beans, peanuts, false indigo, vetch, clover, lespedeza, kudzu, and alfalfa. The legumes are important plants in agriculture and the throughout the environment because many of them enrich the soil by the action of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. These bacteria, found in nodules on the plant roots, take nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it to a form useful for plant metabolism. The honey bees gather soybean nectar from the small, orchid-shaped flowers. Depending upon the variety of soybean plant, the flowers vary from white to pink. Today I found no honey bees foraging in a field of white-colored blooms. The bees were evidently drawn to another variety in a nearby field offering a stronger concentration of sugars as a greater reward to the bees. Soybean honey is light in color, flavor, and aroma.
With the nectar flowing in the Delta, we crossed the Mississippi River today to harvest spring honey from our Tennessee hives. The honey bees are able to produce the most honey in years that are hot and dry. This year has proven to be just what is needed for a good yield. We collected heavy supers of spring wildflower and clover honey. One of our bee yards had been vandalized. Some individuals had thrown enough bricks at the hives to actually break the wooden hive bodies. Yes, I am sure that they received the desired effect. Defensive honey bees fly rapidly from their nest to repel attackers. They sting.
--Richard
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What a shame that your hives were vandalized. I hope those prats learned their lesson. Thanks again for your lovely blog. It's so interesting for us Vancouverites to see what's blossoming in the South. Our Linden trees are in bloom right now.
ReplyDeleteHoney bee hive entrances are typically protected by about two thousand guard bees. They stand ready to repel intruding wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, robber honey bees, and vandals with bricks. The guards are 21-day-old bees. At this age, the venom in the guards’ sting is at its maximum potency. The guard bees very effectively protect their colonies and my bee yards. Once the first bee stings and attacker, the person is marked with attack pheromone for repeated stings. The vandals surely learned this painful lesson. Other than the broken wooden ware, which I replaced, the greater damage caused by the vandalism may not show for a few weeks. Honey bees emit alarm pheromone when stressed. The pheromones released during the attack on the hives would attract small hive beetles from great distances. These pests can overtake hives, driving the bees away as the small hive beetle larvae devour the comb, brood, pollen, and honey.
ReplyDeleteThe linden tree, or basswood, is a wonderful honey plant. I once had the opportunity to graft some with horticulturist George Ayres. I wish we had lindens, but they don’t grow here in the Arkansas Delta. I’m wishing you a good linden nectar flow in Vancouver.
--Richard