Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 17, April 27, 2012

Friday, April 27, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Good morning everyone! I'm looking forward to hearing your gardening challenges and successes today. Please check in and let us know how it's going.

This morning I've put together a little pictorial of how Mark and I cut a honey bee hive out of a wall or similar place. This is a medium-sized cutout that we did back in March. The hive was located in an old shed that the owner wanted to tear down, but they were trying to reclaim windows and the old boards and the bees weren't having any of that. So, the owner got her building back and Mark got a beautiful and productive hive of bees! Talk about win-win!

In this first photo, you see the old shed and Mark has begun vacuuming up the bees after
we removed a sheet of siding and a few lap boards.

A closer look at our first few minutes of the cutout.

Here we begin to see the brood section of
the hive. These are cells where they are raising new bees.

You can see how the bees try to
keep the brood covered to protect it and keep
it warm. The brood is continuously tended.

In the cells that were broken when
we removed the boards, you can see
stored pollen.

We are continuing to remove
boards, expose the hive and vacuum bees.

On the left side, you can see pollen
and bee bread being stored. On the right
you begin to see the honey stores.

Lots of honey stored. We probably
removed 150 lbs. of honey from this hive!

It was really cool as we exposed
the hive, we found the comb to be in
continuous 8 ft. sheets.

As Mark is cutting the comb out of the wall,
I am cutting select pieces to size and bracing it in wooden
frames with rubber bands. We are basically
moving the workings of the hive with the bees.

You can see the empty space where
the hive used to be.

Three hours later, the bees are in
their new home in Mark's back yard apiary.

I hope that you found that interesting and informative. Inviting your questions and/or comments.

Have a great week!

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.

This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.

It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

[Red_Devil 232]

That was a great tutorial! Very interesting and informative. Thanks

[texas_mrs]

I soaked some okra seed for 3 days before I got a chance to plant them, & planted them in a combination of peat pots (which I normally HATE) and little plastic pots. That was last Sunday & they are already 1/2 high! I have them sitting on a bed of compost inside my greenhouse. It’s perfect right now for seed starting & I’m hoping to plant them at about 6” high. I did this last year with pretty good success. The reason I didn’t direct seed is because I, too, have cats and they like to roll around in the dirt and I didn’t want them to roll on my newly sprouted okra. I water them each day & they stay moist since they are on the compost.

[Gabz]

I have no doubt that you are correct -— I’m more concerned about Monsanto and what they are doing.

[SumProVita]

Absolutely fascinating pics of your bee rescue operation!
Thank you so much for sharing. Seeing all that honey had both me and hubby salivating. ;-)

Eventually, I WILL get our hives going...but not this year. This year we have too many projects, including construction of a small green house, an enlarged garden, storage building for the tractor and truck... and a new puppy will soon be a part of this family.

[FreedomPoster]

I might have to try that this year. I haven’t had problems keeping basil going all season here in ATL, but the tomatoes don’t do well.

[WestwardHo]

Help!!!
Looks like I over watered the 15’ honey locust trees I planted last fall.
Has anyone had any success or tips on how to revive suffering trees?
We’re in eastern New Mexico. My soil is powdery clay. When the trees started to die back, I put a shovel in the ground. The soil on top was dry,but quite wet about 10” down. The last time I watered was 8 days ago.
What to do? Wait another week to water, or sprinkle a little water on the surface (gal or less).
Can they get really, dry dry and recover?
The trees are green under the bark, and I don’t see any sign of rot around the base.
Any help or encouragement would be deeply appreciated.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

I really apologize for my comments coming off like I was fussing ... was reading back through the thread and I am not happy with the tone that came across (to me at least).

It is so frustrating that some anti-whatever zealots take advantage of a situation -- colony collapse disorder in this case -- to further a somewhat hidden agenda that they are pushing.

The tabacco-derived pesticides they are referencing can be found with several different brand labels in our equipment shed. All pesticides will kill bees if they come into direct contact with them ... DUH! they are designed to kill insects! I have used them around the property for years, and I have seven hives and two nuclear hives in my yard, that are exploding in population and healthy as all get-out. I practice totally "organic" beekeeping, which means that I do not medicate my bees at all, or use mite or beetle baits. There are actually insecticides that are placed INSIDE hives to control beetles. They look like a black plastic roach hotel. Because the bees don't come into contact with insecticide, they are not harmed.

While I have not yet read the article about Monsanto purchasing a bee research group, my first thoughts are that it is in Monsanto's best interest to do extensive research and testing on bees because they do produce agricultural chemicals. Rather than starting a 'bee department' from scratch, why not buy an existing and established research group. I may be totally wrong, but that is my first impression.

Monsanto may be many things, but they are not the monster that certain groups make them out to be. Without many of the chemicals developed and produced by Monsanto, including worm-resistant corn and weevil-proof cotton varieties, the world would be a hungrier and less-dressed place to live. Certain herbicides have advanced farming practices beyond imagination. Many don't realize how much time, equipment and fuel is saved by proper and effective use of herbicides. That makes food cheaper and more available for everyone.

Sorry, rant over.

[Gabz]

Posh - there was absolutely nothing at all wrong with your comments.

I do realize that Monsanto has done much good, but I am also aware of problems they have caused and like to cause - they are involved in the labor dept rules about kids for example -

You are far more knowledgeable than I will ever be, it just so happened that I was reading the article at the same time your bee pictures were loading here and I had been on a rant about corporate farming yesterday! call it the perfect storm for me to go off on!

[who knows what evil?]

IMHO, Monsanto = satan.

[ApplegateRanch]

Thanks for those pictures & explanation.

We are FINALLY getting some Spring rain. The gauge has just over 1.25” of soaking-in, not running off, rain in it so far, and still slowly falling.

300’ of potatoes planted; 250’ or so to go. After reading some articles, I decided to space at 15” instead of 12” this year.

3 weeks to go to “last frost”; I may risk some things, but not the really tender stuff.

[CynicalBear]

The shade cloth I used last year was a small 50% shade cloth that my wife had purchased to shade her dogs at dog shows. The tomatoes I covered thrived and looked perfectly healthy and produced well until the first frost. I garden in buried pots because of the totally sand “ground” around here so I also moved several tomato plants to where they received shade from a tree about 60% of the time. Those plants did keep producing but didn’t look nearly as healthy as the plants that had full cover of the shade cloth for the full day. It was a dramatic lesson for me.

This year I ordered a 60% shade cloth and am currently building the frame to put it over. I used 8’ landscape timbers that we had here and set them 1 ½’ into the ground and am putting 2x3s at the top from pole to pole to drape the shade cloth over. The poles are set 8’ apart both ways. So that puts the shade cloth about 6 ½’ above the ground.

BTW I lost most of the rest of my garden which wasn’t shaded as well last year. Bottom line is, what I shaded kept producing and what I didn’t died.

[JRandomFreeper]

That may extend my growing season somewhat. If money is available, I may try it.

My daughter's father-in-law (old cambodian f@rt) uses the same technique in his garden, but last year in this part of Texas.... I don't think anything helped.

/johnny

[Ellendra]

Our predicted April chill is at hand! The forcast keeps changing, but I’m anticipating an actual freeze, not just frost, this weekend. I’m most worried about the strawberries. I know the plants themselves are really cold-hardy, but I’m not sure about the blossoms and the undeveloped fruit, so last night I covered what I could. Today they all looked fine, although some of the other plants in Dad’s flower garden were looking worse for wear. I’ll keep covereing the berries at night until the weather warms up again. There are just so many blossoms on those plants, it’s ridiculous, we’re going to need help picking this summer!

[who knows what evil?]

Appreciate the info...I was looking at 60-70% myself...

[Augie]

Very cool moving the bee hive. I’ve long been interested in beekeeping but never seem to have time to get started. Maybe after I retire from the rat race?

Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts are thriving in the garden. Tomatoes and peppers are thriving in pots - is still too early to set them out - couple more weeks. Sweet corn is pegged, stand looks a bit thin but I used year-old seed so can’t complain too much. Potatoes are up and looking good.

[Darth Reardon]

Sweet potatoes finally arrived and were planted last week. A vine type Centennial along the back of one of the raised beds which is up against a fence. Bush Porto Rico along the front. Never grown them, but sounds like they grow well in a hot, wet climate like Florida was until this year.

Started pruning my palm trees this morning. One down, nine to go.

Training the limbs on my Dorsett apple tree in the front yard is coming along. Was able to remove a few of the restraints, so I no longer refer to it as the Harrison Bergeron apple.

The Anna apple in the back yard, which had such a bad year last year that I've put serious thought into yanking it out and starting over, put out blossoms everywhere. I assume that I should remove the blossoms or young fruit, since I would kind of like to see some growth this year. Or maybe I'll let it go and fall over like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.

Man vs squirrel is pretty much a stalemate at this point. Pepper spray on the tomatoes seems to have worked, I found one bitten and dropped right at the plant, and nothing since, as compared to finding a half eaten tomato in the yard every day. However, given the number of times I have been hit by the motion detecting sprinkler, it might be advantage vermin. Habeneros are doing a good job protecting the hydroponic tomatoes.

The okra vs weed whacker contest, is, well was, decidedly one sided.

[Sarajevo]

Fantastic pictures. How do you know which pieces to select when moving the hives? What do you do with the rest?

[Sarajevo]

All the vining plants (cukes, melons, squash) as well as the zucchini are coming along fine. Except for a volunteer tomato plant and one we purchased at a nursery, tomato’s seem to be struggling this year, as are the okra. Corn is coming along. About 50% of the seeds germinated and most of the plants are 18in tall. Peppers are still producing in the greenhouse. In fact, we refer to the tabasco plant as a tree. It’s 5ft tall.

[Sarajevo]

Are you all growing tomato in pots? My Julienne tomato’s produced throughout last summers’ heat with a weekly deep watering, no shade. They are in a deep bed of composted horse manure.

[momtothree]

Your post is absolutely fascinating! I guess you can’t get any fresher honey! Good job!