tiny bees

[eferguson1974]

Are there any bnutters that keep bees, or know about them? Maybe this post should be elsewhere, but it sorta relates to bonsai.
The other day I was at a friends little farm collecting fig trees and orchids from fruit trees. The figs are little and my plan is bind about 20 to make a tree faster. But I digress. When we got done we opened a box of mariolas, the smallest (and stingless) honey bees in the world. The honey is suuuppppeeerrrr swwweeeeeet! How does this relate to bonsai my fellow locos? I can buy a nest in a box for $30. So I was thinking of sealing my newer greenhouse and putting them inside, eliminating the need for outside bugs. I only do organic/eco responsible projects when possible, and the idea is to cut way down on pests. Inside Id like to put my flowering bonsais, aquaponics and wicking beds in there for my strawberries, peppers (gonna make some bonchi), and other flowering plants. My gh will be 20x5 meters, lots of room. So my bee nut friends, is this a bad plan for someone who never had either a gh full of plants, fish, and bonsai or a great idea for keeping bad bugs out?
I 'll toss in a pic of their box opened for harvest. He only took 1/4 of the nest and didnt get near the queen (he said), so they spend the next year rebuilding. The comb is not at all like normal honeybees, no regular structure or chamers. It seems like a maze of little spaces. I have horrible videos but I will spare you. He cut out the super waxy nest and tilted the box, filling a soup bowl close to full. From a 24"x18"x6" box. With 1000s of bees maybe 3/16" or maybe 4mm long. It was unnearving with them swarming all over but theyre harmless. Part of the nest, maybe 1/3 was in the higher part of the box and was solid pollen. In the middle more or less is la reina, which kinda makes sence. The box hangs under the overhangs of their house, tilted 45° mas o menos all year. They get pollen from orchids, fruit, coffee, and all kinds of other flowers. No wonder the honey is a traditional medicine. Maybe someone has experience and advice for be keeping. My idea is a sustainable eco system enclosed and with minimal input besides more plants. With a bit of space for bonsais too. Are there any bee nut bnuts out there with advice for the bees? Or the closed ecosystem? Or the greenhouse, or the part set aside for trees? The AP is a sorta ecosystem already, but closing it in with bees and lots of plants, worms in the growbeds eating the organic trash, the fish fertalizing the plants, all enclosed in one might be a new experiment. My bonsais can be fertalized by extra fish crap, which all plants seem to like a lot. Ideas for the bonsai section of the gh, in this tropical parasites I mean paradise? I thought about narrow stripes of unshaded plastic so the plants and trees get a little more sun but not the veggie cooking hours of the day. Acting.like clouds passing as the day goes maybe? Ideas for the gh bonsai part or the closed system idea are welcome, and might save me time and money or from an error. Thanks for your time as always!
Heres a crappy pic of the inside of the mariola bee nest. It thought it was very strange inside.

 

[sorce]

I wouldn't Keep it enclosed.

Takes us back to the gecko in a freezer.

Would you live in a closet?

Badass though... it's late I can't read so much!

Sorce

 

[GroveKeeper]

I don't know anything about bees but I have a lot filled with wild flowers.

It's like a biblical plague every time I check on my raised beds. I don't get stug by them though. Bees is good peoples.

 

[Heavy_Set]

I 'll toss in a pic of their box opened

good ol' open box pics...

tight box

 

[Potawatomi13]

In this greenhouse are there constantly enough flowers for them to prosper and reproduce? How can it be a sealed environment if it must ventilate and you must pass in and out? Will they perish from heat? Realize also that any that escape will die without their hive.

 

[GroveKeeper]

good ol' open box pics...

tight box

Aaaaayyyeee!!!!

I like my boxes da whey fed-ex ships em. Covered in tape n' upside down. Ooowwh!

 

[YukiShiro]

like the sound of sting-less bees, we only have the African killer types over here well I guess they really need their stings...it is Africa after all, do not think tiny sting-less bees would survive out here for very long

best regards
Herman

 

[M. Frary]

In this greenhouse are there constantly enough flowers for them to prosper and reproduce? How can it be a sealed environment if it must ventilate and you must pass in and out? Will they perish from heat? Realize also that any that escape will die without their hive.

My thoughts exactly. You have all of the flowering plants in that greenhouse to supply nectar to the bees all year. It must be like 30 acres big! I think you'll be sentencing those bees to a slow starving death.

 

[GailC]

My family has kept a few hives over the years but I don't due to allergies. I would love a hive of stingless bees, are they available in America? Can they survive cold winters?

I wouldn't lock them in a enclosed greenhouse either.

 

[coh]

I kept a hive of regular (european) honeybees for a few years and it was a lot of fun. Didn't harvest much honey because we had springtime droughts during those years, which cut the nectar flow way back during the prime honey making season. I was able to harvest one batch but wound up leaving most of it for the bees.

Stingless bees sound interesting but I have to admit, I'm not familiar with them. I have a couple of concerns about trying to use them in an enclosed greenhouse. The first has already been mentioned, would there be enough pollen/nectar to keep them satisfied? Second...have you ever seen what bees do when they get caught in a room with windows...even if there is an opening they often can't find their way out, they just keep flying toward the sun and crash repeatedly into the window. I wonder if the bees in a greenhouse would get disoriented or if they would adjust? Might be a no-lose experiment for only $30. Well, the bees might lose.

 

[eferguson1974]

Thanks for the thoughts and advice everyone! I guess may gh might have to be bigger..its a tiny nest of tiny bees but 1000's of them. So an escape window is what they will need. I hope up high where not so many outside bugs get in and make me need pest control.. There are a LOT of bugs down here and I bet some will want in during both seasons. But if my plants are healthy they wont have as many problems. So maybe it will be ok. Id love to have it all be enclosed but I think my gh would need to be bigger to keep the bees happy.
Anything special for the bonsai section? Maybe less shade cloth? The lettuce needs shade in the mid day or it dies, even with its roots damp or wet. My berries may need less shade, the plants are strong and sending out tons of babies but very few berries. They had yellow leaves a while back but that was easily cured with an organic fert with iron and other stuff the normal ferts lack. Micronutrients I guess. They greened right up, and my fish didnt mind the stuff. But still no big harvest, just a few here and there. So for bonsai maybe some strips of shade cloth and not solid would be better. They do seem to grow well in my house with the same kind of roof (for now) and shadecloth. They get difused light all day and late in the day a bit of direct sun. The sides of the gh are going to be shade cloth so the air flows but the plastic on top to keep out the rain. That I hope keeps pests out and allows plenty of air movement. A fan might be good on hot sunny days too. The bonsai are supposed to like a bit of air movement for trunk thickening, so a fan is a good idea for several reasons. Hope my bees dont get in it!
I know nobody has put these three things together, AP,wicking beds, and bonsai. So advice for a place that keeps them all happy may not exist til I can be the one giving it. But any advice for whatever part helps. Thanks again!

 

[M. Frary]

I've been in greenhouses here in the summer. We don't get as direct of sunlight as you do and it gets so hot in them grass dies. You will need the fans and the shadecloth. I've heard of air conditioning in greenhouses to keep the temperatures down to tolerable levels.
What's the matter with just putting the trees outside? That's where they came from and will like it better there.

 

[Potawatomi13]

What's the matter with just putting the trees outside?

I will second that?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I knew a guy with a greenhouse in Wisconsin, it had a spring fed raceway = long tank that ran one side of the greenhouse, water from the spring entered at one end, and exited the greenhouse at the other. He had orchids and some not very good bonsai. Vegetables and fruit. It was a mess. He was trying to use beneficial insects for 100% of his insect control, as the trout were for his dinner table. Every plant in the place was heavily infested with various pests. Aphids, mealy bug, and scale everywhere. No "closed system" is truly closed. Once a pest or two get in, they will run wild. Beneficial insects need constant food to keep their populations alive, so they never eat all the pests. If the conditions are not "just right", your predator insects won't breed as fast as the insects plaguing the plants. In the end, he ended up harvesting 100% of the trout, emptying the greenhouse and fumigating. Then thoroughly cleaning up every plant before returning it to the greenhouse and re-stocking the trout in the raceway. He had to do the complete tear down almost every year. He never got the balance right.

A worthy goal, but very difficult to achieve.

 

[eferguson1974]

Ok, thanks guys! Thats why I asked, to keep from doing something that wont work. I think now that maybe open windows for vents and bugs is the way to go. Id still like to have the mariolas if possible in there too. I do plan to have lots of plants but not enough flowering types maybe, since lettuce and cabbage dont flower much. I do have strawberries but would need a big gh full I think to try closing it in. The organic bug repelent I have works so far, but would run off the bees too maybe.
Why not put the trees outside? They might grow legs and walk away.. Or IOW get stolen outside. And Id like to display them where they can be seen. Plus some need transplanting to colanders to live here in the rain. Pots just stay too wet. Plus theres another point/idea I have- the ficus at least are yamadory that was taken from other trees, so they were in the shade. So maybe they wouldnt like direct sun much. Maybe the shade of a big tree is best, but like I said they could get taken. Its crazy what people steel here! If it looks like it might be worth two bucks, it could grow wings!
So thanks for the ideas, they help. I will not seal my gh, and just live with some bugs. The grounded ones like leaf cutter ants hopefully wont enter. The wicking beds would be too easy for them. The AP wont because its not on the ground and most bugs dont climb that much plastic. And I painted on a 4" wide stripe of grease for gears all the way around the tank down low. Bugs dont like to pass it. So far, very few bugs eat my berries and salad stuff. But its all going to get a big increase in production. And attract more bugs.
Thanks again, I think y'all saved me some time and money. Time I have, money not much. So it all helps..