Invasive Plants (042)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast

There are, in most places, a mix of native and invasive plants that our bees will visit because they don’t distinguish good from bad, noxious from native. They are looking for food, regardless of the source.

This week Kim and Jim touch on a few of these, and try and come up with some recommendations and perhaps some plans on dealing with invasive plants and your honey bees.

They start with the Chinese Tallow lawsuit going on in the south, with USDA wanting rid of it by introducing a natural pest. And purple loosestrife is now starting to diminish because they already have introduced a natural pest for that handsome weed and very predictable honey crop.

But Black Locust, Norway Maple, Japanese Knotweed, Kudzu vine, English Ivy and Autumn Olive are looked at too. There are pages of introduced species of plants, many of which are terrific honey plants.

The message is….if you and your bees are dependent on introduced or noxious weeds as food sources and a honey crop, you may want to be aware, because those plants might not be there for long.

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