Today I want to share my confusion, and possibly interact with you about how to interpret the mixed signals I get.
I am reading through Warré's book; Beekeeping for all. (It can be found here in multiple languages)
In there I found a small refrence to melliferous plants where he adds a number of plants to the list that should be avoided: I quote: "On the other hand, the following are never allowed near the apiary: tobacco, belladonna, henbane,hemlock, aquilegia, hellebore, rose-laurel, foxglove, thorn-apple, monkshood, varnish-tree, autumncrocus. These plants are not all harmful to bees, but their alkaloids pass into honey which thenbecomes dangerous."
After reading this I removed the tobacco plants I used to grow from my garden. I had them to use in the nesting material of my birds (Cockatiels and chickens mostly now).
But as I keep looking around the internet on beekeeping topics I also stumbled upon this article:
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/tobacco-plants-could-help-dying-bumblebees-stay-healthy-10052209.html
It states that bees (bumblebees in the study under lab conditions) could self-medicate if they have plants around that hold the alkaloids Warré said to
ban near the apiary.
Looking into this further was this:
https://www.inverse.com/article/31689-bees-nicotine-tobacco-addiction
The short of it is, that once bees have foraged on Tobacco they become addicted to it with all the negative results combined to it. I must add that the effects are a result of nicotine dosage, that gets worse after using nicotinoid pesticides...
As a result of all this research I'm a bit divided on what to do.
I want to be treatment free, but I also want to have a good amount of forage for my bees around so they stay healthy on their own.
I'm leaning towards re-introducing the tobacco plant into my garden, since I don't use pesticides.
On the other hand I have sent an email to a podcaster I have been listening to that seems to have a lot of acces to studies and makes it his business to read them and translate the conclusions for the listeners. I am hoping he'll find enough material to cut through all the clouds and clear my skies.
Thank you Kevin Inglin in advance! Go here if you want to visit his website and find his podcast.
That's it for now, I know I have to clean up my files and post some more footage, but it's snowing out, and I need to clear the driveway... live does go on beyond this blog...
