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I've been keeping this blog for all of my beekeeping years and I am beginning my 19th year of beekeeping in April 2024. Now there are more than 1300 posts on this blog. Please use the search bar below to search the blog for other posts on a subject in which you are interested. You can also click on the "label" at the end of a post and all posts with that label will show up. At the very bottom of this page is a list of all the labels I've used.

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I began this blog to chronicle my beekeeping experiences. I have read lots of beekeeping books, but nothing takes the place of either hands-on experience with an experienced beekeeper or good pictures of the process. I want people to have a clearer picture of what to expect in their beekeeping so I post pictures and write about my beekeeping saga here.Master Beekeeper Enjoy with me as I learn and grow as a beekeeper.

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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Bees on Cucumbers

Bees love cucumbers although the cucumber is not a great source of either nectar or pollen. This is because although an individual flower produces a good bit of nectar, there are relatively few flowers on a cucumber plant. Research shows that although the cucumber pollen is also something the bee might want, they only get pollen from the cucumber when there are no other pollen sources.



Many plants produce more nectar at certain times of the day. I think the cucumber must be one of them because so far I've only seen bees on the flowers in the mornings. I took these pictures at 8:30 AM. I love the one below of the bee diving headfirst into the cucumber flower!


My plants are covered with tiny cukes so the bee visits must be having quite an effect.


I love watching the bees on flowers. Here is a bee on a rather sad echinacea. Bees love echinacea for the nectar. This bee kept leaving this flower to go to other more beautiful coneflowers, but returned to this one time and time again. This must be a particular juicy one!
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8 comments:

  1. beautiful shots of those bee.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice photos. I too love to see the bees at work. Like Itold you we don't seem to have any honey bees here, but other kinds. Nice lookin' cukes too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:20 AM

    Great post, Linda! I told my neighbor, who has a big backyard garden, to tally up all of my bees that come over and work his squash, cukes, tomatoes and other stuff. I told him it would be a $5 a day charge and he would be on the honor system. He just laughs! He's so interested he may get his own hive next year. Beekepping is contagious!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous11:06 PM

    Hello Linda,
    I've heard that cucumber honey is slightly green and has a subtle cucumber taste to it, but I don't know if that's true because I've never had any. Does anybody know?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:11 PM

      where did you hear that? I'd like to hear more!

      Delete
  5. Anonymous11:10 PM

    Sorry Linda,
    I posted the last comment as Anonymous. I'm better with bees than I am with computers. My name is Axel Krause. My e-mail address is akrause@sd40.bc.ca. Which "profile" should I select to join your blog?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous5:40 AM

    i'm peter addo and i'm researchng into the times specific bees vissit cucumber flowers in ghana.if you know that of your place please contact me on kwadwoaddo22@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous4:52 PM

    how do you get rid of them. They won't let me work in my garden.

    ReplyDelete

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