Honeybees in the Palm Tree

[JoAnna]

Honeybees have formed a nest inside a hollow in one of our date palms. They are not a danger to anyone around. And they pollenate our citrus trees and other flowering plants. 

But my question is, could their nest be harming the tree itself? 

[idontknowhatnametuse]

No it doesn't harm the tree, quite the opposite.

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, JoAnna said:

Honeybees have formed a nest inside a hollow in one of our date palms. They are not a danger to anyone around. And they pollenate our citrus trees and other flowering plants. 

But my question is, could their nest be harming the tree itself? 

As mentioned, no harm to the Palm.. 

I would be cautious around... / make others aware of the hive just in case the bees are Africanized rather than European since Africanized Bees are much more sensitive to..., and will swarm when disturbed / excited.  Loud sounds / vibrations from lawn equipment can be enough to agitate them. 

[awkonradi]

Hi JoAnna, would you be willing to post pictures?  This would be cool to see.  Thanks, Andrei

[DoomsDave]

@JoAnnanice to meet you! Please post pictures of the whole tree and the place where the colony is.

[WaianaeCrider]

Bees, I guess honey bees LOVE my palms when they flower.

 

 

[Kim]

Great video, Steve!

Often it is the buzzing of the bees overhead that alerts me to a palm flowering. Usually it is a one-day major event, then the flowers are falling to the ground, and only a small number of bees still hanging around after that. Never had a swarm nest in a palm, at least not that I know of. Nature is fascinating.

[Johnny Palmseed]

August on the P. Sargentii is always “busy bee time”…

[Looking Glass]

Bees are great of course, but….

I lived on the 17th floor of a high rise downtown for years.   There was a similar building right across the street.  Directly across the street was a similar building.  Across from our balcony was some sort of big vent hole for that building, sticking out of the side.  

One day I noticed a few bees coming and going out of the hole.   Over time, a few turned into a torrent of constant honey bee traffic as the colony grew.  They were busy bees for sure.  I always wondered where in the city they were all going, all the time.  

After a while, a brown goo started to ooze out of the hole.  Turns out bees don’t pee, but do eliminate urea and other waste.  

At first, it was a trail of goo about a foot wide and a few feet long leaving the hole.  Over a couple of years, it became a swathe of brown goo extruding down the building 17 stories to the street below.   This eventually caught the attention of the building’s owners.  

One day I came home, and there was a guy, rappelled down the building from the roof, blasting something into the hole.  (I’m pretty sure this is illegal)  After that, there was just a trickle of bees coming and going.  But the colony rebounded again over a year or two, and the goo came back.   

They gave it another blast, and sealed up the hole with some mesh eventually….   So ended the lifecycle of that colony.  

After that,  green parrots took and interest in the hole, presumably looking to nest in it.  They would fly up and pick at the mesh they placed over it, shrieking their super-loud shriek as they did.  (They are loud)  They would return periodically to try to gain entry, but never succeeded.  

[JohnAndSancho]

On 11/20/2022 at 3:01 PM, Looking Glass said:

After a while, a brown goo started to ooze out of the hole.  Turns out bees don’t pee, but do eliminate urea and other waste.  

At first, it was a trail of goo about a foot wide and a few feet long leaving the hole.  Over a couple of years, it became a swathe of brown goo extruding down the building 17 stories to the street below.   This eventually caught the attention of the building’s owners.  

Why is this where my mind went?

[DoomsDave]

The reason I wanted to see a picture of where in the tree the colony was, was to see if there was anything to be concerned about regarding the structural integrity of the tree. If there's a hollow in the trunk, there's a chance the whole thing could topple over in a wind. And trust me, you DON'T want an edible date tree crown falling on you, even if you're a major masochist. Those spines at the bases of the leaves are long and lethal.

 

If the hollow is at the base, in between trunks, might not be so bad.

[JoAnna]

Here is a photo of the tree. You can see the big hole where the bees are constantly flying in and out. 

[Johnny Palmseed]

52 minutes ago, JoAnna said:

Here is a photo of the tree. You can see the big hole where the bees are constantly flying in and out. 

Oh my that doesn’t look good. I think Dave is right on the money. It looks like it could be hollowed out and structurally compromised.

[Silas_Sancona]

2 hours ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

Oh my that doesn’t look good. I think Dave is right on the money. It looks like it could be hollowed out and structurally compromised.

Tough call..  Looks like a whole bunch of old boots getting ready to be shed to my eyes..  Can see a piece of the trunk in part of the picture and, at least from that angle, trunk looks solid.

If it were me, ( and bees weren't present, ...or after having a bee keeper out to collect the Bees ) i might try to see how much of those old boots could be removed by hand, or with the gentle tug of some sort of claw-like garden tool, then proceed with evaluating the condition of what trunk is exposed underneath.

[Johnny Palmseed]

You might be right as well. It’s hard to tell from the picture. What I perceived as a gentle S curve in the trunk might just be the colony under the boots. Your idea is probably the best plan to figure out the problem. First get the bees out of there and then remove the boots. I wouldn’t advocate simply cutting it down without evaluating it.

[Butch]

I've had many flavors of honey... Avocado and buckweat my favorite (Very strong flavor)... But I've never had palm honey... Anyone ever taste it?...  If so, what does it taste like?

Butch