Bumbles Vs. Honey bees?

[brooksbeefarm]

A vendor at our Farmers market said he was going to start strawberries next year to sell and wanted me to set a hive or two at his place. I was going to help him out until he said that he wanted to put them in his greenhouse with an outside entrance and a inside entrance in the back of the hive . I explained that it wouldn't work that the bees that went into the greenhouse would go to the light at the top and die. He said, well i guess i'll have to buy some bumble bees to pollinate his strawberries in the greenhouse that they are better at pollinating than honey bees anyway. I told him maybe if you compare one bumble bee against one honey bee because they are bigger and stronger, But when you compare a nest of one hundred or so bumble bees against 60,000 + honey bees, that the honey bees would come out on top. Jack

[barry42001]

Bumblebees would also be attracted to the lights. Perhaps people should stop reading stuff on the internet without ACTUALLY researching what they want to achieve. When strawberries bloom, honeybee populations would not be at a high, but bumblebee populations would be practically nonexistent as the colony would either have only a queen, or at best a handful of workers.

[brooksbeefarm]

Right Barry, but in my location my hives start building up in March and the berries start blooming in April, don't know when Bumble bees start coming on? Jack

[Gypsi]

Bumbles are hard to buy but are successfully used for greenhouse pollination for several crops. I found a hive of these "ground nesting" bees in the hollow of a pecan tree not far from me yesterday 40 ft in the air. About 4 foot up the limb from the honeybee hive.