Marigolds - for bees, or the anti-bee?

[CpnObvious]

It was recently suggested to me that I should plant marigolds around my raised bed gardens to help keep unwanted insects out.  I've read quite a bit on them, but everything I read seems to contradict the previous article.

Some article says bees will stay away because of marigolds the way other insects do.  Some articles say to only plant yellow or orange, but not red marigolds.  Some articles say it doesn't matter.

Could you folks please let me know what you've observed in your gardens and flower beds?

Thank you guys!

[neillsayers]

They are great  for repelling nematodes and some insect pests but I've never noticed them to repel pollinators.

[apisbees]

bees fly over them

[Jen]

They fly over lilac too!

[Chip Euliss]

Lilac is actually a fairly important plant for bees here in North Dakota.  It's one of a group of spring shrubs that our bees visit in spring.  Not flowering here yet so maybe not spring yet :\'( but it's just around the corner. Have a friend that had a hive in town that made some lilac honey; it smelled like like Lilac but it tasted like real light clover/alfalfa and a little like fireweed.  Unusual because most of our early honeys are bitter but they are great for building up colonies.  It's often used as a border planting in shelterbelts and it tolerates the cold very well; lots of it planted in the upper midwest.

[Retroguy]

Used to be that every farmstead had its row of lilac bushes.  Got them on both sides of my driveway and another batch south of the house.

[lazy shooter]

I have marigolds in my yard and have had them for most of my life.  I don't ever remember seeing a bee on a marigold.  I was looking at them today and did not see a single bee.  They certainly are not a hot item with bees.

[apisbees]

Had Lilac bushes close to a yard with 35 hives in it Never seen a bee in it. Must have been better forage around the bee yard at the time.

[Bakersdozen]

neillsayers says:  They are great  for repelling nematodes
That's what I always heard.

apis says: Had Lilac bushes close to a yard with 35 hives in it Never seen a bee in it. Must have been better forage around the bee yard at the time.
That sums it up!  If there is something better or they have focused their attention on something else, that 's what they will work.  I have an Oregon Grape bush that bloomed for 3-4 weeks.  Not a single honey bee, but I sure saw bumblebees gathering nectar and pollen.  Some of that behavior is because the nectar source is in an area that is in the shade, as in the case of my Oregon Grape and a currant bush. 

Bees are attracted to the colors yellow, white, blue, and purple.  Flowers with a nice landing pad are easier for bees to work than something with a double flower head.  (Think old fashioned farmstead roses compared to the modern overly bred double roses)

Something inexpensive to plant from seed is Tithonia or Mexican Sunflower and cosmos.  They are as easy to start from seed as marigolds. I can't say they will repel any pests but pollinators love them.  On Mexican Sunflower I have seen hummingbirds, bees, butterflies and bumblebees.  Plant in groups for the best impact.

[Chip Euliss]

Be my guess too Apis.  The fruit bloom here is pretty staged with most of the flowering shrubs hitting their prime blooming periods at slightly different time frames.  The buffalo berry is mostly done now but the apricots are just about to explode.  Then june berry followed by lilac then crabs, choke cherry, carigana, etc  Having a sequential bloom really helps, especially when bloom periods are short and spring weather alternates between good and bad flying conditions. The lilac honey I remember was from inside the city limits so it might have been mostly available at the time for those bees.  That said, I do see bees working lilac in the country--natives too.

[apisbees]

Apricots are over, at the ens of cherries, apples are just starting, and dandelions have turned to seed. Keep them cut and they will keep blooming. Lilacs have been out for 4 days, there is so much in bloom the bees can afford to be fussy.

[Chip Euliss]

The different phenologies are sure interesting when you compare one area to another.  We've been getting lots of rain the last couple of weeks--so much that we went from way below normal to above normal.  The Northern Great Plains and the climatic extremes that go with it are interesting to watch at all timescales.  Forecast is to warm so I'm thinking the bees are going to be very happy very soon.

[Lburou]

Chip, I'm interested in your weather and the forage available in your area....Any pics and info are appreciated.  ND honey production is amazing. 

[Chip Euliss]

Chip, I'm interested in your weather and the forage available in your area....Any pics and info are appreciated.  ND honey production is amazing. 

North Dakota is a great place for bees but it's not nearly as good as it was years ago.  Today, the best place for honey production in North America is in the prairie provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  Nipawin Saskatchewan is probably the best known but there are rival spots in Manitoba.  Canola seems to be the most important plan for honey production in both places.  Honey production in North Dakota has been declining over the past decade and we wrote a paper a couple of years ago that looks at trends and how satellite data could be used to track change in habitat suitability over large spatial scales.  It's based on a model of the sequential availability of important honey (and pollen) plants over the production season in this part of the world and specifically, North Dakota.  I suspect it has a lot of the information that you are interested in learning.  The paper is on the web and can be found with the following information:

 Mapping Large-Area Landscape Suitability for Honey Bees to Assess the Influence of Land-Use Change on Sustainability of National Pollination Services

    Alisa L. Gallant, Ned H. Euliss Jr, Zac Browning

    Research Article | published 11 Jun 2014 | PLOS ONE

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0099268

It's from a project I started a few years before I retired.  Alisa is a spatial ecologist, I was the on-the-ground biologist and Zac is a 4th generation beekeeper.  Give it a quick read and let me know if you'd like more information   The work is continuing and will likely be active for some time.

[Lburou]

Thanks Chip, a lot of information there and an interesting model, taking a big picture view of ND.  I noticed that the prairie is still a factor in nectar production.  I remember commuting to college between Cheyenne and Laramie WY and the huge areas of prairie flowers blooming in spring. 

[Chip Euliss]

Yep, prairie is the most important land use type and most of our honey production comes from clover, mostly yellow but some white and alfalfa is a prime plant too, but later in the season.  As you may have concluded, important forbs are in prairie, mostly in pasture or restored grassland under various (but mostly CRP) federal programs.  We've lost an enormous percentage of the restored grassland because high prices of ag commodities have influenced many landowners to convert grassland to crop production.  I read in the paper today that farmers are now facing a big drop in returns because commodity prices have dropped.  Don't know how this will influence bees but the programs that once established restored grassland (and the forbs for pollinators) are now capped so not as any acres are possible as before.  It will be interesting to see how all this plays out in future farm legislation.

[Lburou]

Chip, did/do you know Dr Wilson, formerly of the UDSA Bee Lab in Laramie?  I've heard he retired to Montana and is still living.  He was my mentor, back in the mid 1970's...A very nice man. 

We planted marigolds around the edge of the garden many years ago, don't know if it helped or not, but we liked the flowers. 

Lilacs were my grandmother's favorite, but it's hard to get them to grow here for some reason, bees are on it only occasionally here.

[Chip Euliss]

Don't remember a Dr. Wilson but I have been accused of being forgetful, at times   I worked with Jeff Pettis from the ARS Bee lab in Beltsville, MD on a project.  Jeff and I started a project here in ND and I met a few other ARS scientists but at conferences, etc.

[Chip Euliss]

Lee, here is a snapshot of the plants used by honeybees in 2014 at some ND test sites.  It's not a complete picture because the test hives did not get in ND until fairly late so some of the early (pre-lilac) plants had already bloomed and the samples did not cover the entire state.  Some of the plant pollen used by the bees are not very nutritious (e.g., corn, foxtail) but honeybees will use whatever pollen is available, especially when they're isn't much available.  These samples came from pollen trap samples collected over time and special algorithms were developed and used to identify specific plants using genetic sequencing techniques.  Honeybees gather pollen from unlikely plants at times.

[riverbee]

" I remember commuting to college between Cheyenne and Laramie WY and the huge areas of prairie flowers blooming in spring.  "

lol lee, you commuted between cheyenne and laramie? ..............

way back, when i was growing up, there was not much any either place, i still have rele's in both places, lot different now.  where did you grow up lee?

sorry, not meaning to sidetrack the thread.  lilacs here are never visited by my bees and the only reason we plant marigolds is to repel potato beetles & cuc beetles &  plant by these plants...not sure if really helps but seems to, and also we found rotation of potato plants seems to be very helpful.

ps chip, you are a wealth of info!