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The death of bees is on everyone's lips. Find out how you can help bees as a layperson in our article.
Bees (Anthophila) are irreplaceable in our gardens: Almost 80% of all wild and useful plants are dependent on pollination by insects, almost two thirds of the pollination performance goes to wild animals - and honey bees back. In this way, bees not only ensure that plants can reproduce, but also make a significant contribution to the preservation of biodiversity. Vegetable beds and fruit trees also benefit from the small pollinating insects, because larger and higher-quality fruits develop from pollinated flowers. It is all the more frightening that the number of bees has been falling continuously for years: a scarce habitat, monocultures and pesticides make life difficult for the hard-working helpers. Luckily, more and more people want to help the bees by setting up bee waterers, creating food sources or supporting weak bees.
Help bees: Set up bee waterers
Especially in hot summers, not only we humans thirst for a sip of water - many bees are also thirsty, because in oppressive heat the flower nectar and morning dew are no longer enough to supply water. Unfortunately, other natural water sources such as the banks of ponds and small puddles in many gardens have become rare - so bees often do not find enough places to drink, especially in urban areas. A bee waterer can help here: A flat bowl is filled with water. Since bees cannot swim, particular attention must be paid to a gently sloping access where the animals can easily land. In addition, the bee watering place is equipped with further possible landing areas. In addition to stones and pieces of wood, moss or cork are also suitable for this. The bee waterer can be placed in a warm, sunny and preferably windless place and takes up little space, so it is also suitable for helping bees on the balcony. However, the water should be checked for dead animals and replaced regularly to prevent the transfer of toxins or pathogens.
Feed the bees
Many gardeners want to help the bees and set up small bowls of honey as an additional food source. However, what is intended as a benevolent gesture can quickly become a danger for bees: pathogens are often transmitted via the honey, which can weaken an entire colony. In about a quarter of all imported honeys from the supermarket, the pathogen of American foulbrood could be detected, which can cause an entire colony to die. You should therefore avoid feeding bees with honey as much as possible. And when disposing of honey jars, you should always make sure that the lid is closed.
Also, feeding bees sugar water is not recommended by most experts. Although some beekeepers also use this method to replace the honey removed - so sugar water is not harmful to bees - laypeople are advised not to use the method. On the one hand, feeding them sugar water carries the risk of diseases being transmitted or the animals even drowning in the sugary solution. Secondly, if you want to help bees, planting bee-friendly flowers is a much better alternative, as it not only contains the sugary nectar, but also the protein-rich pollen.
Tip to help weak bees: Especially in summer it can happen that you find a single bee that seems too exhausted to fly. Of course, many want to help the weak bee. However, this turns out to be not as easy as it sounds: since bees are social insects, the best way to save them is to bring them back to their colony. In most cases, however, this is not possible, since the location of the hive is often not known, especially in the case of wild bees. Alternatively, one can try to help the weak bee with sugar water - however, this method is only successful if it is really just exhaustion. Sick bees that have been expelled from their hive cannot be saved even with the sugar water solution. In addition, one has to consider that a worker bee lives an average of only 35 days, so that the animals found are often simply due to old age. However, you should never feed exhausted bees honey: the risk of disease transmission is too great.
Helping bees with a bee pasture
The easiest yet most effective way to help bees is to plant bee-friendly plants. The following applies: the more, the better - the more diverse the range of different plants, the more the bees benefit from it. Wild bees in particular can be supported with plant diversity, because many of them are highly specialized and can only use very specific plants. In addition, care should be taken to use plants with different flowering times to allow for a rich supply of food. From bee-friendly herbs to bee-friendly trees, there is something suitable for every garden. Even without your own garden, you can create a food supply with bee-friendly balcony plants. Above all, bee-friendly seed mixtures such as the Plantura bee pasture have proven their worth. With this, even garden beginners can create a rich supply of food for bees throughout the year thanks to the various plants it contains.
Anyone who wants to help bees should also rely on a garden that is as natural as possible and does not use chemicals. In our Plantura Shop you will find a selection of different products from fertilizer to soil, which impress with their natural effectiveness and are absolutely harmless to bees.
You can find out which plants not to plant if you want to make your garden bee-friendly in our article "Which plants do bees not like?".