This is different but interesting.
Using banana peel as a potential food source for bees (saves waste etc).
“Yes, I’m talking about bananas again. This spring we have heard that African beekeepers feed overripe bananas to their bees to increase brood and honey harvest. To many of us it came up as a surprise story. Some of the Master Beekeepers started to scratch their heads. We found some studies supporting the claim and some of us tried it. Including myself and it helped an early spring colony to recover that I basically had written off. This colony is very strong right now, and I’m happy I gave it a try. Besides bananas are cheap and I always end up with an overripe one. So what does it tell us as beekeepers? Don’t undermine people’s beekeeping practices just because they are not in the western world. In the meanwhile we see more and more nutrition documents and studies coming up about what bees really need. Including that soybean sugars can be toxic to bees (not the nectar). We know that all insects need a diet high in potassium and other minerals. You analyze plants and you learn that pollen later in the season is rich in minerals. These minerals help bees to live longer and so survive cold winters. Potassium is needed for bees to flex their wing muscles to generate heat in the winter cluster. The ethyl gasses these ripe bananas produce will reduce some of the pathogens by simply killing spores that can post issues to bees. We already know that banana peel cures chalk brood. It actually suppresses chalkbrood spores. They further have discovered that bees that have a diet rich in potassium can handle diseases better and actually live longer. So this brings me back to bananas that are rich in potassium and other minerals. I like to suggest to treat our fall hives with overripe bananas. You simply slice it with peel and all length wise, and cut one more time in the center to end up with 4 pieces. Lay one piece per hive over the bars and squish it down. Check after a week and replace if needed. Eventually they stop taking it or you can no longer open the hive. Please do not post nasty remarks, because you think we are nuts. Try it or don’t try it. It is all up to you. BTW it is amazing how much material comes up when you google “potassium honey bee” and even “winter bees potassium”. All studies done by universities. Lots of good reading material and very recent on top of it.”
Found the PDF finally:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nc4t7_CqXhmhVptWPoEaAjhz-uknFSGP/view