Hello,
my Name is Willy, I am living since 2002 in Thailand.
I started at 10 years with my Grandfather beekeeping and had to stop as he died.
Now I am planning to build an Aquaponics Farm and the Bees came back into my mind.
What could be better for an 8000sqm Greenhouse than sting-less bees for pollination and all the little critters that keep the pest under control as in Aquaponics I cannot have Pesticides or any Antibiotics and as in Thailand the Government says: “The good ones in and the bad ones out” so I will do my best…
I hope to find here some good people who have already made some experiences with Thai bees because I am sure that I am due to enter a complete new world that is not to compare with Europe…
Welcome @Willy Your aquaponic and beekeeping plans sound wonderful! Sorry your grandfather is not here to enjoy it with you, but I bet he would be very proud.
I’m in the US, so I have no clue about the ins and outs of Thai agricultural practices…but keep hunting and I’m sure you’ll find forum members with similar climates and experiences - but of course your best advisors will most likely be others living near you.
@JeffH is a beekeeper in Australia who also gardens extensively, and also has aquaponic setups I believe.
Hi Eva, no I haven’t gotten into aquaponics. A youtube friend (Rob Bob) in Ipswich has. He’s right into it.
Wasn’t @skeggley into that a bit, with fish eating his mosquitoes while he grew stuff? Brain fade hits me harder these days, so I could be wrong.
Hi there Jeff, I could’ve sworn I saw an old bathtub full of ginseng or something like that in one of your photos or videos but anyway, thanks - now I’m curious to look up Rob!
Edit: silly me, I’m confusing hydroponic with aquaponic. Funny because there I was last summer with a big pot of water plants and goldfish for the bees’ water source. Apiaquaponics.
The first one is easy to answer because I had just an argument with my wife about this.
Aquaponics:
Growing Fish, sort out their poop using a filter and sell it as solid high end fertilizer to someone, feeding the pee to bacteria (fish pee more that they poop same I would do if i swallow so much water), these little critters are working their a** off to make this pee called ammonia, to Nitrate, the nitrate is used up by the plants and the fish gets clean water back in return,
BUT: beside salads who just slurp the Nitrates out of the water and grow to a massive size without spending too much time like in the soil…
In Aquaponics, there is no soil, no cleaning, no competition for Nitrate…
…you want to grow tomatoes just as one example, but where are no bees there is no tomato because lack of pollination (or you do it by using a vibrator, but is that Bio Food??)
… and I could spam this topic full to go to details but I have a huge job to teach my Thai family to become modern Farmers made out of abused rice farmers… But basically I explained Aquaponics here.
Then we have Hydroponics:
Plants like our salads grow in water, the flowers getting vibrated to have at least a pollination. Produced NPK fertilizer gets added and the tomato flower gets vibrated… = No bio.
that’s the whole story why i want bees and this applies not only by Tomatoes…
Beside, when the neighbors bullies tried often to beat the crap out of me, I always made an escape to Grandfathers Bee hives…
One wipe in front of the hive I got stung (to prevent rheumatism) which didn’t hurt me that much anymore, the neighbor’s bullies were screaming their souls out for pain…
Today I need some in my planned greenhouse, so the question is, which are suitable in a greenhouse?
Don’t worry Eva, I’ve got your back.
I believe it was water chestnuts and Jeff had small fish in the tub to eat the mozzies. Water, fish, veggies. Sounds like aquaponics to me.
And yes I have a small home system. I’ll talk AP all day if you let me.
Unfortunately my latest hobby is consuming more and more AP expansion time. And money.
Not sure any bee would be sustainable in a green house. And if you’re going to open it up to let bees into your greenhouse then you’ll let aphids and grasshoppers and all those other nasties in. And as you say you can’t use nasties to get them out.
And for the record, ammonia is oxidised by Nitrosomonas into nitrite and nitrite is then oxidised by Nitrobacter into nitrate. Gotta love the nitrogen cycle.
Hi Eva, I grow Chinese Water Chestnuts in those tubs. They get lots of bee activity during hot weather.
Apiaquaponics: I like that …
Sorry @skeggley, I answered before reading your post.
There are Bumblebees used in Indonesia in an 8000 Sqm Greenhouse. An I have heard there is a stingless Bee that lives with max 500-600 Population…
Seems for me one of mother nature’s gifts tailormade for greehouses.
I went out 6 Times with my bro in law stayed in the deepest jungle of Thailand, (never met a Tiger so far) but we couldn’t spot a bee colony…
The helpers will be used (you can oder almost any “good” insect online) when the pests come in and create an invasion kind of…