Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera)

[Gardenbees]

I live about 500m from the Stroudwater canal, and my girls had a go at the balsam at the end of July... upon which local conservation volunteers cut the tops off the balsam plants to stop them seeding. But these plants have now re-flowered!! The bees are going NUTS!!

The day before yesterday I dropped in at lunchtime to see how their stores were building up, and got a shock: I thought at first that they were swarming. The hive was vibrating with a loud, purposeful hum and hundreds of bees were whizzing about the hive entrance... and bearding a bit around the front. But they were all heads-up, busy busy, crowding to get in and piling into each other because the entrance block was on (I fed them earlier this month because the hive was alarmingly light). I took the block off, and today they were pouring in and out with barely a bee's whisker between them, so loaded with plunder that they were bumping into the hive on the way back. It was a mix of ivy pollen from the railway line, and nectar from the HB along the canal (the telltale white stripe appears to happen when they collect nectar... none of them seemed to be carrying HB pollen as such).

As an ecologist I'm none too keen on balsam as it's so invasive. It also smells unpleasant to cycle past every day.... But I think the nectar makes better stores than ivy nectar, the smell of the hive is better, and given the sharp ups and downs in nectar flow this year I can't begrudge my bees the chance to party uninterrupted for once. Plus, both my hives are crammed with stores and heaving with bees, as the queen is still laying well. Hopefully this bodes well for the winter.

 

[Gardenbees]

Has anyone a good picture of a single bee portraying the Himalayan Balsalm marking.I would love to add to my 'talk' as it shows another indication of pollination and collection. I have searched for a pic- but none clear enough. Thanks in advance- if one forthcoming

Heather: here's a couple of pics showing bees with HB stripes.
(I know the big one looks a bit like a queen - she isn't, trust me, quite a few of the workers in that hive are very long-looking!). I'm afraid the focus isn't crystal clear... they were buzzing, of course, and quite excited so didn't stay still for long!

 

[Mamahilz]

Wow- love the photo.
My dad has sent me some seeds... so the question is- should I or shouldn't I plant them? Best in woodland or along the country road, hedgerow?
Thanks

 

[Jimmy]

HB seems to do best alongside water courses although this may be coupled with water also being very good at dispersing seed and providing bare earth for the plants to colonise every spring.
I think woodland may be too shaded. Damp field margins, ditches, pond banks, river/stream banks would be my preference.
They are very invasive and will out compete many of the native plants and leave river banks prone to erosion.

 

[VEG]

If you get caught spreading seed I think there is a hefty fine.

 

[Jimmy]

Craig

Are you sure about a fine?

All I could find with a brief search was here, which seems to exclude HB when talking about legal implications.

I'm not suggesting that it should be spread.

On the RHS website it does suggest that the principal means of spread is by people passing the seed on and contrary to my earlier post it does like low light environments.

 

[Gardenbees]

[deep breath, official stuff coming up]

Himalayan balsam is listed under Schedule 9(2) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, i.e. the list of plants which it is illegal to cause to grow in the wild. It was listed under a routine update to the Act (which has now accumulated many amendments). The update is by order:

1. This Order—
(a) may be cited as the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Variation of Schedule 9) (England and Wales) Order 2010:
(b) comes into force on 6th April 2010; and
(c) extends to England and Wales only.

So it has only been officially on the list for a few months now.

The whole Act is here:http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatut..._19810069_en_1 [it's Section 14 that's the relevant bit]

Don't get too excited about Scotland or Northern Ireland: it's on their lists too! other species on this list include Japanese knotweed and Australian swamp stonecrop.

They're on the list because introduced species cost a fortune to control every year, cause economic harm, and can have a very adverse effect on biodiversity (although not always - there are a lot of factors involved). So, if you cause them to grow in the wild, you're effectively vandalising the countryside, as someone else might have to come along and clear up the problem, often at public expense. It's depressing to visit a once-vibrant and diverse canal or riverbank and find it dominated by balsam, with all the native species gone. This doesn't always happen, and I don't personally feel that H. balsam is one of the worst, but you won't know how bad a problem you might be causing until it's happened.....

There is indeed a fine for breaking the W&C Act - at present the maximum for a Section 14 offence is "the statutory maximum":

(4) A person guilty of an offence under section 14 shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both;
(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or to both.

The statutory maximum varies over time. I think it's currently £5000 for summary (i.e. magistrate's court) conviction, and unlimited for indictment (i.e. crown court). The W&C Act doesn't get many summary convictions, and indictments are very rare, so it would probably have to be an especially damaging incident to attract the full force of the law.

This is fairly lenient compared to many countries: Australia, NZ & the USA all have strong penalties for spreading problem plants. These links give some idea of the scale of the problem:
http://www.plantlife.org.uk/campaigns/invasive_plants/
http://www.nature.org/initiatives/in...species/about/
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multil...leID=6181&l=en (about last year's International Day for Biological Diversity, which had invasive introduced species as a theme).

It all seems a far cry from seeing a patch of balsam in all its purple glory, surrounded by happy bees, amongst other canalside vegetation.... but it's part of the same problem, unfortunately. We're not the only ones with a problem: in the US they struggle to control introduced purple loosestrife and English ivy. Presumably their bees have other ideas!

 

[Mamahilz]

Ok. I see.- its illegal to spread in the countryside/wild. What about in my own back yard? I have a very large garden with a wooded area which is wild with nettles and bramble.... Or should I destroy the seeds I have?? Welcome various opinions.
Mamahilz

 

[Jimmy]

Thanks gardenbees for taking the time to research and write a thorough answer.

 

[Hombre]

Ok. I see.- its illegal to spread in the countryside/wild. What about in my own back yard? I have a very large garden with a wooded area which is wild with nettles and bramble.... Or should I destroy the seeds I have?? Welcome various opinions.
Mamahilz

How long before the seed escaped from your garden? I understand that the pods explode and eject the seeds some distance and birds can also carry bits of plant. It may be in your garden this year, but if in subsequent years it is all over your area, can you honestly hold up your head and deny any responsibility? Just a valid point of view.

Of course your bees would probably prefer it if it was in someone else's garden . . .

 

[Gardenbees]

@Mamahilz: It's a tricky one, because lots of us plant things in our gardens that aren't great to let out into the countryside. You're within your rights to plant it in the garden, of course, and it is a beautiful plant, but do bear in mind one of the great features of Himalayan balsam: projectile seed pods! They're sooooo tempting to pop as you go past! And they do send seeds quite a long way.... and get picked up on boots and car tyres and spread around very readily. There's another disadvantage too: the flowers don't smell nice. If you do decide to plant them, I'd strongly advise chopping the flower heads off before they've had a chance to set seed. Even then, it's easy to miss one...

Chances are that your bees will find Hb if there's any within a 3-mile radius. Why not plant some other really good nectar plants, so that they can have as much variety as possible? My favourites are borage and ice-plant. Borage is probably one of the few plants that can compete with HB for the bees' attention. Mine just couldn't leave it alone, and were on the flowers every day until it got dark. Alliums are great too - I've shoved bulbs in all around the garden. They're no trouble and the sight of the bees settling on the big pompom flowers is very attractive. For a damp wooded area i would have thought comfrey would be good from the bees' point of view (it's very invasive in a small garden but I expect you could get away with it in yours). You could also bung it full of bulbs like winter aconite, snowdrop, anemone and native bluebells.

Bear in mind that bees won't usually forage within 20m or so of their hive unless it's very late or very early in the season, i.e. too cold to venture further. So if your planting site is near the hive, some early nectar plants might reward your bees best.

If I sound more verbose than usual on this topic, it's because part of my job is giving out this kind of advice!! But it's only suggestions.

 

[REDWOOD]

I opened my hive about 3 weeks ago and noticed the bees had white backs, they also had stored a lot of nectar in the brood box, and where frantic doing the waggle dance. I went on a hunt for HB and found a patch about a mile away. Alot of people dont like this plant but it is a lot prettier than bracken that overtakes everything where I live

 

[Mamahilz]

Gardenbees- Many thanks. You make a lot of sense. I think the seeds will go on my open fire tonight- When I visit my father in Devon, (who sent me the seeds after observing hundreds of bees indulging), I'll just enjoy seeing those bees dusted with the HB pollen...
I think nature has enough to contend with, without me complicating the story!!!
Mamahilz

 

[Gardenbees]

that's cool. Have fun choosing alternative bee plants!

 

[Somerford]

I can only agree with the view that we can benefit from HB as long as it is there for our bees to forage from. Even if attempts are made to remove it, it will re-emerge someplace else. It is good to have another plant for our bees to forage on, but I do appreciate not everyone ahs the same view.

regards

S

 

[Rosti]

Garden Bees - Tx, a great post!

 

[chycarne]

Garden Bees, this is a public post to you as I posted the question origionally and in view of conspiracy theory etc, would you be willing to talk with the local invasive weeds person with your advice and the people he is dealing with who have "the plan" ... I think it would be of great help to all...

 

[Gardenbees]

Hi Chycarne,
Yes - but I'm not sure I can really add very much to what I've already put in the posts.... You're welcome of course to copy what I've written to whoever it might be useful to. I'm not in Cornwall, so there's likely to be a more local expert on the subject than me, especially as Cornwall is recognised by conservationists as being rather prone to problems with introduced species (the mild climate tends to favour them). (I'm assuming from your posts that it's Cornwall we're talking about here).

By all means PM me if you want to put them in touch - but I still think that they'd get more out of simply reading some of the threads on this Forum! (including the ones about good bee-plants).

 

[madasafish]

Having read about HB and recognising it now it's in flower, I have taken to following its tracks (so to speak) around us. We live in a N Staffs valley running North- South with a small river starting locally and flowing towards Congleton ( 4 miles away). The source of the river Trent is in the Staffs Moorlands about 500 feet higher up the hillside.

HB is growing in swathes all along the local river valley for about 4 miles: and alongside many of the smaller streams feeding the river. The local sewage works has some 2 metre high specimens in the grounds to the approach road. Ther are several rough fields where it appears to be taking over...

There are outbreaks near the source of the Trent and in ditches across the Moorlands..Near the local associations' apiary outside Leek (7 miles away), it runs along the canals and in several uncultivated fields.

In all I guess there must be some 30-40 acres of it within a ten mile radius...

And that's what I know of: so here in N Staffordshire, eradication looks a major job...

 

[beesontoast]

Could someone please re-phrase the question so it makes sense?

There is plenty around here, and the bees love it. Bumbles, honeybees, hoverflies - all of them now seem to regard it as an important source of pollen and nectar.

And if you are canvassing support for it, I am definitely for it. It does no harm that I have ever seen, and as a great late-season gap-filler it is perfect.