Kamon: I'm sure pine needles are great if you've got em, as they do in East Texas. But here in the Texas Hill Country, no pine needles. So I've tried burlap (didn't like it}hay straw, too hot, didn't last. Best I've found from available natural resources is mountain juniper (we call it cedar)bark. Boy Scouts taught me when I was young to skin a tree long ways with a knife and tear off a strip.. Then rough it around in a ball until it gets soft and fluffy. Makes great tender for starting a flint and steel fire.....or for smoking bees. Love your channel, thanks for doing it.
Pine straw is the only smoker fuel that I’ve ever used. I like to get it from a paved parking lot where it’s been ran over with cars, it ignites so much easier. I’ve had one man refer it that as roadkill pine straw. I have enough bagged to last me until next fall. I keep a smaller bag in the back of my truck and one day I forgot to replenish it and on the way to my other hives I went by a Lowe’s and was able to fill that bag from what was on the ground outside their pine straw trailer. The Lowe’s young man thanked me and said that was that much that he wouldn’t have to clean up.
I like to throw in things like Sage, Mullein, Citronella, Lavender, Eucalyptus and olive tree leaves along with the pine needles for a nice scent. Also, I keep a cork, attached by a string so I don't lose it, to plug it up when I want it to go out.
Thanks for all the great videos! I also like pine needles , great smelling and free as you mentioned. I have found that Kingsford Charcoal bags work great for storage, they are designed to keep the contents (charcoal ) dry and moisture out.
We have many lavender plants and in the late summer after they have bloomed out we cut the long stalks and dry them in the garage. I've read where lavender has the same calming effect on bees as it does humans and that is what I use in my smoker. About a dozen plants provide enough fuel for my use to last through the season depending on how busy in the yard I get.
Great tip, I used it just the other day and it worked so well! Truth be told, the bees are a bit edgy right now. This si my first year and I'm told they are waiting for the goldenrod to pop. At least that's the consensus of a number of the beekeepers here in Western New York. Thanks for the great vids!
Crepe myrtle bark works very well and smells very good as well. Pine needles collected with a bagging mower are softened and really pack well and light easy.
This is great, i like pine needles best as well, i usually gather up about 60 gallons of them in january when it's real cold and no rain for about 3 days. Also i have used damp straw on top after smoker is lit and going. It seems to last longer. To light i pack my smoker full of straw and use a propane torch to heat smoker red hot on sides near the bottom to light. This saves me time when going to multiple yards as it always goes out while traveling.
When we were in Utah this summer I did a video at a school that has bees. We used cotton seed. It was a little tough to get it going but once we got it started it was wonderful. Cool smoke. Slow burn. I normally use pine straw though for the same reasons you mentioned. One con to pine state is the tar buildup in the smoker. Do you have a solution for cleaning it out?
I use burlap or jute bags from a coffee roaster that gives them away for free. It just takes a little time to cut them up into long strips that I can roll up and fold over in the smoker.
Pine needles leave a heavy layer of creosote on the smoker. That's the only drawback. I use pine needles and coffee burlap bags (which you can get from Starbucks or local coffee shops).
Pine needles are all I like to use. There a business next to where I work and their lawn crew rakes them into big piles and then I stop and fill several garbage bags full of them. I'm set for a long time. Not only do I like how they smell, but my cat goes crazy over me when I come into the house.
I have a ton of lavender, sage, rosemary all dried. I’m going to mix with other materials including pine needles, then make little packs in paper bags and see how we go.
Todd P I was coming to the comments to mention that very thing. My grandpa used strips of blue jeans that he called dungaree for years! I picked that up from him and still use it every so often. I've used everything from dried leaves, dry grass, wood pellets and wood chips, but I have found that pine needles are the best!
I have been using bailing twine for hay bails .. and not the plastic junk. I am going to switch to pine needles though as it seems they start faster and last longer.
Hey man ... I saw in a video you wanted to have American made hive tools with long taper on the blade ... Tractor Supply has them made in Utah with long taper
I like the rough pulp paper egg cartons. Not the overly processed ones, not the ones that are a little thin. Only "problem" is, most beekeepers seem to always have there own egg hens or know someone who does!
Pine needles are awesome, and a pine cone creates an air pocket and just the right humidity, I can get about 2 hours of smoke in my galena farms smoker which is perfect for me 🙂
I hear what you said about hay/straw but a distinction should be made between first and second crop hay. An excellent smoker fuel is a soft 2nd crop grass hay. It is not hollow like 1st crop and soft to handle, I do like it...that grassy 2nd crop tip comes by way of Michael Palmer.
Unfortunately the folks around here don't make high quality hay at ALL! They let the darn fields grow 4 feet tall and it is very rough. Definitely a large variety of hays out there.
My hay was whatever fell into the wheelbarrow after many bales of alfalfa, Timothy mix I suppose it smelled a little like weed but mostly horrible. Not gonna keep using it, I really like to overpriced cotton stuff. Of course. I’m in NC I need to get off my diff and get some pine needles. Everyplace but mine has them plentiful.
I also use old jeans, Stale corn chips mixed with cedar chips. Was thinking about to use old popcorn, but I did not try yet and I was thinking of ramen noodles as well without the spices. Better to use it than the garbage can. We keep ramen noodles as emergency, but they get stale fast. So we give them to a guy that feeds them to his chickens and in return we get some free-running chicken eggs......great taste .
I use punky wood. The rotten wood from the wood pile that dries out in the sun weighs almost nothing. If it's bone dry, it packs in well and smolders a long time.
Kamon, your thoughts on weathered burlap? Is something I use and can source tons of it for free (so much in fact I bring huge bags of it to bee club meetings to share with others).
@@kamonreynolds with all the "micro brew" coffee houses around the country these days, particularly if they roast their own beans, sourcing burlap from them is almost like you are getting rid of an issue for them as the beans ship in large burlap sacks that cant be reused. They produce lots of bags and are more than happy to donate them to bee clubs/beekeepers for free whenever I have asked
To each his own! I think pine needles are the stinkiest things ever. The stench gets in my clothes and as soon as I'm done working the bees...I've got to change clothes. Some day, a smart person will come up with something that is odorless and affordable to replace real smoke...burns my old eyes too.
Old cardboard style egg trays work a treat. Just tear them up a bit put a few pieces in the smoker to light, and then fill up when you get it going well.
I ask one of the local tree cutting companies to drop me several loads from their chipper about once a year. I request that they don't bring me anything with poison oak. It's usually a mix of oak, pine, cypress, bay laurel, eucalyptus and cottonwood and has a very sweet smell. I then use it to mulch my dirt driveway every year to cut down on the dust and then have plenty left over for the bees.
Lol ... 🤣😂😅😂😂 ... a most funniest moment was , as you said : " Be careful in dry areas ....etc." ... and then ... bang ... You grab a lighter and start small FIRE 🔥🔥🔥in a box . ... totally surrounded by pine needles and under that pine 🌲. Man. ... This is like lighting a cigar in the middle of the petrol station in summer. ... 🌞 🚉⛽🚉⛽🚉⛽ ! I was fighting a local fire on an Island in Croatia, ... 1990. ...and witnessed first hand, HOW a Pine 🌲, almost literally EXPLODES in flames, ... once small fire 🔥 hits It's bottom branches. Very dangerous . Indeed. 🤣😅😂🌞
I have used "punky wood" in a pinch but I prefer pine needles too. Don't use bug eaten rotten hollow wood though. Don't puff directly on bees since it sparks. Oh yes 100% cotton jeans or shirts too.
Gday mate i recently started to use sugar cane mulch as people can get a bit strange about you picking up pine needles of the ground why ? dont ask me .
I like pine needles best also. I've been using a lot of wood chips the kind you buy at tractor supply store one bale of them will last a long time. One time I lit my smoker , when I was done I laid it on its side, the next day I was going to dump the ash out start over and it caught on fire and burned. APROX. 14 hours after I stopped using it. So always be careful where you dump your Ash.
put 1 large pine cone in the bottom, it will provide some air space at the bottom of your smoker and eventually it will burn and be gone. much better than just pine needles i promise.
I don't have pine needles in my yard. So, I use cardboard egg boxes and other cardboard like the toilet paper roller. And, lately political advertisements! Egg cartons are the best to start, though. Not the Styrofoam stuff for sure!
Kamon: I'm sure pine needles are great if you've got em, as they do in East Texas. But here in the Texas Hill Country, no pine needles. So I've tried burlap (didn't like it}hay straw, too hot, didn't last. Best I've found from available natural resources is mountain juniper (we call it cedar)bark. Boy Scouts taught me when I was young to skin a tree long ways with a knife and tear off a strip.. Then rough it around in a ball until it gets soft and fluffy. Makes great tender for starting a flint and steel fire.....or for smoking bees. Love your channel, thanks for doing it.
I also use cedar bark.
Pine straw is the only smoker fuel that I’ve ever used. I like to get it from a paved parking lot where it’s been ran over with cars, it ignites so much easier. I’ve had one man refer it that as roadkill pine straw. I have enough bagged to last me until next fall. I keep a smaller bag in the back of my truck and one day I forgot to replenish it and on the way to my other hives I went by a Lowe’s and was able to fill that bag from what was on the ground outside their pine straw trailer. The Lowe’s young man thanked me and said that was that much that he wouldn’t have to clean up.
Collecting from pavement makes cleaner, dryer fuel. Dry them out and store in something critter proof.
I like to throw in things like Sage, Mullein, Citronella, Lavender, Eucalyptus and olive tree leaves along with the pine needles for a nice scent. Also, I keep a cork, attached by a string so I don't lose it, to plug it up when I want it to go out.
Thanks for all the great videos! I also like pine needles , great smelling and free as you mentioned. I have found that Kingsford Charcoal bags work great for storage, they are designed to keep the contents (charcoal ) dry and moisture out.
I use the leaf trimmings off harvested hemp plants which always makes the neighbors look
I'd say!
We have many lavender plants and in the late summer after they have bloomed out we cut the long stalks and dry them in the garage. I've read where lavender has the same calming effect on bees as it does humans and that is what I use in my smoker. About a dozen plants provide enough fuel for my use to last through the season depending on how busy in the yard I get.
Great tip, I used it just the other day and it worked so well! Truth be told, the bees are a bit edgy right now. This si my first year and I'm told they are waiting for the goldenrod to pop. At least that's the consensus of a number of the beekeepers here in Western New York. Thanks for the great vids!
Yay WNY. Go Bills. Good tips thanks
Crepe myrtle bark works very well and smells very good as well. Pine needles collected with a bagging mower are softened and really pack well and light easy.
I read that fragrant sumac seed heads were helpful in reducing varroa so I will throw a couple in with the rest of the fuel I use (pine shavings).
I use pine Needles with the Bailing string from my bales of hey works very well
Used old blue jean material for years
I use Cedar. I live in Texas so there is plenty. Really love your videos.
I too use pine needles, I rack up a couple leave bag full and let them dry out on the driveway then put in the paper leave bags
This is great, i like pine needles best as well, i usually gather up about 60 gallons of them in january when it's real cold and no rain for about 3 days. Also i have used damp straw on top after smoker is lit and going. It seems to last longer. To light i pack my smoker full of straw and use a propane torch to heat smoker red hot on sides near the bottom to light. This saves me time when going to multiple yards as it always goes out while traveling.
When we were in Utah this summer I did a video at a school that has bees. We used cotton seed. It was a little tough to get it going but once we got it started it was wonderful. Cool smoke. Slow burn.
I normally use pine straw though for the same reasons you mentioned. One con to pine state is the tar buildup in the smoker. Do you have a solution for cleaning it out?
I just scrape it out. Some burn it out with a torch
Thanks !!
I use burlap or jute bags from a coffee roaster that gives them away for free. It just takes a little time to cut them up into long strips that I can roll up and fold over in the smoker.
When in Michigan I rolled birch bark. It made the heaviest smoke I have even seen, but only lasted about an hour .... smell was good also.
I like cardboard egg cartons torn into small chunks cool smoke and lasts well.
Pine needles leave a heavy layer of creosote on the smoker. That's the only drawback. I use pine needles and coffee burlap bags (which you can get from Starbucks or local coffee shops).
Just put some wood pellets in from time to time and really heat it up, burns out all the debris.
Great information ⭐🎥
Dried pine needles are everywhere in my community
Definitely going to try this 👍
Pine needles are all I like to use. There a business next to where I work and their lawn crew rakes them into big piles and then I stop and fill several garbage bags full of them. I'm set for a long time. Not only do I like how they smell, but my cat goes crazy over me when I come into the house.
In Europe we used dried chaga mushrooms. That can smoke all day. You can find them easy on old trees, cut in small pieces, and use them.
I’ve used palm fronds as well. They give a cool burn but don’t last as long as needles
Yes sir pine needles all I use!! Great stuff thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I have a ton of lavender, sage, rosemary all dried. I’m going to mix with other materials including pine needles, then make little packs in paper bags and see how we go.
Pine needles are the best, but I’ve used cut strips of old blue jeans before. It works and lasts a long time!
Todd P I was coming to the comments to mention that very thing. My grandpa used strips of blue jeans that he called dungaree for years! I picked that up from him and still use it every so often. I've used everything from dried leaves, dry grass, wood pellets and wood chips, but I have found that pine needles are the best!
I have been using bailing twine for hay bails .. and not the plastic junk. I am going to switch to pine needles though as it seems they start faster and last longer.
I’ve been using a combination of grass clippings from the lawn mower and corn stalks/leaves and occasionally burlap scraps
Hey man ... I saw in a video you wanted to have American made hive tools with long taper on the blade ... Tractor Supply has them made in Utah with long taper
I like the rough pulp paper egg cartons. Not the overly processed ones, not the ones that are a little thin. Only "problem" is, most beekeepers seem to always have there own egg hens or know someone who does!
we use sumac pods in Pa
Pine needles are awesome, and a pine cone creates an air pocket and just the right humidity, I can get about 2 hours of smoke in my galena farms smoker which is perfect for me 🙂
In Serbia, we use a fungus that groves on trees, Hoof fungus in English.
I like to use dried corn husks and stripped cobs in my smoker. Starts up quickly, burns well and packs down nicely.
I just grabbed some of the scattered hey off the barn floor before I go out but I can see what you're saying about density and longevity
I often use staghorn sumac berries. Lovely. I'll collect and store them for use.
I have been using alfalfa cubes from the farm store. $14 for a 50 lb bag uses a handful at a time. Lasts for hours
I hear what you said about hay/straw but a distinction should be made between first and second crop hay. An excellent smoker fuel is a soft 2nd crop grass hay. It is not hollow like 1st crop and soft to handle, I do like it...that grassy 2nd crop tip comes by way of Michael Palmer.
Unfortunately the folks around here don't make high quality hay at ALL! They let the darn fields grow 4 feet tall and it is very rough. Definitely a large variety of hays out there.
I should mention that one drawback of 2nd crop hay is it sort of stinks when it burns :)
@@calvinkalmon6746 I hate the way hay smells!
@@heathermoscrip5523 just like marijuana, but I do like that smell.
My hay was whatever fell into the wheelbarrow after many bales of alfalfa, Timothy mix I suppose it smelled a little like weed but mostly horrible. Not gonna keep using it, I really like to overpriced cotton stuff. Of course. I’m in NC I need to get off my diff and get some pine needles. Everyplace but mine has them plentiful.
We use hay with some wood pellets mixed in for long lasting. In years past, with pinestraw the tar build up, we cleaned with a degreaser.
We use pine needles, awesome stuff. We gather it and put it in totes. They rake up easy.
I use pine needles! I go to our local park with a large trash bag and load up.
Make sure you put them in the paper boxes or paper bags. I will not recommend plastic bags.
@@namentatic4978 I have a compost bin I transfer them to
I also use old jeans, Stale corn chips mixed with cedar chips.
Was thinking about to use old popcorn, but I did not try yet and I was thinking of ramen noodles as well without the spices.
Better to use it than the garbage can.
We keep ramen noodles as emergency, but they get stale fast. So we give them to a guy that feeds them to his chickens and in return we get some free-running chicken eggs......great taste .
I use punky wood. The rotten wood from the wood pile that dries out in the sun weighs almost nothing. If it's bone dry, it packs in well and smolders a long time.
Add some wood pellets mixed in.... lasts even longer
Kamon, your thoughts on weathered burlap? Is something I use and can source tons of it for free (so much in fact I bring huge bags of it to bee club meetings to share with others).
Burlap is great for smoker fuel if you can source it for free. The only knock i would have on burlap is that it doesn't smell like pine needles haha
@@kamonreynolds with all the "micro brew" coffee houses around the country these days, particularly if they roast their own beans, sourcing burlap from them is almost like you are getting rid of an issue for them as the beans ship in large burlap sacks that cant be reused. They produce lots of bags and are more than happy to donate them to bee clubs/beekeepers for free whenever I have asked
Old bailing string, we had horses so we had them just laying around.
You guys have hemp bailing string? In my area it's all plastic.
To each his own! I think pine needles are the stinkiest things ever. The stench gets in my clothes and as soon as I'm done working the bees...I've got to change clothes. Some day, a smart person will come up with something that is odorless and affordable to replace real smoke...burns my old eyes too.
Old cardboard style egg trays work a treat. Just tear them up a bit put a few pieces in the smoker to light, and then fill up when you get it going well.
I use pine needles and old jeans cut into small pieces when necessary
staghorn sumac smokes well and smells good. and its free
Mine too!
How sensitive are pine needles to moisture level?
The don't seem to absorb moisture near as bad as grass clippings and hay. I still rake them up and store them in sealed tubs or drums.
Make sure to avoid molded and stinky needles. Get them fresh and dried from top cleaned and dried surface. Do not dig it out from the deep layers.
Staghorn Sumac and or grass clippings.
Definitely the Best Smoker fuel,,,Got Couple trees in the front yard,,🇱🇨👊🏿👍🏿♥️
Pine needles with a little bit of fat lighter smells amazing. The problem I've found is that queens run from it hard!
I ask one of the local tree cutting companies to drop me several loads from their chipper about once a year. I request that they don't bring me anything with poison oak. It's usually a mix of oak, pine, cypress, bay laurel, eucalyptus and cottonwood and has a very sweet smell. I then use it to mulch my dirt driveway every year to cut down on the dust and then have plenty left over for the bees.
dry gum balls from gum trees. Good smoke and if you have a tree around, an unending supply. I use a torch to get them started.
Lol ... 🤣😂😅😂😂
... a most funniest moment was ,
as you said :
" Be careful in dry areas ....etc."
...
and then ...
bang ... You grab a lighter and start small FIRE 🔥🔥🔥in a box .
... totally surrounded
by pine needles and under that pine 🌲.
Man. ... This is like lighting a cigar
in the middle of the petrol station in summer. ... 🌞 🚉⛽🚉⛽🚉⛽ !
I was fighting a local fire on an Island in Croatia, ... 1990.
...and witnessed first hand,
HOW a Pine 🌲,
almost literally EXPLODES
in flames, ... once small fire 🔥 hits
It's bottom branches.
Very dangerous . Indeed.
🤣😅😂🌞
What about denim? I read it's made of cotton. Do you think it would work well for someone that had many pairs of trash jeans?
Yes it works well!
Cotton left over after the harvest.
Being an upholstered, left over burlap works fantastic and also lasts a very long time. Thanks for the Videos!
I have used "punky wood" in a pinch but I prefer pine needles too. Don't use bug eaten rotten hollow wood though. Don't puff directly on bees since it sparks. Oh yes 100% cotton jeans or shirts too.
Gday mate i recently started to use sugar cane mulch as people can get a bit strange about you picking up pine needles of the ground why ? dont ask me .
Sawdust from the table saw after i get the pine needles lit.
I like pine needles best also. I've been using a lot of wood chips the kind you buy at tractor supply store one bale of them will last a long time. One time I lit my smoker , when I was done I laid it on its side, the next day I was going to dump the ash out start over and it caught on fire and burned. APROX. 14 hours after I stopped using it. So always be careful where you dump your Ash.
I use well dried horse manure. It lights easily and burns for ages and easily breaks down into pellets!
put 1 large pine cone in the bottom, it will provide some air space at the bottom of your smoker and eventually it will burn and be gone. much better than just pine needles i promise.
I’ve always used egg cartons
I love pine cones
Yep pine needles and lavender because I have heaps of dry lavender ha ha and burns well with cool smoke
I use maple leaves
Maybe I didn't pack them down hard enough. I found using pine needles really heated up the smoker a lot.
What about Sumac?
I actually used my brother's cigar butts
Waste not!
Stinging nettle cut up into 2" lengths and allowed to dry, not only are good to use but offer to help control mite population.
Punky wood.
TRY PUNKY wood!
Your pine needles are better, but try punky wood.
you should try to use cardboard
I saw a guy on UA-cam using dried horse pooo...I have horses too but I’ll stick with pine straw fuel.
used to be my favorite till i got a hand full of cat crap now i buy bail of flaked pine shavings from tractor supply.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
🤣🤣🤣😅
I don't have pine needles in my yard. So, I use cardboard egg boxes and other cardboard like the toilet paper roller. And, lately political advertisements! Egg cartons are the best to start, though. Not the Styrofoam stuff for sure!
Lemon grass
put my sugar boards in and now I have yellow jacket problem,AH HELP ?
Burns too fast in my opinion, i prefer eucalyptus bark it's so awesome lasts a lot more and smells even better
Dried cedar
🍻 from 📍🦘 (((👍➕🔔)))