Bees + sweet potato roots

I had a jar of sweet potato slips that I wanted to harden off before planting out, so I placed them on the patio in the full sun.  Before long, there was a steady stream of bees headed for the jar. They'd go down inside and get the water from the roots, and they've been emptying the whole jar daily. There are other sources of water nearby that they've no interest in, so it must be sugar from the roots. I decided to leave it for them since they were having such a great time with it and thought I'd share.  If you have a time when there's nothing in bloom for the bees, try out sweet potatoes in a jar,  lol!

The bees are after a drink of water.

You can make a simple "bee watering station" with a bowl and some rocks that stick out of the water.

Anne Miller wrote:The bees are after a drink of water.

You can make a simple "bee watering station" with a bowl and some rocks that stick out of the water.

You'd think, right?  But I have several other sources of water within a matter of feet, most of which are bee friendly, and the bees have passed them all up. Yet there's a continual hum around the sweet potatoes. As the water goes down throughout the day, they especially like it.  They get down on the roots themselves.  My thinking is they're making the most of the exudates, and given that sweet potatoes are, well, sweet, I imagine they are producing a nice sugary snack that passes for nectar.

The water may have some sweetness from the roots, which is quite possible.  

And they might like the water with the roots as it may help keep them from drowning in the water.

I can think of lots of variables, the thing is you are helping the bees.

Thanks for sharing and helping other learn about ways that they can help pollinators.