Bamboo Beehives Produce Honey for Eye Infections

In Latin America, farmers often use bamboo as beehives. Bamboo internodes (the part between 2 nodes) of larger diameter bamboo species such as Guadua angustifolia or Dendrocalamus asper are very well suited to make a bamboo beehive. A closed piece of bamboo is suspended horizontally under the roof of a house or shed, and a small hole made in one node at one end enables the bees to enter.

With a little patience the enclosed bamboo beehive will attract bees to live and raise their young. They will create a densely packed matrix of hexagonal cells made of beeswax (honeycomb) inside the bamboo. The bees use the cells to store their honey, and to house eggs, larvae, and pupae.

In Central America farmers use this "bamboo honey" for eye infections because of its antibacterial properties.