INTRODUCTION TO BEEKEEPING
Session 9 – Plants & Hive Products
Sat 5th/Sun 6th April 2013
Introductions Glenys Lunt Experience
Pollination £165 million – UK €10 billion – Europe $200 billion – World 10% Crops 25% plant species ‘Bread & Gruel’
Plants pollinated by bees
OSR +10% Beans Top fruit Soft fruit Salad crops – (for seed) Sunflowers Blackthorn Hawthorn
Bee Dances
Round Dance – (inaccurate) food nearby
Waggle Dance – (Accurate) food further away
Ex: Encyclopaedia of Beekeeping by Morse & Hooper
Bee Dances
Beehive
80o
Forage site 2
Forage site 1
Forage site 3
Sun
• Site 1
• Site 2
• Site 3
Horizon
Hard Work
Bee flight 0.5 mg honey per Km 25 gm to orbit earth
Bees carry nectar (& pollen) approx. 40 mg ~30,000 trips per pound of honey Trip approx 30 mins
Phenomenal rate of collection
Forage ChartPLANTS FROM WHICH BEES COLLECT NECTAR FOR THE
PRODUCTION OF HONEY IN BRITAIN
Times of flowering are for the South of England
Major Honey Plants
Minor Honey Plants P – Pollen only, no nectar
Feb/March April May June
Plum & Damson Cherry Pear OSR
Apple Dandelion Hawthorn Sycamore OSR
Blackberry Field Bean Raspberry Sainfoin OSR Borage
Feb/March April May June
P Alder Almond Butterburr Celandine Coltsfoot Crocus
P Elms Gorse
P Hazel Lauristinus
P Poplar Prunus Snowdrop Violet Willows Winter Aconite Winter Heathers
P Yew
Almond Alyssum Arabis
P Ash Aubretia Berberis Blackthorn Box Coltsfoot Crab Apples Currants Dead Nettles Doronicum Gooseberry Gorse Laurel Maples Willows
P Wood Anemone
P Beech Bilberry
P Birch Bluebell Brassicas Broom Ceanothus Cotoneasters Cuckoo Flower Forget-me-not Gorse Holly Horse Chestnut
P Oak P Plantain
Thrift Wallflower
Anchusa Asparagus Bindweed Birdsfoot Trefoil Buttercup Catmint Charlock Cranesbills Jacob’s Ladder Lucerne Onion Pyracantha Red Clover Robinia
P Rockroses Thyme Vetches Vipers Bugloss White Bryony
P Wild Rose Yellow Melilot
PLANTS FROM WHICH BEES COLLECT NECTAR FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HONEY IN BRITAIN
Times of flowering are for the South of England
Major Honey Plants
Minor Honey Plants P – Pollen only, no nectar
July August Sept./October
Bell Heather Blackberry Limes White Clover Willowherb OSR Borage
Bell Heather Blackberry Ling Mustard Red Clover Willowherb
Ling Mustard
July August Sept./October
Bergamot Borage Buckwheat Campanulas Cornflower Cranesbills Escallonia Fennel Figworts Flax Hogweed Hollyhock Hyssop Knapweed Knotgrasses Lavender Mallows
P Meadowsweet Mignonette Mullein Phacelia
P Poppies Privet Ragwort Red Clover Sages Scabious Sweet Chestnut Tulip Tree Veronicas White Melilot Yellow Trefoil
Balsam Borage Chickory Cucumber Dwarf Gorse Fuchsia Golden Rod Helenium Knotgrasses Mallows Marjoram
P Meadowsweet Michaelmas Daisies Mint Mullein Sunflower Purple Loosestrife Sages Sea Lavender Snowberry Thistles Toadflax Travellers Joy Vegetable Marrow Virginia Creeper White Charlock White Horehound White Melilot Wood Sage
Balsam Dwarf Gorse Fuchsia Ivy Michaelmas Daisies Sea Lavender Thistles White Charlock
Plants for Bees
Products of the hive Honey Wax Propolis Pollen Venom Royal
Jelly
Selling Honey Preparation Sales Regulations
Honey bee ‘products’