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’