Acacia! Acacia everywhere!

[Zante]

I'm on holiday at my parents' place, and I'm looking around for forage since I'm planning to move in the area.
There seems to be no OSR in the area, but there are a few orchards, quite a bit of sunflower and alfalfa seems to be a favourite fodder crop as well as quite a few cherry trees, some wild, some domestic. Rosemary is fairly common. I've seen quite a few lime trees. There are also quite a few sweet chestnut groves.

And acacia. Everywhere. Loads of acacia.
Along the roads, along the river, in groups on the edge of the fields, in the woods.

It looks like that's going to be a significant portion of the nectar coming in.

 

[Goran]

If You refer to Robinia pseudoacacia - that is main flow at my place, and to don't forget most wanted for export into western EU in qty I believe. It can stay for 2 years non cristalized in barrel ( I have from last year still not cristalized in a barrel).

 

[Zante]

Yep, that's the one. Also known as Black Locust.

 

[Al-In-Italy]

We kept bees in the foothills of the Apennines in Abruzzo's Teramo province and Robinia was a major nectar source.

The trees are very invasive, spreading readily by seed and root suckers. They line most roads in the area and rapidly take over any area that isn't regularly mowed or cultivated.

Weather meant we only got a good crop of acacia honey about half the time. People who have only visited Italy during the summer sometimes don't understand that it can be very soggy there in spring. There were years when rain clouds settled on the mountains during the mid-May fortnight when acacia was blossoming in our area and the bees hardly worked it at all.

We aimed to do a true acacia varietal honey and, in years when the weather was set fair, we put empty supers of drawn comb on as soon as the blossom around us appeared and extracted them when the blossom faded. The honey was wonderful and not much like the stuff labelled "Acacia Honey" that you see for sale in supermarkets. Ours was almost water-clear and had a very subtle flavour. As Goran says, it is slow to crystallise; the small amount of ours that remained after four years was still liquid. When we didn't succeed in getting acacia varietal honey, the amount of acacia in the mille fiore honey we extracted at the end of summer also made it slow to set. We have some that's three years old and it's still liquid, although now slightly hazy with crystals.

Alfalfa (or Lucerne or erba medica) can be a nectar source, but only when the farmer is growing it for seed. If used for fodder, it's generally mown before it flowers. I understand that this results in a hay with a higher protein content.

Italy is an amazing place to keep bees, particularly if you're in the hills where things don't get bone-dry and excruciatingly hot in August.

 

[Goran]

Pic of b.locust in a jar.. It is with bubbles, cause I pour it in a jar and took a pic soon afterwards.

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=34071

 

[Zante]

I'm planning to move in Mugello, which is not bone dry and excruciatingly hot, but also suffers less from the humidity you described for spring (I've also lived in Abruzzo, near Avezzano though)

If I do decide to move my hives it will be either for chestnut or for sunflower (robinia already being where I plan to place them), I wasn't thinking of bothering for the small orchards I've seen or for the patches of alfalfa. If not for those monofloral varieties I've mentioned, I'll just go for Millefiori and leave it at that.