Heather dissapoints

[Beefriendly]

]

Not sure about the 'painted' collection tray though .. OK for cider which is going to be fermented and fruit juice which will be pasturised but is it really safe for honey ?

It's not painted, more a like a vitreous enamel/ or coloured metal or something similar to that. I know from cleaning it with wire scourers it's almost impossible to scratch or damage.
The entire hydropress range are made from food grade materials and advertised as suitable for pressing honey (as well as other things).

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

...it is not necessary for the heather to be managed. Many of our best places are never burned. Top groups are in old Caledonian forest. Tall heather, plenty shelter, long flowering period.

It may be true in the Caledonian forests, but I can assure you it's not true on the Black Mountain or the Brecon beacons in general poor/non existent management since the National park was formed has seen nigh on 50% of the heather disappear altogether, a lot of the remaining stuff looks very poor, the best bits are those that have been surreptitiously burnt for either stock or grouse feeding.

 

[BMH]

On the advice of Beefriendly, I bought a 40 litre hydro press for £370 and its so efficient at pressing heather honey and cappings.

It leaves a highly compressed wax ring but does take a bit of getting used to.

Definitely worth it if you visit the heather with a few hives especially compared to a loosener and a swing basket extractor

 

[pargyle]

It's not painted, more a like a vitreous enamel/ or coloured metal or something similar to that. I know from cleaning it with wire scourers it's almost impossible to scratch or damage.
The entire hydropress range are made from food grade materials and advertised as suitable for pressing honey (as well as other things).

It's enamelled .. the specification states that it is enamelled .. some of the cheaper presses I was looking at state the base tray is painted .. probably polyurethane but I would be happier with enamel which is virtually indestructible as long as you don't ding it.

If I ever reach the dizzy heights of becoming a real beekeeper and take 10 or 20 hives to the heather the hydropress is a very impressive bit of kit ..

I occasionally press my own apples for cider but I use a home made hydraulic press and a traditional 'cheese' between oak planks - it works well but I can see the advantage of a hydro press. My press demounts to a flat pack - If another piece of beekeeping equipment the size of a hydro press arrived in our household I think it would constitute reasonable grounds for divorce !

 

[Beefriendly]

It's enamelled .. the specification states that it is enamelled .. some of the cheaper presses I was looking at state the base tray is painted .. !

Now I'm really confused...
All the presses you gave links to have food grade enamel or stainless steel and were far more expensive than the basic price I gave for the hydro press.
Have you got a link to where they state the cheaper hydro-presses are painted?
Or are you thinking of a different type of press?

 

[pargyle]

Now I'm really confused...
All the presses you gave links to have food grade enamel or stainless steel and were far more expensive than than the basic price I gave.
Have you got a link to where they state the cheaper hydro-presses are painted?
Or are you thinking of a different type of press?

It was the cheaper hydraulic ones that you corrected me on that were painted ... I can't be bothered going over the google searches I did this morning to find the reference.. the Vigo presses are enamelled as I said.

 

[Beefriendly]

Thank you .. now I know the one you are talking about which is around £300 from Germany ... sellling for nearly twice that via a UK Reseller !!

Here's the link for those who feel that it would enhance their heather cropping antics ...

https://www.wiltec.de/hydropresse-20-liter-edelstahl-obstpresse.html

Not sure about the 'painted' collection tray though .. OK for cider which is going to be fermented and fruit juice which will be pasturised but is it really safe for honey ?

Pargyle you are and were talking about the hydro-press... as the above post shows.
If I can give you one piece of advice ...only talk about what you have experience of.
Some beekeepers seem to make a habit of making definitive statements about aspects of beekeeping they have never experienced. Far better to ask questions of those who have long experience of collecting and extracting heather honey..Shirley?

 

[Walrus]

Beefriendly and Pargyle - IS THIS LOVE?

 

[Beefriendly]

Beefriendly and Pargyle - IS THIS LOVE?

This is love , Jim, But not as we know it.
Trekky Beeks will understand

 

[Walrus]

on the Black Mountain or the Brecon beacons in general poor/non existent management since the National park was formed has seen nigh on 50% of the heather disappear altogether, a lot of the remaining stuff looks very poor, the best bits are those that have been surreptitiously burnt for either stock or grouse feeding.

Makes sense to me!

 

[pargyle]

Beefriendly and Pargyle - IS THIS LOVE?

No I think it's got more to do with combs and nits ... I have never seen anyone more determined to pick the last one .. I've had enough, he's won - he can have the last word.

 

[For want of a better word]

Thanks, I do the same as you and put prices up at the bigger foodie events, we go to £7 for 8oz/227g and £8 for about 6oz of cut comb. They usually sell well and claw back most of the admission price.
But those prices wouldn't do well on my regular market circuit.

£7.00 for a 227g of "specialist" heather or Cornish Black Bee hedgerow honey would be very much the top end.......

This price and even more would be the selling price at some garden centers and delicatessen shops.

Seems to be agreement.

Notice to anyone selling honey... DO NOT BE FRIGHTENED TO CHARGE !

( My press seems to be vitreous enameled BTW !!!)

Chons da

 

[Amari]

It’s the same here
I’d love to take just one hive and try for cut comb but nobody will pay for it
I do buy a bucket of heather most years just to be able to offer it at Conwy honey fair where it always sells but selling it locally? Forget it!

It's the same here in Suffolk. Most folk around here have no experience of heather honey. Three years ago I had a small crop from the heather at Dunwich Heath on the coast and advertised at £6/lb 'Heather Honey for Connoisseurs' cf my then price of £4/lb for 'ordinary' honey (now £5). I had very few takers. It will take time to educate my clientele! I wonder what Fortnum & Mason charge?
This year I only took one hive to the heather and got 12 lbs jarred and 12 8oz cut-comb. It has the classical bubbly texture of Ling heather honey. I am reserving it for valued friends and customers. I would have got a bigger crop if I'd had drawn thin comb in the super rather than foundation.
The heather, Bell and Ling, is unmanaged and growing on sandy soil so does not yield in drought years.

 

[Into the lions den]

It may be true in the Caledonian forests, but I can assure you it's not true on the Black Mountain or the Brecon beacons in general poor/non existent management since the National park was formed has seen nigh on 50% of the heather disappear altogether, a lot of the remaining stuff looks very poor, the best bits are those that have been surreptitiously burnt for either stock or grouse feeding.

Actually we have data going back to 1985. We have bees in four distinct areas to have a micro climate spread. Deeside, Badenoch and Speyside, West Perthshire, Angus Glens. The story is the same in all. Very little correlation between honey crop and heather burning other than the bell fades out after several years as the ling takes over. However...if you are actually losing your heather that's a very different matter from plain muirburn. Are they failing to control bracken? Bracken takeover definitely DOES hit the crop potential. Heather can also die out for other reasons too,,,beetle and winter moth as examples.

 

[Into the lions den]

Other questions.…..No...we do not place any bees on heather anywhere south of Perthshire. ALL our bees are taken to the four areas mentioned in the last post.

It is a (slightly) above average heather season. Long term ave 19.2Kg...2019 thus far looking at 21.3...but that changes daily after the extracting is tallied and averaged.

Bear in mind most of you do not have heather as your primary focus. We do so end up with a modest blossom harvest because from first spring examination we are planning and managing towards the heather. Before thinking we have done something special you need to take that into account...in the end you will see we have a year that in the round is nothing greatly different from average. The tonnage produced is only a function of numbers and 40 years of knowing where to go...not down to exceptional performance.

Quite a few pics on my twitter.

A visit by a group of UK and Italian bee farmers to one of our heather areas this summer is going to be the subject of an article in Bee Farmer written by Ian Wallace of Quince Honey Farm. Don't know which issue.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

However...if you are actually losing your heather that's a very different matter from plain muirburn. Are they failing to control bracken? Bracken takeover definitely DOES hit the crop potential. Heather can also die out for other reasons too,,,beetle and winter moth as examples.

precisely - as I said, it's general poor management, some farmers want moderate burning as the fresh shoots are better for grazing but the parks authority make it so difficult to get a licence that what we get is 'accidental' wild fires (definitely not caused by youths as is the usual accusation) severely burnt areas then struggle to recover, bracken encroaches from the margins so year on year the heather areas shrink, guaranteed disease and hive beetle takes its toll as well. older leggier heather also seems to not do so well in our area.
The parks are now beginning to wake up and consultants/teams are looking at redressing the situation and someone who lives not far from me has had spraying contracs this year to tackle the bracken.

 

[Somerford]

Somerford had a bumper crop I understand so at least one in the south did ok.

Of spring and summer honey yes. Heather was poor

 

[deemann1]

As I posted above a 20 litre hydropress is £270...55quid cheaper than a hydraulic.
I can't give you a link as on mobile.
But even you should be able to Google hydropress and find the Vigo footgrade ones used by commercial fruit growers for pressing out acidic fruit juices. They are a bright orange with stainless barrel

REALLY pargyle are you getting and selling so little honey that 300 squid is a big deal? One super of heather honey is all one costs...

How is that hydro press doing ?
Thinking on buying one

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

How is that hydro press doing ?
Thinking on buying one

You won't be getting a reply off him

 

[deemann1]

You won't be getting a reply off him

Is he banned