Honey analysis

[Murox]

Field mustard is Sinapis arvensis
Turnip rape is Brassica rapa, often grown as trap crop to protect oil seed rape (Brassica napus) from insect pests.

Yep. There is a whole range of rapistrum species, turnip-weed and ------- cabbage are just two of them. Last year I thought I had seen a field of OSR near me, which was very unlikely; when I drove to the field I found it was weed - r . rugosum a flowering mustard - ------- cabbage/common giant mustard/turnip-weed. There are all Brassicaceae.

 

[Erichalfbee]

So the bar chart tells you where the bees have been foraging but not what the honey is? Looking at mine it seems obvious as meadowsweet has no nectar so I presumed my honey was bramble and clover but it’s not as simple as that.

This is a conversation I’ve had elsewhere

After doing the calculations with the nectar bearing plants that quantified in the bar chart, it would seem this is mainly Rosebay Willowherb honey. What is the appearance and taste of the honey, Dani?

Margaret, I’m sure it’s bramble. It’s pale. And if I remember correctly ( taste up the Swanee still) it’s light and sweet.

Rosebay willow herb is pale, clear and sweet too. They didn't count many pollen grains on the slide they produced, but there are 2 in the 41 grains from nectar bearing plants, indicating 85% RBWH in 10 grams of the sample you scraped from the comb; even in pure single source RBWH honey there are very few RBWH pollen grains; the pollen coefficient for RBWH is 0.3 as opposed to 50 for blackberry and white clover. d

 

[For want of a better word]

So where do you get your honey pollen analyses done for free?
We already have a queue of people wanting our honey to cure their hayfever and I expect they would buy lots more if I could tell them what the girls had been eating.
Do bees eat the grass pollen, I can not find any references to it in any of the books I now seem to have accumulated.
Presents, worse than when we got married and were given no less than 7 biscuit barrels, now I already have four bee smokers!

 

[Angry_Mob]

https://honey-monitoring.ac.uk/

Also give brix readings etc for the samples.

 

[WoodenBeam]

I also had a lot of brassica types in my sample........I put it down to a lot of cover crops being put down for local shoots.........

 

[enrico]

I am inclined to agree Dani, just because the bees bring back the pollen from these plants it certainly does NOT mean that they are bringing the most nectar from the plants that produce the most pollen. Easy to get side tracked into believing something that isn't quite what it appears to be. Interesting all the same!
E

 

[Beefriendly]

They do state that that their quantitative analysis may not accurately reflect a mellisopalynological study on honey sources and pollen. They are using pcr to detect different pollen species; which is notoriously prone to errors on quantification; unless carefully controlled.
Generally speaking the smaller the pollen grains the less likely they are to appear in the honey due to filtering in the crop of the bee as it returns with it's honey load. Add in distance travelled etc and it becomes a complex equation to determine the percentages of nectar contributed by each plant; despite their being pollen coefficients that are supposed to correct for under and over representation for some pollens.

There seems to be conflicting information as to whether meadowsweet has nectar or not. Some say yes, some say no. I see bees working it with their proboscis out so am in the must be some nectar there somewhere camp.

 

[E&MBees]

https://honey-monitoring.ac.uk/

Also give brix readings etc for the samples.

Thanks for the link, I was about to ask the same thing. Hoping to get my first crop of honey this year.

 

[For want of a better word]

https://honey-monitoring.ac.uk/

Also give brix readings etc for the samples.

Thank you Angry _ Mob

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not every honey will get a pollen analysis so be prepared for disappointment
I suspect areas from where lots of samples are received they may just analyse a representative sample.

 

[iann41]

Not every honey will get a pollen analysis so be prepared for disappointment
I suspect areas from where lots of samples are received they may just analyse a representative sample.

I think this is what has happened to me. I have the sugar analysis 80% sugar 18.5% moisture, but no pollen graph. There are just two pie charts stating wheat grass and uncultivated grassland. Funny that, as I live in the middle of Sheffield.

 

[enrico]

Not every honey will get a pollen analysis so be prepared for disappointment
I suspect areas from where lots of samples are received they may just analyse a representative sample.

Didn't realise that! So no benefit to me if I already use a refractometer!
Not so sure I would bother this year!
E

 

[Ian123]

Anyone aware of a company offering this as a paid service. Thks Ian

 

[polomadh]

I too had a zero result. Does anyone know the significance of that, is it an error in the analysis or the sample I supplied? I guess other explanations could be that the sample contains no pollen, unlikely as I tend to only give a little feed in the spring, or that pollen detected is not in their database, again unlikely I imagine.

Has anyone asked, if not I will drop them a note tomorrow.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I too had a zero result. Does anyone know the significance of that, is it an error in the analysis or the sample I supplied? I guess other explanations could be that the sample contains no pollen, unlikely as I tend to only give a little feed in the spring, or that pollen detected is not in their database, again unlikely I imagine.

Has anyone asked, if not I will drop them a note tomorrow.

On their website it states "Although our goal is to analyse all honey samples, like every other project we are limited by funding. In some cases we may need to either undertake a reduced number of analyses or in extreme cases archive the sample for future research. It is likely we will prioritise samples based on their location, as some regions have fewer bee keepers and so we have less information about what is in the honey of those areas."

 

[Beefriendly]

Has anyone asked, if not I will drop them a note tomorrow.

As Dani says they don't promise to analyse every-bodies honey.
But if you do drop them them a line I would ask them if you can get access to the results of a representative sample from your area.
I've found the whole thing very interesting. Can't wait to get some spring honey and get it analysed. Particularly as so few farmers around me are now growing OSR due to losing money on the crop. The costs of all the additional sprays negates the feasibility in a tough market place.

 

[Amari]

Field mustard is Sinapis arvensis
Turnip rape is Brassica rapa, often grown as trap crop to protect oil seed rape (Brassica napus) from insect pests.

Bf, could you explain further please? Is the seed of the trap/decoy crop, B. rapa, sown mixed together with the OSR seed or separately in an adjacent plot etc? How does the turnip function as a decoy?
My apiary in arable Suffolk is surrounded by fields of OSR, sugar beet and cereal. I collected my honey sample on 22 July. It showed 65% turnip B. rapa, then 15% cabbage B. oleracea, then 8% OSR, then 5% Chinese mustard B. juncea and 5% bramble.
I'm puzzled by the high preponderance of the turnip pollen and the 15% cabbage.
I am unaware of any brassica except OSR sown locally and the only brassica shown on the pie chart of crops grown within 2km of my apiary is OSR.

PS: there was no lime pollen identified despite a row of 10 lime trees in full bloom adjacent to my apiary!

 

[Beefriendly]

I'm no expert i'm afraid. But usually decoy crops are planted earlier than main crop so it attracts and is attacked first by the insect pests that would attack the main crop and then it can be destroyed. Usually planted around the outside of the field, but sometimes intermingled.

 

[RJC]

Quite a lot of wild bird seed mixes, pollinator mixes or game cover crop mixes contain various brassicas and mustards; it could be tase strips alongside arable fields giving you your pollen mixture?

 

[Newbeeneil]

I'm puzzled by the high preponderance of the turnip pollen and the 15% cabbage.
I am unaware of any brassica except OSR sown locally and the only brassica shown on the pie chart of crops grown within 2km of my apiary is OSR.

PS: there was no lime pollen identified despite a row of 10 lime trees in full bloom adjacent to my apiary!

I'm the same re brassicas, my sample gave 55% turnip, 22% cabbage, 11% travellers joy and 5% rape. I have no idea where the turnip and cabbage came from as the adjacent fields either had wheat or rape!