LimeWatch UK

[madasafish]

Rained overnight again - a little.
Limes were wet and flowers tightly closed.

 

[SDM]

And I thought that Lime could be narcotic which is why Bumblebees fell off the flowers. Seems strange that a bee would persist in an empty flower till it died of starvation

That was the theory for hundreds of years or that the nectar contained mannose which is toxic to some bees., but nobody had ever tested the theory.
It turns out that if you feed lime nectar to bumbles dying under lime trees then they recover almost immediately. Honeybees have reserves back at the hive so, it affects bumbles far more.

 

[daroco]

Starting to open here. Rain the last couple of mornings, so hoping there is going to be the moisture. Temperatures are looking good.

 

[Beefriendly]

No rain for what seems like months and the mature lime trees about 500 m's from me are well into flowering and are awash with bees, bumbles, hover flies etc etc. The sound is just amazing.

 

[Erichalfbee]

No rain for what seems like months and the mature lime trees about 500 m's from me are well into flowering and are awash with bees, bumbles, hover flies etc etc. The sound is just amazing.

That sounds brilliant
I’ve just returned from Much Wenlock and the Limes there are huge. I looked at them with a great deal of envy

 

[enrico]

There must be something that triggers nectar. Thousands of flowers here but not one single insect!!!!!
E

 

[Beefriendly]

There must be something that triggers nectar. Thousands of flowers here but not one single insect!!!!!
E

Interesting you should say that Enrico. There are about 5 very old mature trees together by the old vicarage that were huimming with glee....and another very old mature tree about 100 yards away on the edge of the churchyard and I couldn't see from them where there wasn't a visible insect...I put it down to this one being in the shade and others in the evening sunlight....I shall pop over and have another look.

Addendum...this one has finished flowers gone over.

A little bit of research finds their are over 30 different species of limes and Howes describes the main nectar producing ones as T x Europaea and T. platyphyllos which supple nearly all the lime honey.
Interesting, the nectar is exposed to the weather and is supposedly only produced in the morning....hence warm sultry mornings before it evaporates are the best.
So what where all the bees doing on it yesterday evening, warm sultry...
Today it's baking and no bumbles or honey bees but 1000,s of other insects.

 

[enrico]

Nectar evaporation sounds very likely, like the thinking. I know my biggest crop ever of lime honey was hot and humid days after long wet spell. I couldn't keep up. I still have one into little jar left of pure, see through, runny honey with a definite green tinge.
Next year for me maybe!
E

 

[Hive13]

Not the UK but Lime trees are in flower in Dublin, Ireland for the last 2 weeks.

The bumble bees were the first on the trees, outnumbering the bees 20 to 1.
Neither appears to be collecting pollen.

Now the bees have finally come out in force. Weather here very dry and warm.

We must have different species as some trees are much later coming into flower.

 

[Beefriendly]

I still have one into little jar left of pure, see through, runny honey with a definite green tinge.
Next year for me maybe!
E

I just extracted 8 supers of a lovely tasting see through runny honey with a green tinge and the limes are just finishing flowering.
Thoughts of a Yorkshire Linden honey at Manuka prices never crossed my mind
Being pragmatic by nature I spend an hour centrifuging and staining the pollen in my "Linden" honey. Lime pollen is quite distinctive. You had me going Enrico.
It's a smorgasbord of different pollen's, The main predominant recognizable one being field beans (there a field of them about 800m's away), long oval with obvious pore. Right size as well. Lots of big round ones and lots of little small ones (no idea at the moment). No blackberry...very surprising and after searching through 2 slides I found a single solitary Lime pollen! It's quite distinctive with 3 ingresses that often have little plumes showing through them. (picture below)

Further reading shows that Lime only produce nectar in the morning and it's not protected from the weather. Hot sun dries it off so non available to bees. Overcast, humid conditions bees have time to harvest before it dries.

So I asked myself what the hell were bees doing on the Lime trees late yesterday evening. I think the answer may lie in several green coloured pollen clogged frames I came across this afternoon. Shall dig some out and confirm.

 

[enrico]

Or possibly honeydew?
Lime never sets, it stays very runny for ever!
E

 

[Beefriendly]

Enrico would you agree on those tasting notes below. I cribbed them from T'internet.
Mine is nothing like this...almost certainly Yorkshire field bean errrr ummm summer blossom honey.
Lime/Linden honey tasting notes.
The usual rule of darker is stronger is broken with Linden honey. When very fresh it has a greenish color, but after a time it becomes clear to amber with a yellow tone. The aroma is described as woody, pharmacy and fresh, also described as mint, balsamic, menthol and camphor.
It is medium sweet, with a woodsy flavor. Strong flavors of mint and lime will linger on the palate.

 

[enrico]

Enrico would you agree on those tasting notes below. I cribbed them from T'internet.
Mine is nothing like this...almost certainly Yorkshire field bean errrr ummm summer blossom honey.
Lime/Linden honey tasting notes.
The usual rule of darker is stronger is broken with Linden honey. When very fresh it has a greenish color, but after a time it becomes clear to amber with a yellow tone. The aroma is described as woody, pharmacy and fresh, also described as mint, balsamic, menthol and camphor.

Yep, I was so taken by it that I posted samples to anyone who wanted one when I took off over 500lbs of the stuff. I could have sold it a million times over. I had one customer who bought one jar and came back for £100 worth. Cash!
I have seen it for sale in shops as a set honey......never.....they lie!
E

 

[Beefriendly]

Or possibly honeydew?

E

Good point.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes that’s the stuff that drips on cars parked under them.

 

[Beefriendly]

I have seen it for sale in shops
E

Only place I ever saw it for sale was Berlin...and obviously from a tourist kiosk on quite a famous street where it was bought from....I remember the minty taste as being unusual.

 

[Beefriendly]

when I took off over 500lbs of the stuff.
E

Hat off Enrico...that's a lot of a honey from a very fickle nectar flow.

 

[Beefriendly]

ooops.

 

[enrico]

Bump

 

[maddydog]

Got a new apiary and the bees performed poorly despite what looks a promising area. There is, however, a large Avenue of limes so fingers crossed