Nectar/honey flows will they ever be "like the good old days"

[casualman]

No

 

[madasafish]

With there being a solar minimum I think the next year's aren't going to be fantastic

Given the Met Office's inability to forecast with any accuracy or certainty for 7 days in advance # (partially due to our climate being so variable), making forecasts for next year is the preserve of the brave in my view...

# or 6 hours in advance in the past week...

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Study the science
2024-2034 little ice age coming

 

[Plenty of honey]

At my place I notice almost every year more or less honeydew in lime honey ( from decidious trees prevail). But conditions for huge crop don't klick each year. Pesticides aren't issue. I am in somewhat wilderness surrounded with mainly beech forests.
In one other part of Croatia they have huge flows from confierous trees. As I recall they don't complaint about pesticides also. Where these pine-coniferous grow are enormous forests in wilderness ( bear is the problem there..).
The conditions are what you already know - population of aphids that season ( not each season the same - lot dependent on how harsh winters are, as we learn), warm nights, high humidity,no rain, not too high day temps - honeydew can solidify on trees, preffered without strong warm southern wind.
I had only one season with nice crop of honeydew couple years ago.. It is nice when you walk in the forest and 10-30 meters above your head hear in the branches bees as swarms through whole forest..

Thanks Goran!

 

[Goran]

Thanks Goran!

I'm glad it helps.
Tomorrow I will go for some short visit to France.. non bee related.. Some " socializing work"
Regards.

 

[Plenty of honey]

I'm glad it helps.

Tomorrow I will go for some short visit to France.. non bee related.. Some " socializing work"

Regards.

You mean “winter beekeeping” have fun!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[For want of a better word]

With there being a solar minimum I think the next year's aren't going to be fantastic

Time to dump the Mediterranean varieties and get some adapted ice age ones?



aphids of course!!!

Yeghes da

 

[Finman]

Time to dump the Mediterranean varieties and get some adapted ice age ones?



aphids of course!!!

Yeghes da

Best are green house aphid strains. They are resistant to poisons.

.

 

[steph333]

Not much in the way of pesticides used here, and not seen very many aphids on the lime trees when they are in flower either, often non.

Another tree that is reported to have a lot of aphids for honeydew are beech trees, thousands of them around this area and I have never seen any aphids on them.

One year in five i have heard my beech tree hum with bees. Every year i hear them in the laurel.

 

[Karol]

Forests not treated with pesticides?

So what about pesticide contaminated rain?

Of course forests get exposed to pesticides especially water soluble ones.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Bless the ignore list.

PH

Amen to that

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Study the science
2024-2034 little ice age coming

Pity we've blown up good power stations and destroyed our mines plus their surrounding communities.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Ive copied this from the welcome section., Calum posted about his Aphids in Germany, all very interesting i find.

Hi by wood honey I mean honey from aphids. They provide copious amounts if the aphid populations are big enough. A lovely rich dark brown honey. If you are unlucky you can get supers full of honey that crystallizes in your frames. Not great fun when it happens - I don't bother to do anything with that- just remove it and use it for feed for young colonies (because of its mineral content it is not great winter feed- and bees need water to decrystallize it)

very interesting reply! thanks Calum.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Of course forests get exposed to pesticides especially water soluble ones.

Don't think a water soluble forest would last long

 

[Karol]

I get the quip JB but oft things said in jest..........

The concentration of neonics in guttation has been shown to range from 10mg per litre to 200mg per litre. Guttation occurs when transpiration exceeds rate of evaporation. Most water loss from plants is not observable but we can assume that the concentration of neonics in water evaporating from plants is of the same order, i.e. up to 200mg per litre.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19886445

Oilseed rape transpires approximately 113ml per square meter per hour. So in nine hours a square meter of oilseed rape may pump between 10mg to 200mg (200mg being approximately 1,600,000 times the LD50 (imidacloprid) dose for a honey bee) of neonic into the air which will come down somewhere as rainfall.

https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/4932

In the UK 17,000,000,000 square meters of oilseed rape were planted which gives a sense of just how much of these toxins are released into 'protected' environments via rainfall and explains why there has been a drop of 75% in insect populations and also why honey flows from honeydew will take time to recover post the Europe wide ban.

We have yet to see the human cost of this - there are links to major human health issues including obesity, diabetes, autism and cancers but that's a topic for under the cupboard.

 

[Finman]

.
Not to mention dyslexia of beekeepers who harvest rape honey.
.

 

[Karol]

Wouldn't surprise me Finnie!

The muscles that control the eye are particularly sensitive and any toxin that affects eye movement such as neonics will result in inhibited eye movement that could quite easily result in dyslexia.

 

[Finman]

Wouldn't surprise me Finnie!

The muscles that control the eye are particularly sensitive and any toxin that affects eye movement such as neonics will result in inhibited eye movement that could quite easily result in dyslexia.

Yes, and the first sign is that when you put beer glass on your lips, it hits to ear.
.

 

[foghornleghorn]

I get the quip JB but oft things said in jest..........

The concentration of neonics in guttation has been shown to range from 10mg per litre to 200mg per litre. Guttation occurs when transpiration exceeds rate of evaporation. Most water loss from plants is not observable but we can assume that the concentration of neonics in water evaporating from plants is of the same order, i.e. up to 200mg per litre.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19886445

Oilseed rape transpires approximately 113ml per square meter per hour. So in nine hours a square meter of oilseed rape may pump between 10mg to 200mg (200mg being approximately 1,600,000 times the LD50 (imidacloprid) dose for a honey bee) of neonic into the air which will come down somewhere as rainfall.

https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/4932

In the UK 17,000,000,000 square meters of oilseed rape were planted which gives a sense of just how much of these toxins are released into 'protected' environments via rainfall and explains why there has been a drop of 75% in insect populations and also why honey flows from honeydew will take time to recover post the Europe wide ban.

We have yet to see the human cost of this - there are links to major human health issues including obesity, diabetes, autism and cancers but that's a topic for under the cupboard.

Nonsense. They were only applied at between 1-1.5mg/m2. So unless there's new gm varieties of osr that make their own neonics you're just showing you don't have a clue.
Don't forget that they're also building up to huge concentrations in the soil while also being leached in large amounts into rivers...