Osr

[Newbeebeekeeper]

Hey is the verdict all bad about osr? I dont gave any near me but there is some up the country abit

Thanks

 

[maddydog]

For some on here osr is integral to the way they manage their bees. Can be a phenomenal source of nectar and pollen.

 

[Millet]

For all i moan about it i found the first batch i extracted nice tasting and so did everyone else i gave it too, the thing i do not like is having to mess about doing soft set honey from OSR, however my hives are located where it is grown just about every year sometimes within a stone throw, so other than moving my hives i will just have to deal with it..

 

[Charliej]

What do you do when the farmer sprays the field with insecticide ?

 

[Hivemaker.]

What do you do when the farmer sprays the field with insecticide ?

Nothing.

 

[Poly Hive]

I saw a fully in flower field being sprayed the other day. Good to see the message is well and truly onboard though of course it may well not have been an insecticie being applied.

With it being as dry as it is here I suspect the blossom period is going to be for a very short time as no rain is forecast until the end of the month.

PH

 

[Beefriendly]

The main ingredient of the first sprays are a usually just a fungicide. Sometimes with a small amount of insecticide. So far it has not had any noticeable effect on my bees.

 

[Harley1]

I can never get enough OSR honey. I don't worry about sprays. Maybe I've been lucky but I've never noticed any problems afterwards. There's very little where my bees are now but when I kept them in the garden they were surrounded by the stuff.

 

[Brian Bush]

My Farmer rang me to say he was spraying with fungicide. He no longer uses insecticides on OSR and says that there should be no reason to at all.

 

[Worldsend]

Just starting to go over in my bit of Hampshire

 

[Hivemaker.]

He no longer uses insecticides on OSR and says that there should be no reason to at all.

They only use fungicide on it here as well.

 

[Millet]

Just starting to go over in my bit of Hampshire

It is in full flow here and the fields are still bright yellow, everything is well behind this year.

 

[mbc]

They only use fungicide on it here as well.

Ditto

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Doesn't matter its behind... Its hit the good spell of weather... This is what spring should be

 

[Poly Hive]

Might be past for you but just coming into full flower here. Have to say though some fields are looking pretty shabby after the drowning they got in Autumn and Winter. Some of the undersown grass fields look dire.

PH

 

[maddydog]

Might be past for you but just coming into full flower here. Have to say though some fields are looking pretty shabby after the drowning they got in Autumn and Winter. Some of the undersown grass fields look dire.

PH

You forget nothing exists above the Watford Gap.

Same picture here, some in full flower, other fields getting going and quite a few going nowhere.

 

[beeno]

They kill flea beetle with fungicide do they?

 

[Beefriendly]

It attacks the young OSR plants in the autumn as they emerge (their most vulnerable period). The farmers probably spray insecticides at this time. No flowers so no bee problems.

 

[drex]

Despite pulling my back yesterday, puttin on clearer boards, I am taking the OSR crop off today. Weight wise it is much better harvest than I thought it would be. They only had two usable weeks to forage, and the fields are well over now.

 

[Beefriendly]

Amazing the difference a few hundred miles makes. Some of the fields of OSR near us are just coming into flower, I'm getting what is in the supers harvested now before they fill it with rape honey and see if I can achieve a spring blossom honey.