Survey - Rape in flower?

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Is your local rape flowering?


  • Total voters
    50
  • Poll closed .

Rosti

Drone Bee
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
Messages
1,755
Reaction score
14
Location
North Yorks, UK
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
4
North Yorks, 7'C sunny, rape still not in flower!

I am wondering, is there a North / South || East / West divide on this, is the rape generally delayed to this extent or is Yorkshire just backward (no, don't bother, we've heard them all already)? What's the rape like near you?

1. Flowering
2. Partial flowering / very close
3. Not bloomed yet
 
s. lincs, fields have had a yellow tinge for the last few days. sunny but not warm 10C
 
S Oxfordshire just started at the weekend. 11:00 and only 10'C with a cold wind
 
Just been to see the rape and the foreman on the farm. It's at roughly 1% at best and he is planning on spraying at 5% and again at full flower.

I will be putting my stocks on when the first spray is done and I know he will phone me to tell me when he is planning the full flower spray as he has consistently done so every year.

Sometimes it pays to work with the big boys when it comes to OSR

PH
 
Sometimes it pays to work with the big boys when it comes to OSR

These people know that to have stocks of bees on OSR is sometimes asking for trouble. They would rather not be facing any type of claim if their poisons were to wipe out some geezer's bee colonies.
 
If they cant be bothered they will tell you which is fair enough but the big boys I have had the pleasure of working with are extremely co-operative and informative.

I would far rather trust a guy on 1000 acres then the little guy cutting corners to make ends meet.

PH
 
Poly Hive

Will you move the bees when he goes to spray for the second time, or will you just shut them in for the day?

I'd like to take my bees to the rape, but the spraying puts me off!
 
but the spraying puts me off!

Not much choice for me, even in my home apairy I am always surounded by OSR, no need to move hives. This year just one field over, year before last was right next to me, but last year none.
 
Last edited:
just a few spots of yellow coming out in the fields here in slough
 
Here in South Devon I reckon we're only a few days away from being in full bloom, I don't think there is quite as much about this year as last. My nearest is about 1/2 to 3/4 mile.

Si.
 
He will phone me or mail me the night before and I will pop over and shut them in for the day ensuring they have plenty of room, ie if in doubt add an empty super for extra air and space.

PH
 
being new i think i have the right fields :)
it looks like a blanket of yellow lots of it :)
 
M25, north london

20% yellow 16c sunny...should all out by weekend

bees bringing in OSR but bees numbers down on last year, so i think i'll miss the full flow...the osr has caught up on the late spring but the bees have not
 
10 - 25% here in Warwickshire I'd say. Interestingly, some fields much better advanced than others. Not sure if this reflects planting time, or slightly different types of OSR.

Like MM I think the OSR is going faster than the bees after a slow start this year.

D.
 
Just the odd flower in the odd field here in E Scotland. It needs a warm week yet.

PH, did your farmer tell you what he is spraying with? The combination of the type of chemical and the way you have to use it *should* mean that it is safe for bees (don't quote me on that!).

Apparently pyrethroids have been used to control pollen beetle at this stage of the season but - and I've just realised that I'm repeating myself - now the neonicotinoid thiacloprid is used in some parts as the beetles are becoming resistant to pyrethroids. Thiacloprid, we heard from the Bayer rep in his talk at Stoneleigh, is supposed to be harmless to bees.

My bees fly to around 5 different farms for their rape harvest so speaking to one farmer is not enough.

G.
 
OSR in Kent

Started to flower here in Kent early last week, looks to be in full flower now.
 

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