Which to plant - sycamore or horse chestnut

[Jimy Dee]

Folks - I have the good fortune to be in a position to plant either sycamore or horse chestnut for spring honey. Which is better for the bees? (nothing else is to be planted, these two options only). I will be planting around 20 to 30 trees trees. Please keep in mind they will be young trees only 2 to 3 years old so speed of nectar return is also a factor to take into account - hopefully I will still be beekeeping in 20 years time!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Sycamore - have you tasted chestnut honey?

 

[enrico]

Sycamore is a weed tree, horse chestnut will flower sooner, sweet chestnut will give you nuts as well, is lime an option?
E

 

[REDWOOD]

horse chestnut honey tastes like Tesco honey

 

[Jimy Dee]

Nothing else is an option - sycamore or conkers. lime is out. I like the fact that sycamore is a weed - it will hopefully spread the bee love around the place. Don't we love certain weeds as beekeepers !? Never knew that horse chestnut honey is not nice. Does any get pure horse chestnut honey and is it commonly held that its honey is yuck?

 

[REDWOOD]

Me, thinking of chopping the thing down

 

[JohnRoss]

Sorry, I know you say it is not an option but I think Oak. In my opinion. 20 sycamores or chestnuts will make very little difference to your yield in our lifetime. Oak is much better for the ecology of Ireland.

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

Sorry, I know you say it is not an option but I think Oak. In my opinion. 20 sycamores or chestnuts will make very little difference to your yield in our lifetime. Oak is much better for the ecology of Ireland.

Would the powers that be know the difference between a horse chestnut and a sweet chestnut? If so I think you might have a case for negotiation on the long term fruiting front. Sycamore is such a pest holder and invasive too. There have also been some problems in England with dogs becoming ill after being walked among Horse Chestnut possibly due to wolfing down the fruits on the ground. Sweet chestnut is a valuable tree in many ways, edible fruits, shade and timber.

 

[Erichalfbee]

What pests do Sycamores hold?

 

[MuswellMetro]

all the horse chesnut trees near me look terrible due to the horse-chestnut leaf miner (Cameraria ohridella)

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

Greenfly and other aphids. Probably the bees gather the honeydew which is the excrement from the aphids.

 

[Goran]

If these are only options I would plant none..

 

[Jimy Dee]

alright out side of all the other issues, if we concentrate on what is best for honey production, which tree is it - sycamore or chestnut?

 

[Hivemaker.]

alright out side of all the other issues, if we concentrate on what is best for honey production, which tree is it - sycamore or chestnut?

Sycamore.

 

[rayz_x]

I think there is a lot of surprise that anyone would insist you plant either of these trees or none at all. There are probably dozens of things that would be better. Any reason these are the options? I don't think I am the only puzzled one.

Ray

 

[Jimy Dee]

Why these two only ? - Without going into the ins and outs of it in depth, in my part of Ireland the two main (if not only) TREES that give spring/pre-summer honey boils down to sycamore or horse chestnut. They are the leaders by a long distance. There is plenty of summer forage. So from a pre-summer honey flow point of view ONLY these trees will be planted. I am really surprised to hear that horse chestnut is not nice, I never knew it. Sycamore seems to be the winner so far - from the aspect of spring honey production

 

[Goran]

alright out side of all the other issues, if we concentrate on what is best for honey production, which tree is it - sycamore or chestnut?

Sycamore. This spring I have in my spring honey pretty much from sycamore " tree family". It has some intriguing taste mixed with wild cherries and such, dark red colour.. As I'm been told and when look its flower it passes fast, so if weather isn't nice it can last in bad time when bees can't go out..
My favourite for spring is wild cherry, forest willow - for my place.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

in my part of Ireland the two main (if not only) TREES that give spring/pre-summer honey boils down to sycamore or horse chestnut. They are the leaders by a long distance. There is plenty of summer forage. So from a pre-summer honey flow point of view ONLY these trees will be planted.

What about hawthorn? - great early flows on that - quicker growing, really hardy and you could use as hedgerows to replace the barbed wire usually seen all over the place

 

[Torq]

We have mature sycamore and horse chestnut outside the house, both are over 80 years old and I've never seen a bee on either.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Sycamore will probably start flowering some years before the Horse Chestnut - how long can you wait for the nectar to flow?