BBKA Forum

A friend was talking to another Beekeeper and they commented that it'd been a good year for Hawthorne nectar.

Now, I've never seen honey bees on Hawthorne in my limited time as a Beekeeper. Reading ROB Manleys book and he remarked that in his beekeeping carear that he'd only ever known of two good years.

Thus I'm somewhat sceptical that this has been a good Hawthorne year but it's has certainly been a good honey spring.

I'm interested in others views, does any one else think it's been a good Hawthorne nectar year?

If ta do, why?

Well the hawthorn tree just opposite my house hardly had any flowers and they only lasted a day.

I am not convinced it gives much of a flow around here Chris. I think it is not always just non-beekeepers who think lots of any flowers is “good for bees”. They can be but not always. As Hawthorn like many shrubs and trees flowers on buds from the previous year, annual flailing of hawthorn hedges usually knackers their flowering potential anyway.

It was good near me. You could smell the whiff of "cats pee" when you opened the supers up. But's like many it's quite rare for it to yield well. Nice pale honey which I will, at some stage, check the pollen contents of.

NigelP wrote: ↑

25 Jun 2020, 10:44

It was good near me. You could smell the whiff of "cats pee" when you opened the supers up. But's like many it's quite rare for it to yield well. Nice pale honey which I will, at some stage, check the pollen contents of.

Is that the give away scent? Interesting

Patrick wrote: ↑

25 Jun 2020, 00:51

I am not convinced it gives much of a flow around here Chris. I think it is not always just non-beekeepers who think lots of any flowers is “good for bees”. They can be but not always. As Hawthorn like many shrubs and trees flowers on buds from the previous year, annual flailing of hawthorn hedges usually knackers their flowering potential anyway.

Around here there is an aweful lot of Hawthorne that flowers, so if it does yield, it certainly has potential

It's another rare source, like lime. It has open flowers so needs high humidity otherwise (like Lime) the nectar evaporates. It's also known as the 11 o'clock tree as that is the earliest time of day it contains nectar...which in hot sunny day is evaporated very quickly.
I have an avenue of old lime trees about 400 yards from my homer apiary...always lots of flowers. Yet to find a single pollen grain in my honey from that time of year.
I live in hope....bought some "Linden" honey in Germany and it really does have a characteristic "minty" taste.