Well, this has been a very good spring for blooms of all types! The Locust bloom was one of those that happens about every nine years and the blackberry bloom was huge after being frozen last year. Everything seemed to bloom double this year following a disastrous 2007 spring.
I was very excited to see my bees were bringing in LOTS of Locust honey because this honey is truly wonderful and beats even Sourwood for color and taste! The blackberry honey is very tasty too and both of these blooms combined seemed to have my bees all abuzz. I noticed the Tulip Poplar began blooming, but I never saw the trademark dark color showing up in my hives. Several beekeepers had commented to me that they were not seeing Tulip Poplar honey in their hives. I had my theory on what was happening, because most years we would be producing loads of Tulip Poplar, but this year none. Every beekeeper in this area looks to Tulip Poplar to provide winter stores and get a little for sale. Then they all look to Sourwood for the money crop. A honeybee has to visit from 20 to 100 blooms to fill her honey stomach on most types of plants, but the honey stomach can be filled on 1 Tulip Poplar bloom. This makes Tulip Poplar very efficient for maximum production.
Yesterday at the Buncombe County Beekeeper's field day, I had a chance to talk about this Tulip Poplar issue with my friend Greg Roger's who owns Haw Creek Honey. Greg has about 400 hives and I figured if anyone had seen this lack of Tulip Poplar and had a good explanation, he would. Greg confirmed my suspicion when he said the bees started on the excellent Locust and Blackberry blooms and just stayed with them even when the more productive Tulip Poplar started blooming. The bees did not switch over to gathering nectar from the Poplar until the Locust and Blackberry blooms had ended. By this time, the Poplar bloom was nearing the end and very little Tulip Poplar honey was produced.
Greg and I discussed the plus side of this situation being we now have a very rare and premium spring honey to sell. The negative side we agreed is that we have about 1/2 to 1/3 the amount of honey we should have had if the bees were working the Poplar. I can get a little more money for the Locust honey, but not enough to make up for having half as much honey as usual. I love Locust honey, but give me the Tulip Poplar every time for being a productive beekeeper.
1 comment:
Just a slight variation in climate from you, 50 miles north, and here the tulip poplar honey came in. Course I only had one hive big enough to take advantage of it, but it was impressive.
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