Subject:
Re: Manuka seeds wanted
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 01:02:11 +0000
From: James Kilty james@kilty.demon.co.uk
Newsgroups:
sci.agriculture.beekeeping
References: 1 , 2 , 3

I think we all have a problem with our bees if we want them to produce honey all the year round. In an ideal world, at least in my ideal world, our bees are adapted to the area we live in. Their egg laying, foraging and storing habits are instincts passed on genetically, therefore by selection over, in most cases, millennia. So they adapt to a particular environment. I don't know if honeybees are native to your islands. If so, the best advice I can give is to select and rear from your best stock; try to persuade other beekeepers to do the same if they don't already and give them more of the *indigenous* bee plants.

If you add foreign forage plants then you are asking the bees to change their behaviour to give you a better harvest. You are also asking the environment to adapt to your needs too at some cost. The bees will certainly go for the new unexpected forage but there will be an unpredictable price to pay. I suggest planting the best Mediterranean species you can think of, which will give nectar flows over the September to April period and enhance your existing flows. Remember too, that planting new species will take up space that could be occupied by indigenous plants.

If bees are not indigenous, then the race and strain you rear need to be acquired from somewhere with a similar climate. Presumably Spanish or Italian bees would be right but I imagine it would be quite easy to match your climate very well even though it is an island.

I would be interested to hear how others think about the inter-related problems of bee race, forage, environment and conservation, bearing in mind that many of the world's honey producing countries do not have indigenous honeybees at all and must therefore select one or other of the many non-native races for their purposes. I wonder how many problems have been created by selecting "the wrong race" or strain and indeed by introducing additional competition for resources from the honey bee.

--
James Kilty

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