Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

Hiya,

I want to plant a couple of said plants - but I keep finding articles on
the web that say that honey made by bees visiting many (all?) of the
subtypes of rhododendron end up with toxic (to humans) honey.

Is this crap or is there any truth to it?

Some neighbours keep bees and I don't want to do anything unecessarily
adverse.

TIA

Tim

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

On 06/05/14 10:35, Chris Hogg wrote:

Many years ago I used to keep bees, and I also grew lots of rhodies in
the garden (see my reply to Sacha on her R. Yakushimanum query). My
bees made lots of honey, typically 40 lbs per hive per season from two
hives (we were out in the country, a lot of the honey came from
brambles IIRC). I ate much of it, gave a lot away and also sold a lot
of it locally. Nobody died. Even if rhodie nectar does give poisonous-
to-humans honey, the proportion in any particular honey crop from a
few rhodie plants nearby will be small to miniscule, so will have no
detrimental effect. The fact that I got lots of honey means that the
bees didn't suffer either.


Thanks Chris - that's good to hear...

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

On 06/05/2014 09:53, Tim Watts wrote:
Hiya,

I want to plant a couple of said plants - but I keep finding articles on
the web that say that honey made by bees visiting many (all?) of the
subtypes of rhododendron end up with toxic (to humans) honey.

Is this crap or is there any truth to it?

There is an element of truth to it. Some flower nectars contain
alkaloids that are bad for humans but harmless to insects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bees_an...ls#Toxic_honey

Some neighbours keep bees and I don't want to do anything unecessarily
adverse.

TIA

Tim

Provided the honey isn't exclusively from rhododendrons then the honey
is unlikely to be significantly affected. The dose makes the poison.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

On 06/05/14 11:40, Martin Brown wrote:
On 06/05/2014 09:53, Tim Watts wrote:
Hiya,

I want to plant a couple of said plants - but I keep finding articles on
the web that say that honey made by bees visiting many (all?) of the
subtypes of rhododendron end up with toxic (to humans) honey.

Is this crap or is there any truth to it?

There is an element of truth to it. Some flower nectars contain
alkaloids that are bad for humans but harmless to insects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bees_an...ls#Toxic_honey

Ah:

"Rhododendron ponticum"

That's the one the EU wants to ban... It was not on my list of potential
planters.



Some neighbours keep bees and I don't want to do anything unecessarily
adverse.

TIA

Tim

Provided the honey isn't exclusively from rhododendrons then the honey
is unlikely to be significantly affected. The dose makes the poison.


I guess - thought it was worth punting the question...

Thanks for the reply Martin :)

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

In article ,
says...
Many years ago I used to keep bees, and I also grew lots of rhodies in
the garden (see my reply to Sacha on her R. Yakushimanum query). My
bees made lots of honey, typically 40 lbs per hive per season from two
hives (we were out in the country, a lot of the honey came from
brambles IIRC).


A bit off topic, but something that has always intrigued me.

How do you know where you bees get the honey? I know you can
buy various types of honey (ie from specific plants) but is
there any guarantee that it is really what it says on the jar?

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

On 06/05/14 19:42, Roger Tonkin wrote:
In article ,
says...
Many years ago I used to keep bees, and I also grew lots of rhodies in
the garden (see my reply to Sacha on her R. Yakushimanum query). My
bees made lots of honey, typically 40 lbs per hive per season from two
hives (we were out in the country, a lot of the honey came from
brambles IIRC).


A bit off topic, but something that has always intrigued me.

How do you know where you bees get the honey? I know you can
buy various types of honey (ie from specific plants) but is
there any guarantee that it is really what it says on the jar?


Eucalyptus honey is fairly unmistakable. I hate it BTW.

I can usually tell one or two of the other New Forest honies too.

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...
Many years ago I used to keep bees, and I also grew lots of rhodies in
the garden (see my reply to Sacha on her R. Yakushimanum query). My
bees made lots of honey, typically 40 lbs per hive per season from two
hives (we were out in the country, a lot of the honey came from
brambles IIRC).


A bit off topic, but something that has always intrigued me.

How do you know where you bees get the honey? I know you can
buy various types of honey (ie from specific plants) but is
there any guarantee that it is really what it says on the jar?

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

When it says say "Heather Honey" its normally because the hives have been
placed in an area where that is all that is in flower. So I assume the same
applies for other sorts?

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

On 06/05/14 20:22, Charlie Pridham wrote:

When it says say "Heather Honey" its normally because the hives have
been placed in an area where that is all that is in flower. So I assume
the same applies for other sorts?


"Heather" with a hint of gorse?

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...
On 06/05/14 20:22, Charlie Pridham wrote:

When it says say "Heather Honey" its normally because the hives have
been placed in an area where that is all that is in flower. So I assume
the same applies for other sorts?


"Heather" with a hint of gorse?

Depends where the heather moor is, I am in the west and Gorse is as common
as heather, but its not that hardy and you don't find gorse on all heather
moorland.


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

On 06/05/2014 13:04, Tim Watts wrote:
On 06/05/14 11:40, Martin Brown wrote:
On 06/05/2014 09:53, Tim Watts wrote:
Hiya,

I want to plant a couple of said plants - but I keep finding articles on
the web that say that honey made by bees visiting many (all?) of the
subtypes of rhododendron end up with toxic (to humans) honey.

Is this crap or is there any truth to it?

There is an element of truth to it. Some flower nectars contain
alkaloids that are bad for humans but harmless to insects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bees_an...ls#Toxic_honey

Ah:

"Rhododendron ponticum"

That's the one the EU wants to ban... It was not on my list of potential
planters.

Reports of the toxicity of Rhododendron honey go back at least as far as
Xenophon. However the toxicity is not restricted to Rhododendron ponticum.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3404272/




Some neighbours keep bees and I don't want to do anything unecessarily
adverse.

TIA

Tim

Provided the honey isn't exclusively from rhododendrons then the honey
is unlikely to be significantly affected. The dose makes the poison.


I guess - thought it was worth punting the question...

Thanks for the reply Martin :)


--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

On Tue, 06 May 2014 20:01:38 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

On 06/05/14 19:42, Roger Tonkin wrote:

A bit off topic, but something that has always intrigued me.

How do you know where you bees get the honey? I know you can buy
various types of honey (ie from specific plants) but is there any
guarantee that it is really what it says on the jar?


Eucalyptus honey is fairly unmistakable. I hate it BTW.

I can usually tell one or two of the other New Forest honies too.

Sweet chestnut, linden (Tilia) and lavender honey all have very
distinctive flavours.

Rape honey is sold cheaper than the others here, I seem to recall it
crystallises faster (or something like that) than the other kinds.

-E

--
Gardening in Lower Normandy

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

"Emery Davis" wrote in message
...

Rape honey is sold cheaper than the others here, I seem to recall it
crystallises faster (or something like that) than the other kinds.

Rape honey stays liquid in its original cells and is great for
the bees to feed the larvae in spring, to increase the colony
size rapidly. Once you take it out of its original cells it sets
like white concrete in about 6 weeks and retains its cabbagy
taste. No self respecting beekeeper would think of eating
rape honey!

Ardmhor
Beekeeping in the North of Scotland

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

In article ,
says...

When it says say "Heather Honey" its normally because the hives have been
placed in an area where that is all that is in flower. So I assume the same
applies for other sorts?

Yes, and bee keepers will even move their hives to different crop-
forage areas for the bees.

If you ever go to a honey exhibition at big agricultural shows etc
you'll see dozens of different honey flavours from different flowers..
you can see and taste the colour and flavour differences.

Janet

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

In article ,
says...

On 06/05/14 20:22, Charlie Pridham wrote:

When it says say "Heather Honey" its normally because the hives have
been placed in an area where that is all that is in flower. So I assume
the same applies for other sorts?


"Heather" with a hint of gorse?

They don't flower at the same time.

Janet

Rhododendron and toxicity to honey via bees???
 

In article ,
Janet wrote:
In article ,
says...
On 06/05/14 20:22, Charlie Pridham wrote:

When it says say "Heather Honey" its normally because the hives have
been placed in an area where that is all that is in flower. So I assume
the same applies for other sorts?


"Heather" with a hint of gorse?

They don't flower at the same time.

Kissing is out of season when gorse is out of bloom :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.