Lime Queen of the Honey-Bears
Of all the melliferous plants that grow in our country, there is no equal lime. From a hectare of lime forest, you can collect a ton of honey. One century old, a century-old tree, growing in a well-lit place, can distinguish five buckets of nectar for one bloom! Lipu by merit is called the queen of the Medonos. “Lime is in color – and there is no grief,” say the beekeepers.
Blossomed linden in the height of summer – in late June – early July. The mighty sprawling trees in the gold of their wild flowering are uniquely beautiful at this time. The delicate aroma of flowers densely insists the air.
Lime honey collector is short. It lasts only 12-14 days. Therefore, every hour is expensive. Only in the Far East, where several species of linden grow, blossoming one after another, it lasts up to 25 days. The Far Eastern therefore receives the highest yields of honey from the lime tree.
In places where the terrain is rugged or hilly, the lime blossom is longer. Trees on northern slopes or in lowlands bloom later than on southern, warmed slopes or in an open sunny place.
When choosing a site for linden honey take into account the terrain, and the proximity of springs, streams and rivers, creating a soft, moist microclimate that favors abundant nectar liberation and stretches the flowering of linden.
Lime is very sensitive to weather. Low or, conversely, high temperatures adversely affect nectar. The rain washes the nectar from the flowers: after all, the nectaries of the linden are open. Sukhovei dry it and make it inaccessible to insects. In this weather, the bees “shoot” from the flower to the flower or do not sit down at all. Dryweeds adversely affect all honey-plant plants, especially in open areas. Beekeepers say: “The winds are blowing – the honeycombs are empty.” Nectar excretion stops even in cold snaps.
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To collect a lot of nectar from this short, lumpy bribe, families with large reserves are needed, able to quickly join the collection of nectar and its processing into honey.
The family of bees of 6-7 kg with a large number of broods of all ages is considered quite ready for lime honey collect. When connecting to a family of flying bees from a reserve family, which is specially kept for this purpose, the family can reach 90-100 thousand insects (about 9-10 kg). Such powerful families are able to bring the maximum possible amount of nectar, even if due to unfavorable weather, the period of the honey harvest will be shortened.
Modern advanced beekeepers use a twin-celled bee keeping system when two families live in a single hive through a septum. In this two-apartment house powerful reserves are being prepared. At the beginning of the honey collection, the families are connected.
The more bees, the more they will collect nectar, besides strong families, due to the large reserves of young bees and brood, it is easier to restore losses.
The second important condition for the use of honey from the linden, as well as from other major medonos, is the nest volume and the number of honeycombs. After all, you remember, honeycomb – it’s capacity, elevators, where the honey crop is formed, where it is brought to readiness and stored. To turn nectar into honey, bees sprinkle it on a large area of honeycomb. In cells, folded nectar usually does not take more than 1/4 of the volume. The warmth of the nest and the airing that the bees arrange make it possible to evaporate the water from the nectar more quickly. If the honeycomb is not enough, the bees are forced to fill the cells almost to the brim. It is more difficult to remove water from nectar. A lot of energy is consumed.
It is believed that to accommodate 3 kg of nectar collected in one day, the family needs a whole supersize – a store. But bees bring nectar every day. If there are not enough places in the nest, they fill them with cells of brood honeycombs. The instinct of collecting food, when nature gives it in abundance, is stronger than the instinct of reproduction. Such families reduce brood rearing and, after the main honey harvest, weaken so much that they become unsuitable for participating in the collection of honey from regular strong nectarones.
The lack of honeycombs under honey reduces the flight activity of the family. It is necessary in such cases to select honey in the course of a bribe, and the more often, the faster the accumulation of nectar. But it really hinders bees. Unsettled, they collect nectar almost half as much. Moreover, the honey, taken prematurely from the nest, is not ripe.
During the honey harvest, each honeycomb is more expensive than gold. In addition, empty cells induce bees to search for nectar and pollen, and make them work more actively. When the linden blooms, if it is plentiful and the weather favors nectar, bees’ nests should consist of 6-7 hulls or 3 hulls and 4-5 stores with multi-body content and 3 hulls when bees are kept in 12-hive beehives. On the beds you need, put on 2-3 stores. Only such nests will enable bees to add an unlimited amount of nectar and gradually thicken it, and the beekeeper does not take unripe honey in the course of a bribe and does not interfere with bees.
Bees have a very valuable biological property – to collect the nectar until it is given to the plants and while in the hive there will be at least one free cell for its folding.
To honey preserved its natural taste, color and aroma in stores put light honeycombs in which brood was not removed. Honey in dark from the cocoons of honeycombs is painted, its taste qualities are also deteriorating. In the stores put not on 10, but on 8 frames. Cells are obtained full-weight. In them, the cells are deeper. The uterus does not put eggs there.
The first building or store is located above the brood nest. When the bees fill the first store with honey, a second store is put under it. So bees rather learn it. Each additional extensions are placed under the top, filled with honey.
During the main honey collection, in particular the long, the bees, abundantly eating, give off a lot of wax and actively build honeycomb. To use the energy of bee-builders, it is possible to put frames with honey in the hives, but only one or two, so as not to distract a lot of bees from honey harvest for construction work.
To facilitate bees processing nectar, enhance ventilation: fully open the lower and upper tapholes. In the heat, even shift the upper housing back, so that in front and behind there are small gaps that will also enhance the air exchange. After all, in the heat, even when individual plants, adapted to high temperatures, give off a lot of nectar, the pickers sit at home. They either switch to venting the nest, or leave it and are located outside the hive.
Lime honey, lipec, is excellent. It is slightly creamy, fragrant, with a little bitterness, it has the property of warming up the body. Especially useful for colds.
The abundance of nectar is close to a lime-tree, or Ivan the tea-taiga honey plant. It is a herbaceous plant with purple flowers. On a warm July day, if you pass through the brushwood, you will be wet from the sticky nectar. It blossoms for a long time, about a month. Siberian beekeepers get a lot of honey from it. The honeydew honey is transparent, almost colorless, with a delicate candy aroma. Taiga nectarean wealth is incalculable. Unfortunately, they are not used enough.
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