What about the lime?

[gavin]

OK, this hasn't been a good season so far. But .. the ground is well saturated (close your eyes Adam) and lime buds are swelling. Will this be the year I get a decent lime flow? The bees look up for it. I have trees near the apiary but as they don't normally have roots in damp ground I usually miss out on a flow. An acquaintance in the west usually gets lime honey but he has trees over a spring and trees with their roots near a stream.

[chris]

Don't forget, Gavin, that the main necessity for a strong lme flow is sunshine , that for which Scotland is as famous as for its whisky
I'm in the middle of my lime flow,the main flow here. All the trees are vrooming, but any part in the shade is empty of insects. A day of rain can be disastrous.
By the way, I've just been castigated by a French school marm for translating "tilleul" as lime. She says that if I don't use "linden" the British will think I mean those green lemonlike things. Couldn't budge her a millimeter.The fact that I'm British just shows how ignorent we all are

[gavin]

Rain this week, sunshine next! Ever the (beekeeping) optimist ....

Do your limes need access to water to be productive?

G.

PS What's 'linden'?

[Jon]

Linden is German for Lime. I think it is also used in parts of the US.
I read somewhere that for Lime to secrete nectar the temperature has to be well over 20c and very humid and also that the nectar is mainly secreted in the morning.
I have a lot of mature Lime trees nearby on what used to be an old estate but I have never got anything from them.

The best hope at the moment is the bramble as it secretes nectar at lower temperatures. The willowherb is also starting.

[Rosie]

I bought my original stock from a beekeeper who kept his bees in Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire. They had what's probably the biggest lime avenue in Britain which stretched about a mile and were 6 deep (if I remember correctly). Lime was his main flow so I put my bees in a Natural trust parkland in Derbyshire where I counted about 130 lime trees. In about 6 years I never got a drop of the stuff.

By the way Jon, I think Gavin knew what Linden is. I am surpriesd the French teacher didn't insist on "bass" rather than linden because at least bass comes from a version of English.

Rosie

[gavin]

Let's make 2011 the year we get to the bottom of what makes some lime trees secrete and others not. I thought that I had it on the dampness at the roots angle, but I'll be happy to be proved wrong. Maybe it is taxonomic as well as some of the other things mentioned.

Last July there was a lime tree outside the big house in which we were having an extended family holiday in N of Oban (the family was extended, not the week) and it was heaving with bumble bees for a couple of days. Warmish (and humid) but not *that* warm.

I gather that there is a heatwave about to creep up from the south and falter at Hadrian's Wall.

I was trying to use the winking smiley to avoid misunderstanding but sometimes you just have to accept that folk might not see things the way you hoped!

G.

[chris]

I'll go along with the idea that water at the roots is essential. I always thought that dryness at the flower was also necessary, but this year I've seen the bees foraging the LIME in humid weather. As for time of day, up until nightfall they're busy. What I've also noticed this year is that some of the limes are much more perfumed than others, and they're the ones that are worked.

[Jon]

I was trying to use the winking smiley to avoid misunderstanding but sometimes you just have to accept that folk might not see things the way you hoped!

G.

Apologies, missed your explanatory smilie. Busy week and only half reading posts.

[gavin]

No need! Here's another smillie:

[gavin]

I'll go along with the idea that water at the roots is essential. I always thought that dryness at the flower was also necessary, but this year I've seen the bees foraging the LIME in humid weather. As for time of day, up until nightfall they're busy. What I've also noticed this year is that some of the limes are much more perfumed than others, and they're the ones that are worked.

I've seen mine foraging on sycamore in a drizzle. The canopy nicely protects the dangling inflorescence underneath from getting wet. Lime seems even better prepared for rainfall with that large bract-umbrella thing protecting the flowers.

Interesting that you notice a difference in scent Chris. I have a batch of field bean plants growing in a polytunnel for seed production. As I want genetic purity we've blocked off all the ways bees could get in. The scent of these beans has been marvellous, really lovely. Bees (a commercial bumble bee colony) went in yesterday and today the scent has almost gone. Why? Did the plants switch it off once they were pollinated?