grapes

[zzzzzzzzpr]

do bees like grapes? I have a local framer that has grapes. im wanting to put a hive or 2 on his property.
what of black berries as well?

[ThomasGR]

Bees likes grapes, when they are soft enough prior to harvest. Mainly other insects go to grapes before bees. But this is the reason that farmers do not want bees close to the grapes.

[blanc]

Bees work the mess out of black berries!  :-D We had our flow of black berries over a month ago and the honey is great.
Blanc

[sc-bee]

I am not aware of bees getting alot of nectar from grapes. At least I have not had luck with it (scuppernongs sp.). As far as the fruit, bees do not pieirece the skin of the grape. They will go behind other insects that do pierce the skin.

They love blackberry bloom a big source for me.

[Lone]

Bees are not used to pollinate grapes.  Your bees won't benefit from the flowers either.

Lone

[dprater]

I agree, I have muscadines and never saw a bee on any of my vines.

[chux]

Here in eastern NC, I'm in the process of doing a cutout of five colonies from an old abandoned house that is about to be demolished by the owner. I have removed two colonies so far. The honey in both is very light in color, thin in texture, and tastes like grape. The flavor is unmistakeably grape. Now, what could they have gotten nectar from to make the honey taste, strongly, like grape? Everyone who tastes it agrees that it has a good grape flavor. Last year we had a bumper crop of wild muskedine grapes in the area. (I picked a ton and made jelly) If that honey didn't come from bees going to grape vines, then they took something else and made it taste like grape. I say, put them in there and give them a try.
   

[Lone]

Hello Chux,

According to Wikipedia, Muscadine grapes are native to the USA, but are different to most other grapes in that they are not usually self-pollinating.

  "Unlike most cultivated grapevines, many muscadine cultivars are pistillate, requiring a pollenizer to set fruit."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscadine

Apparently, the usual pollinator is a little stingless bee.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/causes-pollination-muscadine-grapes-61361.html

Perhaps if pollination is required, the flowers will produce nectar to attract the insects. It is up to you to observe whether Apis bees are in the flowers and if the flowers are therefore likely to be large enough for them.  Maybe,  zzzzzzzzpr, if your neighbour has Muscadines then bees will do all right there?

One of the adjoining properties has grapes and mangoes, neither of which bees like.  That is fine by me as I don't have to worry about avoiding certain sprays. And after spending 6 weeks there cleaning grapes and having to taste test several varieties of mould, I don't think I've eaten a grape in 10 years.

Regarding blackberries, I tasted blackberry honey when I was in the US a couple of years ago.  In some areas it seems to be the major honey source.

Lone

[sc-bee]

Here in eastern NC, I'm in the process of doing a cutout of five colonies from an old abandoned house that is about to be demolished by the owner. I have removed two colonies so far. The honey in both is very light in color, thin in texture, and tastes like grape. The flavor is unmistakeably grape. Now, what could they have gotten nectar from to make the honey taste, strongly, like grape? Everyone who tastes it agrees that it has a good grape flavor. Last year we had a bumper crop of wild muskedine grapes in the area. (I picked a ton and made jelly) If that honey didn't come from bees going to grape vines, then they took something else and made it taste like grape. I say, put them in there and give them a try.
   

Bees do not work grapes. Not sure your honey was kudzu but kudzu honey taste like grapes, It also has a light bluish tint they say. No I have not tasted any. In my parts it is hard to come by, enough kudzu in one spot to affect the source. If it is indeed kudzu, lucky fellow. If a cut out recently then the honey was from last year. The kudzu has not bloomed yet.

By the way kudzu is in the grape family. Find some blooming and smell the bloom. Smells like grapes.

http://www.honeybeesuite.com/purple-honey/

[chux]

sc-bee,
I really appreciate your thoughtful input. Some folks do claim that bees work grape vine flowers. I don't know. I haven't seen a scientific study to verify one claim over the other. I like your thought that kudzu could be the source for this honey. There is kudzu in this part of the state. I followed the link you posted. Interesting article. But...the honey from these bees is very light in color. I'll look again, but I noticed no bluish or purple tint. It's more golden/yellow.

If I had a vineyard close by, and a couple of extra hives, I would put them in the vineyard just to see what happens. Of course, now I'll also be looking for closer sources of kudzu as well. Especially during dry seasons.   

[sc-bee]

And for me to say bees do not work grapes, well someone usually comes up with the exception :-D   Fat beeman says he gets kudzu honey. He calls it smurf honey. I for one have had no luck with it.

Often a honey does not taste like its source. In most cases claiming a honey from a source is a gimmick, at least in my parts. Everything blooms at once and you can not isolate the source. I knew of someone who had a patch of strawberries at their produce stand, an acre or so. She would market the honey as strawberry honey. As the poster above mentioned blackberry honey folks will try that with clover around her too.. Everything in our area pretty much blooms in the same time frame and our season is short. Privet, tulip popular, blackberries, wild cherry, china berry etc. It all goes in the same hive and should be marketed as wildflower honey.

The exception is the sourwood bloom in July in the sc-nc mountains.

Not sure what part of the state your home is in NC I did not map it but if you are curious about the blue honey google it. Parts of NC have hit and miss years with blue honey. There are several theories none proven, one being gall berry, another theory being the mineral in the soils in that area. Also some thing to do with the bees stomach enzyme and the minerals if I remember correctly. The Fort Bragg area is one known for the blue honey.

[Kathyp]

i have bees and grapes  :-D  bees don't work the grape flowers and they don't damage the grapes.  they do take advantage of the damage done by other insects.  when you see honeybees on your mature grapes, look for the other insects that are making holes in them.

[GSF]

I've never seen a flower on a grape or scuppernong vine. I do know that sometimes in order for one to make fruit another kind will need to be planted by it.

I was thinking along the same line - I can see bees getting the juice from damaged fruit. There's a whole host of critters that will damage the fruit. I once poured out a bunch of black berry jam. That afternoon when I went to pour out some more it was covered with honeybees, not yellow jackets either. That was last year. We were getting fruit jars from different folks to can vegetables.

[Kathyp]

it's not really a flower.  it's a cluster.   :evil:  they don't work the cluster.

[sc-bee]

Better look closer. It may not be what some consider a bloom. But don't you have to have a bloom to fruit?
http://msfruitextension.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/muscadine-flowers/

[sc-bee]

Dang Kathy you type quicker than I do :-P

[JPinMO]

i have bees and grapes 

wine AND mead? Forget Bud's, I'm coming to visit kathyp!   ;)

[Kathyp]

sc-bee....lots of practice.  on line debating take fast fingers and a good spell checker  :evil:

JPinMO, you know, i have never made either.  i do make a mean Kahlua, but it's so hard to wait for it to mature....