New Zealand Beekeeper - March 2017

Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by fires and poor weather in general!

MARCH 2017 | VOLUME 25 No. 2

Building a strong future Bruce Wills and Karin Kos Honey labelling Frank Lindsay

Ingenuity from the Chathams Mana Cracknell and Michele Andersen Manuka mysteries Linda Newstrom-Lloyd

Dealing with a difficult season Frank Lindsay

HONEY is our HERITAGE

www.comvita.co.nz/supply @comvita_newzealand

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Building a strong future with Apiculture New Zealand

Important message: Levy invoices

Manuka mysteries: the biology of a flower

Honey labelling: what’s in a name?

UMFHA targets UK with campaign

Apiculture health and safety programme formed

It rains, it flowers, we smile and bees shine Reciprocal visit of Tamara Mitchell to the UK

From the colonies

Dealing with a difficult season and preparing for winter

Photo essay: night run to the ‘Naki

Front cover: The last of manuka in the Wellington region. The bees were all over it. Photo: Frank Lindsay.

EDITORIAL/PUBLICATION (excluding advertising): Nancy Fithian 8A Awa Road, Miramar, Wellington 6022 Mobile: 027 238 2915 Fax: 04 380 7197 Email: editor@apinz.org.nz ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: Certa Solutions, PO Box 2494, Dunedin 9044. Phone: 0800 404 515 Email: beekeeper@certasolutions.nz PUBLICATIONS FOCUS GROUP: Frank Lindsay 26 Cunliffe Street, Johnsonville, Email: lindsays.apiaries@clear.net.nz DEADLINES FOR ADVERTISING AND ARTICLES: Due on the 6th of the month prior to publication. All articles/letters/photos to be with the Editor via fax, email or post to Nancy Fithian (see details above). Articles published in The New Zealand BeeKeeper are subject to scrutiny by the Apiculture New Zealand Management Team. The content of articles does not Wellington 6037 Ph: 04 478 3367

The New Zealand BeeKeeper is the official journal of Apiculture New Zealand (Inc.). ISSN 0110-6325 Printed by Certa Solutions, PO Box 2494, Dunedin 9013, New Zealand ApiNZ website: www.apinz.org.nz

necessarily reflect the views of Apiculture New Zealand. © The New Zealand BeeKeeper is copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the Publisher, Apiculture New Zealand (Inc.). CONTACTS TO THE NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPING INDUSTRY: Rex Baynes, AFB PMP Manager PO Box 44282, Lower Hutt 5040 Email: rbaynes@ihug.co.nz Ph: 04 566 0773 American Foulbrood Management Plan www.afb.org.nz

MANAGEMENT TEAM: Chief Executive Officer Karin Kos Email: ceo@apinz.org.nz Secretary Natasha Thyne Email: info@apinz.org.nz Accounts and Subscriptions Pauline Downie Email: memberships@apinz.org.nz PO Box 25207, Featherston Street,

AsureQuality Limited Phone: 0508 00 11 22 www.asurequality.com EXOTIC DISEASE AND PEST EMERGENCY HOTLINE 0800 80 99 66 www.biosecurity.govt.nz

Wellington 6146 Ph: 04 471 6254 APICULTURE NZ BOARD REPRESENTATIVES: Dennis Crowley

Barry Foster Stuart Fraser Sean Goodwin John Hartnell Ricki Leahy

Pollinator Incident Reporting Form: http://www.epa.govt.nz/Publications/ Pollinator_incident_reporting_form_2014. docx

Peter Luxton Russell Marsh Paul Martin Bruce Wills (Chair)

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

BUILDING A STRONG FUTURE WITH APICULTURE NEW ZEALAND CHAIRMAN’S/CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT Bruce Wills, Chairman and Karin Kos, Chief Executive Next month marks the start of Apiculture New Zealand’s second year of operation. Our inaugural year was focused on establishing Apiculture New Zealand, and we can be pleased with the progress that has been made in consolidating our association as the industry’s peak body.

Membership renewals Now is the time to renew your membership for the upcoming financial year. Please see the renewal form inserted in the journal. We are keeping membership rates the same as last year. We are really excited about the future for this industry. There is no question that the mānuka honey issue and a very poor honey crop present short-term challenges, but the long- term fundamentals remain extremely sound. Code of Conduct Last month we released the Apiculture New Zealand Code of Conduct (http://apinz.org. nz/about/). This is an important document for industry and sets the standards for how our industry operates in a responsible and sustainable way. While it’s a voluntary code, it sends a clear signal that Apiculture New Zealand members are professional and responsible operators, supporting the following four key objectives:

As well as providing tangible value-add services like the Land Use Agreements and the Health and Safety programmes, and of course the excellent annual conference, we’ve also established a strong executive team to champion the issues faced by our industry. We have a Code of Conduct in place, and are close to completing the reinvigoration of our Focus Groups. We continue to work closely with the Ministry for Primary Industries and others to ensure the best possible environment for our bee and honey industry to thrive and prosper. We appreciate this season has been a tough one for many of you. This makes it even more critical for Apiculture New Zealand to retain a growing membership base, not only to present a strong and united front in working through these challenges, but to make the most of the opportunities ahead.

• the sustainability of the bees and the environment that supports them

• public safety and social amenity

• good beekeeping practice in line with proven and ethical standards in working with bees and any activity associated with apiculture • the maintenance of good relations among all stakeholders. We see the Code of Conduct as living document, one that will need to be updated as our industry continues to grow and change. For that reason, the Code will be reviewed annually, to ensure it has ongoing relevance over the long term. As we head into a new financial year for Apiculture New Zealand, we look forward to working with you, and continuing to grow Apiculture New Zealand into an organisation that provides real value for your business.

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

‘John looking for the queen’. This photo, taken by Life Member Frank Lindsay, won second prize in the Portrait’ print class in the Ecrotek National Photographic Competition for 2016. This competition is part of the Apiculture New Zealand National Conference and will be contested again in 2017.

At right: Frank’s photo was also awarded first place in the portrait section at Eastern Apicultural Society of North America Inc. and was judged Best in Show. Frank is shown here receiving his trophy. Photo supplied by Karen Eisen. Regular digital photos are only 72 dpi, so are not suitable for the front cover. Please provide a caption and the name of the photographer so we can credit them. Email photos and captions to editor@apinz.org.nz WE WANT YOUR PHOTOS! The Publications Committee welcomes photos for the journal. Pop a camera in the truck and snap away when you find something interesting. The safest way to supply a digital file is in a high-quality jpeg format. If you’re thinking big (such as a potential front cover photo), these need to be as large as possible (300 dots per square inch (dpi) at the size they are to be used, in portrait format (vertical rather than horizontal).

E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR JOURNAL EDITOR

It’s been brought to my attention that e-mails sent to me at editor@apinz.org.nz were being rejected by ApiNZ’s website postmaster. All technical issues have been resolved. Apologies for any inconvenience. Nancy Fithian Editor, The New Zealand BeeKeeper

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

Frank Lindsay, Life Member HONEY LABELLING: WHAT’S IN A NAME? BUSINESS

A month or so ago I had the pleasure of tasting a variety of different honeys packed by numerous beekeepers from around the country. I have been tasting honey for many years and you get to learn the tastes of your own regional varieties.

I do not extract several times through the season; rather, I mark supers so I have an idea of when they were put on the hive and, hopefully, what sort of honey I expect the bees to have produced. Sometimes the bees in one hive completely surprise you. They find and work a variety that other hives in the apiary seem to miss. You can see it in the different colours and by tasting the odd honey frame as it is being uncapped. Sometimes I’ll separate off a strong honey from a delicately flavoured one. Of course, commercial producers don’t do this as it’s time consuming; also their honeys will be blended anyway by the packer after they have sold it, so it’s not as important. The Codex Alimentarius To give honey a varietal (monofloral) name, all that is necessary is to have 50% or more of a particular honey. The rules for labelling honey are set out in the Codex Alimentarius, an internationally recognised document. It can be downloaded as a PDF; it’s interesting reading: http://www.fao.org/input/download/ standards/310/cxs_012e.pdf The document states that honey can be sold at less than 20% moisture; however, to export, it must be under 18.5% moisture. Thixotropic honeys like mānuka and ling heather have to be under 23% but at this moisture content, it’s on the point of fermenting if not handled correctly. If wet supers from the previous year were put on during a honey flow and were not completely cleaned out by the bees, the old honey can start a slow chain reaction. Over time, this process will ferment all the honey in that batch. Distinctive scents and flavours Honey is delicate. Like butter, honey absorbs any taints or flavours it comes into contact with, and can be affected by the length of time it’s left exposed to air and its

Honey competition entries at the British National Honey Show, 2009. Photo supplied by Maureen (Maxwell) Conquer.

Eucalyptus honey varies from mild to strong. When I first visited Australia, I didn’t like their honeys but over time I learnt to appreciate the different varieties and now like them. We don’t get the strong varieties here in New Zealand, and to my knowledge we don’t have huge areas of eucalyptus trees in the North Island, so any honey from these trees tends to blend in with other honeys. Whanganui streets are lined with eucalyptus, so hobbyists will get it in their honey late in the season. Some honeys have unique flavours but these can disappear very quickly soon after extraction. I once extracted a couple of boxes of Eucalyptus nicholii (‘peppermint gum’), which literally caused a peppermint explosion in the mouth. I put some aside and when another beekeeper visited, I got out the samples and we did a tasting. I expected the same result but only a few months later, that beautiful flavour was gone and there was just the butterscotch flavour of eucalyptus. What a disappointment.

surroundings. Therefore, it’s important that it’s packed into new containers, even when you are giving it away. After a while the honey will take on the taint from the lid of a pickle jar if you pack it in a used one. The taste profile also depends on where the honey was produced and the type of water the bees collect. When you first open a jar, quickly smell the scent of the honey. I say quickly because after a few seconds, this scent disappears. You can tell the difference between honey produced in a lemon orchard and one produced on a dairy farm. Sometimes bees collect urine for the salts and minerals and you can detect it in the first sniff; however, you can’t discern this in the honey. Some of the early bush varieties still fool me but one can develop a taste for most of our main varieties. I can also pick what variety of honey is going through the plant most of the time; e.g., that distinct cat’s pee smell when you are extracting kāmahi. Fortunately, the smell does not transfer into the honey.

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

NZ HONEY SENSORY PROFILES MONOFLORAL VARIETIES AII descriptions based on liquid, except where stated as “Creamed”

VARIETY

APPEARANCE

AROMA

FLAVOUR

CLOVER

Light pale gold

Herbal dry grass, hints of plums

Clean mild, sweet traditional honey flavour Slightly bitter, hints of liquorice and treacle toffees.

ERICA

Deep red amber

Complex, toasty, hint of turpentine

HONEYDEW

Medium-dark amber

Musky citrus Mineral

Complex, treacly, “Christmas Cake”

KAMAHI

Pale lemon yellow

lntense, musky, almost lactic. Quite complex

Very clean, rich and sweet, balanced buttery finish

MANUKA

Dark cream to dark brown

Catmint, damp earth, heather, aromatic Mineral, slightly bitter barley sugar, herbaceous

NODDING THISTLE

Pale lemon gold

Citrus orange peel/orange blossom, intense Musky, damp leaves, salty (almost seaweed) but pleasant

Intense floral flavour, sweet barley sugar

POHUTAKAWA (Creamed)

Off white

Clean earthy sweet butterscotch

RATA (Creamed)

Pale cream

Heady, lime blossom, musk: papaya

Very sweet, Iime flavours

REWAREWA

Light amber with orange hints

Intense, herbaceous, geranium/ dandelion Rich perfumed musk/incense/ sandalwood/orange peel/ liquorice

Clean sweet smoky herbaceous complex

TAWARI

Deep orange gold

Clean musty rosehip syrup, very sweet golden syrup

THYME

Very pale amber

Very aromatic, tarry, “dusty”

Resinous, aromatic herbal, very strong

VIPER BUGLOSS (often described as Blue Borage)

Yellow gold

Dusty, rose oil character

Clean tasting, lemon & floral characters

HONEY AROMA CAN BE FLEETING ONCE CONTAINER OPENED. REGIONAL VARIATIONS MAY RESULT IN DIFFERENCES FROMTHE ABOVE GENERIC DESCRIPTIONS.

Know your honeys before you label them So back to the honey tasting I recently attended. A good percentage were not true to label. Mānuka is thixotropic so sets like a jelly. If you turn a jar upside down, it shouldn’t move. If it does, it isn’t mānuka. I was a little shocked, as one honey was produced by a larger-scale beekeeper. Just because your bees were close to a certain species doesn’t mean the bees brought in that honey. Get to know the tastes of different honeys. Some can be sampled at the National Honey Show at the Apiculture New Zealand National Conference. Buy some small pots and use these as a reference so you have something to compare against.

I have included Bill Floyd’s sensory profiles chart for your information, part of a pamphlet published by the New Zealand Honey Food and Ingredient Advisory Service (1997). The NBA contracted Bill to produce this pamphlet. Bill Floyd was our marketing guru back in the 1990s, when the NBA had marketing money from the levy. Bill was responsible for putting the marketing of mānuka and other varietal honeys on a firm foundation. He took honey to restaurants, catering schools and organised cooking competitions between different polytechnics. If you want to name your honey by its variety, make sure you are correct. Have some samples tested for pollen counts and other markers. Be aware that not all plants can be represented by pollen counts. Some are

under-represented. It’s only when you test the pollen content of the honey that you get a feel of what’s in the area of the beehive. Bees generally forage within 2.5 kilometres of the hive, but they can fly 14 kilometres if they have to. The only problem is that when bees are foraging at a great distance, they will use most of the nectar they collect in flying home.

Source for table New Zealand Honey Food and

Ingredient Advisory Service. (1997, February). New Zealand Honey sensory profiles —Monofloral varieties.

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

WE WANT YOUR HONEY!!! All Honey varieties required Sean Goodwin at 100% Pure New Zealand Honey inTimaru is waiting for your call: Phone: 03 688 7150 Mobile: 021 872 583 Email: sean@purenewzealandhoney.com Post: 15 Treneglos Street, PO Box 2155, Washdyke, Timaru 7910

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

UMFHA TARGETS UK WITH CAMPAIGN IN THE NEWS UMF™ Honey Association The UMF™ Honey Association’s promotional campaign in the United Kingdom got under way in January, focusing primarily on driving consumer awareness of the UMF™ quality trademark and the Association’s international science programme—the Mānuka ID project.

Dr Adrian Charlton. Photo supplied by UMFHA.

‘fingerprinting’ of mānuka honey. Dr Adrian Charlton, the head of food quality and safety at Fera, has been working alongside the UMFHA as part of the Mānuka ID project for the last five years. With the backing of Fera and the leading opinion leaders in nutrition, the campaign has generated widespread coverage across the UK and internationally. The UK’s leading print and online publications have highlighted the work being done, including The Times, The Grocer, New Food Magazine, Retail Times and a feature in the Healthy Diet Magazine. The UMFHA’s grading system is unique and unrivalled. As part of an advanced scientific programme, it is the only system that tests for the key signature compounds independently verified and proven to be found in mānuka

This campaign follows on from the successful ‘This is Mānuka’ symposium held in Auckland in August 2016. The UK activity focuses on providing information to UK consumers and news media about the Association’s advanced international science programme.

honey. The resulting UMF™ grading system that harnesses international science provides product certainty via the UMF™ quality trademark, giving consumers a high level of confidence when buying mānuka honey. All UMF™ products are independently tested and verified to confirm that they contain these unique compounds. UMFHA members currently represent over 80% of all exported retail packs of mānuka honey from New Zealand. As the leading representative body for the mānuka honey industry, the Association continues to support market opportunities and science that protects and benefits both members and consumers.

On-the-ground activities have included:

1. explaining the Mānuka ID project

2. profiling some of the experts involved

3. holding a series of educational presentations; and working with key opinion leaders and science partners, including Dr Adrian Charlton of Fera and leading nutritionist Amanda Ursell. Fera UK has been part of a New Zealand- based team in the development of the

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FROM THE CHATHAMS

IT RAINS, IT FLOWERS, WE SMILE AND BEES SHINE

Mana Cracknell and Michele Andersen

Flowering in February are the Chatham Island aster, rautini, tree koromiko and tarahinau, as well as white clover, yellow maku lotus clover (Lotus pedunculatus), dandelion and gorse.

Number 8 wire is alive and well where necessity drives invention Living on an island, one cannot swim to the industrial part of town or visit a specialist store close by to purchase equipment or parts for repairs. On the Chatham Islands, there is one garage, one hardware shop and two grocery stores. Air and sea freight are very costly and weather dependent, with competition for limited cargo space. This reality causes us to be thrifty, self-reliant and innovative problem solvers in simple but practical ways. Often we need to design, adapt and build for our needs, and equipment may have to perform a multitude of tasks and functions. Like many would-be beekeepers, we have been suckers for the flashy new (plastic) equipment appearing in beekeeping magazines. After a few downers, it has become clear that the genius graduating from a design course might not have sat

down and identified the plethora of tasks a pressured beekeeper will need to complete to render a costly new purchase fully operative, functional and profitable within a fast-moving beekeeping environment. Following are eight of 20 ways that we have adapted and now use standard pieces of beekeeping equipment. The list of ways is growing and evolving as we study beekeepers and beekeeping approaches in the recent past; i.e., the past 300 years.

3. With the ventilator removed, the mat can be used for introducing a new queen or when uniting hives. 4. Used as a (three-way) top entrance above the queen excluder to enable more foragers to access the honey super directly during the honey flow. 5. Used as a pheromone reducer for queen rearing; e.g., as part of the Cloake board system, as shown in the photo below.

Hive mat with three entrances and a removable ventilating insert

Pheromone reducer with front entrance open: Harry Cloake’s board system.

1. Used as a ventilated hive mat for hive moisture reduction; e.g., in curing honey. 2. Used as a separator for a topbox mating hive or for setting up splits.

Aster and tarahinau in the wild.

continued...

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NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

Hives at Kaingaroa School. All photos by Michele Andersen.

Same hive mat stapled to a feeder ring: 1

When ET returned to the Chatham Islands as a drone

were assembled to allow for that. The air cushion keeps the bees warm, we can use cheap straps to secure the hives and wooden pallets rot.” Both hives were double queeners living and laying in the same brood boxes and very happy with their arrangement. We took the old queens away. Visitors: some came and two stayed In the past two months, several beekeepers have visited the island as part of tour groups and we met up, caught up and shared information. They are aware of the challenges that bees and beekeepers face on this island and they have left with some good information to help them refine and redefine their commercial operations and approaches. We have shared with them the mission and vision to establish the island as a bee-safe sanctuary, with its own beekeeping school and research and development arm to serve the bee needs of our country. We have spoken about our need to build investment and skills partnerships and our aim to create a new industry on, for and with the island community. Another beekeeper arrived on 9 February. This year the island gained two more beekeepers. Both have had employment as entry-level hive workers within commercial beekeeping operations. Planning a visit? If beekeepers are coming to the island, please let us know by e-mailing us at mandersen@xtra.co.nz

Throwback gene, or is this drone sporting new Chatham shades? This rare drone has an ancient recessive gene that causes it to have white eyes. We need to do more research and II (Instrumental Insemination) to identify breeding potential. Cordovan queens also carry a recessive gene. Seven years ago, we crossed that gene with the Buckfast and other indescripts to produce several super queens. Unfortunately, when you have a giant queen that lays 5000 eggs a day, it creates all kinds of management problems from a beekeeper’s point of view. We shut down the programme to give us time to think through the implications for beekeeping. It’s true: kids are indeed future kings and queens As shown at the top of this page, we have cleaned up the two hives at Kaingaroa School. The child-sized suits have been washed and the bees are ready to teach the kids. The new teacher said, “Oh, those hives fit on the fish bins” and we replied, “Yes, the baseboards

6. Set-up is used with a recycled plastic tray to deliver the winter bee feed mix 2 directly above the cluster. 7. Turn the ring and mat over, open the front facing entrance, staple it to the brood box and we have a temporary baseboard. 8. This is also used as a bee escape hatch. Close the doors on the hive mat. Place a queen excluder on top of the ring or on top of the brood box and use it to encourage bees to exit the honey super one week before the honey super is removed. 3

1 The feeder ring/square is made by cutting a full-depth box to produce a three-quarter honey super to meet the demands of advancing age over beauty. 2 We discovered the recipe on the Canadian Bee Feed bag was mainly for drowning bees, so we developed our own recipe and delivery mechanism. The goal was to cut feed costs by 80% while improving outcomes by 80%. Our winter hive loss rate is now at 1%. 3 We found bees did not like crossing the empty space (the feeder ring) to get to the honey super above, so they stayed downstairs and packed the brood boxes with honey (which is all good for winter).

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EDUCATION

RECIPROCAL VISIT OF TAMARA MITCHELL TO THE UK Phoebe Lamb and Tamara Mitchell

Left to right: Margaret Ginman and Phoebe Lamb.

In the first week of July 2016, one of the Rowse/Bee Farmers’ Association (BFA) apprentices, Phoebe Lamb, from Beeworthy Hives, Staffordshire, welcomed Tamara Mitchell, of Kaimai Range Honey Ltd, all the way from New Zealand. Phoebe spent some weeks working on the Mitchell’s honey farm in January this year—an opportunity provided by the BFA to willing apprentices in their first and second years (see Bee Farmer, 2 (2), 04/2016, pp 3–9). Phoebe’s experience Phoebe describes the experience in her own words: ‘It was great to see Tamara again while she was holidaying in the United Kingdom (UK). We had so much to catch up on since I came home from New Zealand and she was keen to learn as much as she could about how we keep our bees and operate our business. Of course, Tamara’s family and employees manage over 1500 colonies on the North Island of New Zealand, so our bee farm is comparatively small, but I was pleased to witness her enthusiasm as we compared hive types, methods of queen rearing, splitting and combining, extracting, feeding, overwintering and pest management.

‘Tamara was keen to fit into the schedule of our working week, accompanying us to out-apiaries and assisting in all aspects of our work. At only 20 years of age, Tamara has over ten years experience handling honey bees and her competence is clear from the outset. I was thrilled to see Tamara again and we continue to stay in touch using social media, comparing notes on all sorts of things, both bee-related and otherwise! Her family, the Mitchells, were ever so kind to allow me to stay with them to learn as much as I did. Similarly, we were very lucky to host Tamara for a week. Sorry for the incessant questions, Tam!’ Tamara’s view Tamara said: ‘As it is winter over in New Zealand now, I have had the opportunity to spend some time with my dad’s side of the family, in Cornwall, UK, as well as to visit Phoebe and her family. ‘I got to help them check several apiaries. The final day I went out with them, it was such a clear sunny day—I could tell the bees were loving it! ‘I was interested to hear that they use the same criteria as my own parents when choosing apiary sites, although in New Zealand we prefer afternoon sun on the hive entrances. The Shaws (Phoebe’s parents) explained that they point their hive entrances towards the morning sun. ‘Being used to the friendly bees of home, I was told to be careful when handling British bees. I was pleasantly surprised when I was around even the largest colonies that they were calm and a joy to work with. ‘I also got to see how the Shaws extracted, packed and sold their honey, which was awesome—they have a great set up! ‘As a younger beekeeper, I am so grateful for the experience to see how other people around the world keep their bees. Even though my family and I manage hundreds more colonies, it is good to be able to assess the similarities and differences of both businesses. ‘Ten out of ten experience for the beekeeping and the hospitality!’

Radio Day Apprentice, Phoebe Lamb, and Bee Farmers’ Association general secretary, Margaret Ginman, reached more than ten million listeners during a radio day set up by partners Rowse Honey. Throughout the day they spoke to Jazz FM, Talk Radio, Radio Gloucester, Radio Borders, Yorkshire Coast, BBC Five Live and twenty other radio stations. Feedback came thick and fast when the item was picked up for BBC Radio 2 and it featured on its news bulletin throughout the afternoon. Secretary of the Bee Farmers’ Association, and Bee Farmer editor Alex Ellis for permission to reprint and supplying photographs, some of which are reprinted here. Thanks also to Apiculture New Zealand Waikato Hub member Pauline Bassett for liaising with the Bee Farmers’ Association to obtain permission to reprint these articles. Sources Ginman, M. (2016, Apr). Apprentices in New Zealand. Bee Farmer, 2 (2), 4–9. Lamb, P, & Mitchell, T. (2016, Aug). A visitor from New Zealand. Bee Farmer, 2 (4), 28. Photography: Isaac Knap, Phoebe Lamb and supplied by Sebastian Leaver. [Editor’s note: see page 17 for a photo essay about Phoebe Lamb’s summer with Kaimai Range Honey, and look out for a follow-up article about the Mitchells’ trip to the UK.] Acknowledgements Thanks to Margaret Ginman, General

Tamara (left) and Phoebe (right).

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NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

NIGHT RUN TO THE ‘NAKI PHOTO ESSAY

Jody Mitchell reports that UK beekeeper Phoebe Lamb returned to Tauranga-based Kaimai Range Honey from November 2016 through February 2017 to experience pollination, making up new hives and preparing hives for the honey flow. Jody says that she took these photos “as we were about to start loading out hives for a night run to our Taranaki Honey site (six hours away)”.

Midnight cowboys

The team about to start loading out hives for the night run. Front row, left to right: Abbey Borman, Anthony Knap, Isaac Knap, Phoebe Lamb (UK). Back row, left to right: Daniel Hammond, Cole Pearse, Tamara Mitchell (with new pup Carni: short for Carniolan like the bee breed), Jody Mitchell and Ralph Mitchell.

Morning helicoptering

View from above

Phoebe Lamb & Isaac Knap loading hives from home at sunset before heading to Taranaki. Photos: Jody Mitchell.

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IMPORTANTMESSAGE

Levy Invoices Under the Biosecurity (American Foulbrood – Apiary and Beekeeper Levy) Order 2003, a levy is imposed on all beekeepers in New Zealand and is payable to the AFB PMP Management Board in order to fund the above Pest Management Plan The invoices are raised in early April of each year and are based on the apiary and hive numbers registered against individual beekeepers on the apiary database. Beekeepers are advised it is AFB PMP Management Board policy to calculate the amount owing based on the apiary and hive holdings as at 31 March of each year as definitive for invoicing purposes.

To further clarify, this means the invoice total as calculated is what you will owe.

IMPORTANT It is the responsibility of all beekeepers to ensure the apiary database correctly reflects his/her apiary and hive holdings at all times particularly as at 31 March of each year. Please note this includes any seasonal apiaries used during this honey season. The appropriate clause under the Order 98 states 18 Seasonal apiaries (1) A place notified to the mangement agency as an apiary where the beehives are situated for specified months of the calendar year is a seasonal apiary. (2) Despite anything to the contrary in this order, a seasonal apiary continues to be an apiary as long as beehives owned by the beekeeper who notified the place to the management agency as an apiary are situated in that place for more than 30 consecutive days in any year beginning on 1 July.

For further information on this subject, please refer to the Management Board policy number AFB/22/0/11-027, which can be found on www.afb.org.nz.

Rex Baynes AFB PMP Manager

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

TREES FOR BEES CORNER

MANUKA MYSTERIES: THE BIOLOGY OF A FLOWER

Linda Newstrom-Lloyd (Trees for Bees Botanist)

The fascinating flowers of the mānuka tree (Leptospermum scoparium) have proven to be somewhat mysterious, with many conflicting accounts of how the flower works and what it provides.

2. Does pollen reliably get into the honey? We have regularly observed mānuka pollen on the surface of nectar discs. Pollen falls into the nectar in four different ways: by gravity, by mechanical shaking of the flower, by falling off native bees’ pollen loads on their legs, and by brushing off anthers due to the movements of the honey bees taking nectar. We would, therefore, expect mānuka pollen to be carried in the honey, especially if bees are working in the flower. The next question is how much pollen is typical, both for the relative percentage pollen count and the absolute pollen count (APC) per gram (Petersen & Bryant, 2011). Further research is needed on this aspect. 3. Do bisexual flowers produce more nectar than male flowers? We observed mānuka nectar production over the life of 30 flowers for seven days at Rangitukia. At this site, we were surprised to see male flowers producing as much nectar as bisexual flowers, but we will need more data to test this statistically. Some researchers say that male flowers produce less nectar and this may be true in some varieties, as this is one of the floral strategies that plants use to improve their pollination outcomes. Further studies are needed. 4. Would it be easy to collect pollen to add to honey? We have extracted pollen by direct manual methods from many types of flowers. Small flowers with small anthers (such as mānuka) are very difficult, whereas large anthers (such as in New Zealand flax or tulip trees), or large flowers with hundreds of large anthers (such as in kiwifruit, camellia, and peonies) are very easy. So we think that it would not be easy to collect pure pollen directly from mānuka flowers. Certainly the process would be unlikely to be cost effective. 5. What methods are best for collecting nectar? Nectar collection for analysis of activity and sugars can be performed in several ways. Dr Megan Grainger has published an excellent account of different sampling techniques in The New Zealand BeeKeeper (Grainger, 2016) and many research projects are focused on nectar; for example, by Dr Michael Clearwater and Stevie Noe at the University of Waikato. From our results on the flower’s life cycle, we would suggest that leaving the fine-mesh bag on the branch for longer than the customary 24 hours (say, three to five days) would allow more nectar to accumulate in the flower and make it easier to collect the samples. This practice would, of course, have to be modified for rainy days (that would dilute the nectar) and very hot, sunny days (that would evaporate the nectar, making it too viscous to collect). It will depend on the weather patterns and the variety of mānuka that you are working with.

For example, we have heard and read about ideas such as:

• honey bees do not collect mānuka pollen

• mānuka honey does not have mānuka pollen in it (or at least it is not a reliable predictor of mānuka honey)

• bisexual flowers produce more nectar than male flowers

• adulteration of honey with mānuka pollen would be easy.

In addition, many people ask about how to get enough nectar to test for activity.

Trees for Bees investigates The main goal of Trees for Bees is to provide planting lists of superior bee plants that will produce plentiful pollen and abundant nectar to nourish honey bees. To that end, we continually investigate the flowering times, the morphology and biology of the flowers, and the access for bees to the pollen and nectar rewards. Drawing on our past research from throughout New Zealand over the past 10 years, as well as new detailed observations, we have compiled the photo essay on the next few pages to illustrate the life of the mānuka flower and clear up some of the misconceptions about mānuka pollen and nectar. Key points from our investigations 1. Do honey bees collect mānuka pollen? Based on our field observations of insects in the flowers at several sites, we have not seen honey bees actively packing mānuka pollen into their baskets. However, the pollen does get brushed onto their bodies, and we have seen photos of bees with small partial pollen loads in mānuka flowers, but the identity of the pollen has not been confirmed. A number of reasons might explain this. The small anthers face inward and have extremely small pollen grains, so it may not be cost effective for honey bees if better pollen is easier to access on other plant species. The pollen may have a deterrent (e.g., scent), but this has not been investigated. Native bees have a different system of collecting pollen, so they harvest and pack mānuka pollen rapidly and efficiently as we have observed in our studies. Some beekeepers say that honey bees sometimes collect the pollen but some other beekeepers say they have not seen it; therefore further data are needed to draw a conclusion.

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

Day 1: Opening day On Day 1, the mānuka bud starts to open. The pink stamens are curled down and the anthers face into the central axis of the flower. Some anthers are already splitting open to present pollen. There is no nectar yet (or very little). This photo shows a native bee collecting a large pollen load from a newly opened flower. Native bees pack their pollen loads dry, without mixing it with nectar as honey bees do. This means that pollen can easily fall off their legs and land in the nectary at the bottom of the flower.

Closed flower bud

Day 2: Flower expands On Day 2, the flower petals expand wide open. A few tiny bubbles of nectar are exuded from the green nectar disc at the bottom of the flower. The stamens are not synchronous; most are still pink and curled down, but in the outer whorl the stamens are starting to straighten up and open to present the pale- yellow pollen. As the anthers open wider, the pollen can fall out by gravity and land on the nectar disc at the bottom of the flower. Wind will cause mechanical shaking of the flower and this will also knock pollen into the nectar.

Stamens uncurling and presenting pollen

Days 3 to 6: Bisexual flowers produce nectar Mānuka trees have two types of flowers: male and bisexual. The bisexual flower in this photo shows the pistil with its red stalk and green stigma in the centre of the flower. The male flowers lack the pistil. Both types of flower produce nectar. From Days 3 to 6, more stamens are uncurling and more anthers are opening to present pollen. The green nectar disc starts to turn red and exudes more and more bubbles of nectar.

Pistil with stigma and style

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

Days 3 to 6: Male flowers produce nectar The male flower has no pistil in the centre, as shown in this photo. The glistening dots are nectar bubbles scattered over the surface of the nectar disc. The large yellow dots on the nectar disc are clumps of pale yellow pollen that have fallen onto the nectary. Since the anthers are facing to the inside of the flower the pollen can easily fall onto the nectary. This means mānuka pollen grains are mixed into the nectar and will therefore get into the honey. In addition, pollen is easily dislodged by the movements of bees or other insect visitors as they brush past the anthers.

Clumps of pollen on nectary disk

Days 3 to 6: Pollen dislodged by honey bees When a honey bee collects nectar, its body brushes against the anthers and dislodges pollen, which then falls onto the nectar disc. The bee’s body hairs readily pick up pollen as well. We have not yet seen a honey bee actively collecting mānuka pollen and packing it into its baskets, but it could happen if no other better protein source was available. It would be a small load, perhaps because of the extremely small pollen grains and tiny anthers. As the flower matures, the nectar disc becomes covered with more bubbles of nectar, which are the glistening dots in this photo.

Days 4 to 6: Nectar bubbles merge together During days 4 to 6, more nectar is secreted if the conditions are right. The tiny bubbles enlarge and merge together into larger drops of nectar. Both male and bisexual flowers can produce copious nectar, but this will vary with the mānuka variety and the weather. To see how much nectar can be produced, it is best to cover an entire branch with a fine- mesh bag to exclude the bees from taking the nectar. Follow 10 to 15 tagged, newly opened flowers for 5 to 7 days to see the accumulation of nectar through the life cycle of the flower.

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

Days 5 to 7: Nectar pools into larger masses During the final stages in the life of a mānuka flower, if the nectar is not removed by bees, it will start to pool into larger masses on the nectary. In an old flower or in hot, dry weather, these pools will start to dry up from evaporation and can look like sticky sheets of viscous nectar. Weather patterns are one of the main drivers for the nectar flow. Since this is an open dish flower, the nectar can be diluted by rain or evaporated by sun over the life of the flower. Evaporation concentrates the sugar and other contents of the nectar.

Days 7 to 16: Flower hangs onto the petals Sometime after day 7 but not much longer, the flower’s reproductive activity is finished. The flower does not produce any more nectar and all the anthers have opened fully and start to turn brown and shrivelled. If the native bees or flies have been actively harvesting or the wind has shaken the flower, the anthers will be empty of pollen. The stigma turns dark brown, while the nectary turns to a deeper, brownish-red colour. Mānuka flowers are unusual because the petals stay fresh and hang on for another week or more. We have found that petals and sepals stay on the flower for up to 16 days. This means that any branch will be a mixture of young productive flowers and old finished flowers.

References Grainger, M. (2016, December). Testing nectar to select mānuka trees for high-grade honey. The New Zealand BeeKeeper, 24 (11), 12–15. Petersen, S., & Bryant, V. (2011). The study of pollen and its role in the honey market. American Bee Journal, 151 (6), 591–594. Acknowledgements We thank the Ministry for Primary Industries for its Sustainable Farming Fund grant from 2016 to 2019, and our research students and associates for their assistance in the field: Dr Robert McKenzie (in Nelson, 2007); Jean-Noel Galliot, Valentine Tournon, Jules Boileau (in Rangitukia, East Cape, 2013); Rapata Kaa and Maia Taare from Naati Beez and Ruth Schuit from Ingleby NZ LP (in Rangitukia, East Cape, 2016).

NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, MARCH 2017

Media Kit: 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018 The BeeKeeper

LAND USE AGREEMENTS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE Apiculture New Zealand has developed two Land Use Agreements that will be available to members at a significantly discounted price.

The two land use contracts now available for purchase from the ApiNZ website are: • Apiary Land Use Agreement – Land Owner/Beekeeper Profit Share: For those beekeepers offering a crop share arrangement. • Apiary Land Use Agreement – Site Rental: For those beekeepers paying a set apiary site rental or per hive rate to the land owner.

The agreements will be $195 +GST for ApiNZ members and $455 +GST for non-members.

BOOK NOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF JOURNAL CONTRACT RATES FOR THE 2017/18 YEAR

These can be found on the ApiNZ website here: http://apinz.org.nz/land-use-agreement/

The agreements will be personalised to the purchaser, so on application you will need to answer some questions which will be added to your document. Once payment is received this document will be sent to you via e-mail. If you have any questions, please contact the ApiNZ Management Team on 04 471 6254 (Monday to Friday 8.30–5.30) or e-mail info@apinz.org.nz.

60 Fox Street, PO Box 2494, Dunedin 9044 t 04 478 7797 or 027 4800 601 beekeeper@certasolutions.nz

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