Oriental beech

Value for beekeeping

Oriental beech is a large tree that forms extensive pure forests on the moist slopes of the Black Sea mountains, from Istranca to Artvin. Its flowers are wind-pollinated and secrete no nectar. Bees collect pollen from the male flowers in spring, but the real beekeeping value of beech is indirect.

Flowering

It flowers briefly together with leaf-out, between April and May depending on altitude. Heavy flowering does not occur every year; mast years come only every few years.

Honey and pollen

In some years honeydew from beech aphids builds up on the leaves and bees collect it; however, it is not as regular or important a source as pine and fir honeydew. There is no commercial product known as beech honey.

Note for the beekeeper

The real contribution of the beech forest comes from plants growing at its edges and in clearings, such as raspberry, blackberry, lime and sweet chestnut. In summer heat, hives at the forest edge benefit from the shade, but the interior of dense forest is moist and sunless and therefore unsuitable as an apiary site.