Myrtle rust and manuka

Do we need to start eeking? Will myrtle rust wipe out the manuka honey industry? Is this the end?

You have probably heard by now, that myrtle rust has been found in a nursery in Northland.

This article in the Herald is one of the better ones.

But if you have been out of touch lately, the basic facts are:

1. Myrtle rust is a fungal plant pathogen.

2. It attacks plants in the myrtaceae family, which include manuka and kanuka, myrtles (unsurprisingly), feijoas, rata, pohutukawa, eucalyptus, and more.

3. NZ has not had this pathogen to date. Although in March it was discovered at Raoul Island. It has always been a ticking time bomb though, just a matter of time.

4. Australia first found myrtle rust in 2010 in NSW. And since then it has spread north and south, as far as Tasmania.

How does myrtle rust spread?

It spreads really easily. They think this one has come on the wind from Australia.

But it can also be transferred by insects - that might be bees - and birds, and humans, and equipment, and other plant material.

Basically, once you have it, there's no getting rid of it.

There's lots more technical stuff on myrtle rust here from MPI.

What does myrtle rust do?

It causes deformed leaves, defoliation, reduced fertility, dieback, stunted growth, and eventually death in severe cases. Death of the trees.

It thrives in warmer climates, so Northland and Auckland and coastal North Island are most at risk.

There is no known method of controlling the disease in the wild. You can apply fungicide in small areas (like in the nursery where it was found), but hard to fungicide a whole forest.

Do we need to panic?

Well, possibly, but possibly not.

Apparently it rarely kills mature plants.

It attacks different species with different severity. In Australia, it took 3-5 years (so, just a year or 2 ago then) before the leptospermum / manuka showed signs of being affected. And so far, they are not being wiped out.

But...one method of its spread is by insects. And, even worse, bees apparently are attracted to the fungal spores and collect them in the same way they collect pollen. So an excellent way to spread the disease then?

And, our weather is pretty good for its thriving - the rust that is.

But, manuka is pretty hardy too. And maybe if the leaves suffer the flowers won't? Who knows? Well, we will, in 3-5 years, I guess.

And, the scientists don't know how it is going to affect our manuka, as they couldn't do any tests (probably at risk of actually spreading the disease?).

So maybe it is OK, but maybe not.

Always a good plan not to have all your eggs in one basket though, as also shown by this year's terrible manuka flowering. So maybe we all need to diversify, in the interests of survival?

C4 Sugar in Manuka Honey

There's been a few problems this year with high C4 sugar readings in manuka honey in the whole industry.

Honey that is exported has to pass a whole raft of tests, including normal food-type tests - does it contain poisons such as tutin, does it contain bacteria, does it contain impurities - plus some special honey tests. And testing for adulteration with sugar is one.

In this blog post I talk about ways that manuka honey fraud might happen. Now I don't really want to give a primer on how to beat the system (and my brain is far too pure to even be good at it, heh!), but one other way that honey fraud can happen is adding sugar to honey.

I think the basic motivation to adding sugar is effectively diluting the honey with sweetness, so you make more jars from the same amount of honey.

And you can test for this with the C4 sugar test. If your honey has more than 7% C4 sugar, it fails. Check out Analytica Laboratories excellent description.

Feeding sugar syrup to hives

One way C4 sugar might show up in honey is if the bees have been fed sugar at the wrong time. Especially if the honey is harvested early in the season. Check out Analytica's more in depth report here, if you like the science.

We've had some manuka honey unexpectedly rejected this year too.

So our first question to ourselves was to review our processes. Were we feeding sugar syrup to our hives too close to nectar flow? Or maybe we were feeding sugar to our nucs and they were too close to our productive hives and some robbing was occurring?

Always room for improvement, right?

But nope, all looks pretty good.

So, what else could be going on? And it is a problem that has affected lots of beekeepers this year too, for some reason.

Special manuka honey properties and C4 sugar

Manuka honey initially contains high levels of DHA. Over time the DHA converts to MGO. And MGO gives manuka honey it's magical properties.

But the chemical process of DHA to MGO also messes with the C4 sugar readings. Or so it seems.

I'm paraphrasing wildly here, and the science is not yet conclusive, but if you really want the down and dirty on all this science try these 2 articles 'The Unique Manuka Effect' and 'Adulteration Identification'.

What is 'C4' sugar anyway? (bonus points for science geeks)

Why not just 'sugar'?

Again, the short answer: there are 3 types of ways that nature stores carbon (C) in plants through photosynthesis. Two of them are called C3 from a system called the Calvin cycle, and it produces nectar.

The other method is for producing cane sugar and high fructose corn sugar, as in maize, and is called C4 sugars (system is called Hatch-Slack cycle, don't you love it?).

And you can test for each type. Using, if you must know, isotope ratio mass spectroscopy (IRMS).

And if you are still with me here, perhaps you'd like to write me a little blog post outlining all the technicalities? Contributions always appreciated!

But what we all really want is our honey to not be rejected unfairly. Currently all you can do is mix it with other honey so the levels drop to below 7%, a bit like you do with tutin honey.

I guess the scientists, and hopefully MPI's review of manuka honey will cover some of these issues. Fingers crossed. I seem to be saying that a bit lately.

Manuka Honey Fraud

What is manuka honey fraud? Is there fraud that is technically legal? How do we stop manuka honey fraud?

I think the answers are 'complicated', yes, and 'that is the million dollar question that MPI is trying to fix' - see last week's post on the New manuka honey regulations.

To me, simplistically, manuka honey fraud is when honey sellers, either in NZ, or (I would guess more likely) overseas, take honey that is only slightly manuka and try to pass it off as good grade manuka.

There are several ways this might happen:

False labeling

The easiest I suppose, is just to make false claims on the label. So say the honey is manuka UMF 2. Well, how about calling it UMF 8+ on the label then? Or MGO something huge. Or even NPA something large, although this is not so well known as a label. Check out the previous post for what these 3 letter words all mean.

But this is quite easy to catch, you would only need to do a test of the honey to realise it is not what it is claiming to be.

Doctoring the honey

Well then, what about adding chemicals to the honey that mimic the natural honey chemicals that produce say a UMF reading of 8+? Then if a spot check was performed on the honey, it would pass muster.

Out and out crookery of course.

Legal mislabeling?

This one has just crossed my radar recently - what if you were to label honey technically truthfully, but still indulge in misleading advertising by implication? That's a lot greyer now isn't it?

For a bit of background, we need an understanding of honey qualities. See this post on the medicinal benefits of honey first.

The short version is that all honey has some pretty amazing properties. And one of those properties is hydrogen peroxide. All honey has hydrogen peroxide in varying degrees. And hydrogen peroxide helps heal wounds.

So if you have been confused about how the ancient Egyptians used honey to heal (and they did) but that manuka honey has only ever existed since the Europeans brought honey bees to NZ around mid 19th century (and no, it's never been an ancient Maori remedy), then this is the answer. The healing properties of Egyptian honey came partly from hydrogen peroxide.

And you could describe the measure of hydrogen peroxide activity in honey as 'Active 10+' or whatever number it comes out to.

But the special thing with manuka honey is the MGO, also kind-of known (it gets a bit complicated science-y here) as NPA, which is ...ta dah... NON-Peroxide Activity. So to qualify for the high status, high price as manuka honey, it needs to have Non-peroxide activity. Exactly NOT plain 'active'.

So you see where we are going here - who's seen honey that is labelled as 'Active 10+' and selling for a truck load of $, but has no mention of UMF or MGO? It's probably even slightly manuka, so it can be truthfully called 'Manuka active 10+' too. Otherwise that would be false labeling wouldn't it?

But it is not anywhere near Manuka UMF 10+. Which is very good, strong manuka honey. Worth a lot of money.

And what's more, I've done a little sample with a friend in California, with the manuka honey available in her local wholefoods shop, and half the samples were just 'Active'. Only a couple were properly labeled UMF or MGO. Not all the honey was in jars with NZ brands on the front either, so probably has been packaged somewhere other than NZ. And as an aside, it all was WAY CHEAPER than any manuka honey available to me to buy here in NZ. What's up with that?

How to catch manuka honey fraud

This is, of course, the million dollar question.

The UMF association has a standard that they are trying to promote, to label manuka honey with some quality assurance. UMF stands for Unique Manuka Factor, so that should rule out pretend honey you would hope.

They are currently involved in a big public awareness campaign in the UK.

And MPI are involved in rewriting the manuka honey standards too. Which we are all awaiting with bated breath (or not) to see what this will mean to the industry, and our personal honey harvests.

Quite a tricky situation, all and all. Fingers crossed for a good outcome.

New Manuka Honey Rules

MPI (Ministry of Primary Industries) is re-jigging the definition of manuka honey.

Word on the street is that there will be a 'discussion document' released in April 2017, and the final documentation will become law in June or July 2017.

Here's the official link MPI Honey Review.

But that doesn't tell us much.

The manuka honey problem

The problem that MPI are trying to solve is how do you tell manuka honey from other honey, what is just 'nearly manuka' rather than full blown manuka, and how do you detect (and stop) honey fraud. Oh, that's 3 problems. There's probably a few other permutations too. So you see the problem.

This is A HARD problem.

And...they need a test, or tests, that are easy to do anywhere. So if you have some honey land at say Fortnam and Masons, they might want to verify that it is the real deal.

Add to that, there have been several different versions of measuring manuka-ness of honey.

Current ways to grade manuka honey

There are several factors that are measured with manuka honey:

1. MGO

MGO is methyl glyoxal, which is a long lasting antibacterial enzyme, that's not known to occur in any other honey in the world.

All honeys contain hydrogen peroxide, which gives them antibiotic properties, but MGO gives manuka honey antibacterial properties as well.

What's the difference in antibacterial and antibiotic? Google reveals this"

"Antibiotics are a broader range of antimicrobial compounds which can act on fungi, bacteria, and other compounds. Although antibacterials come under antibiotics, antibacterials can kill only bacteria."

2. UMF

UMF is Unique Manuka Factor. Overseen by the UMF Honey Association www.umf.org.nz. UMF factor is a measure of leptosperin, DHA and MGO.

3. DHA

(don't you love all these 3 letter words?)

DHA is dihydroxyacetone. Which is present in the nectar of manuka flowers. Manuka honey starts out with high DHA and low MGO. Over time DHA in the honey interacts with various naturally-occurring proteins and amino acids and creates MGO. So manuka honey matures, and reaches peak maturity at about 18 months age.

4. Molan Gold Standard

Named after the pioneer of manuka honey research, Professor Peter Molan MBE, this internationally recognized standard certifies authentic manuka honey. Check out www.mgs.org.nz.

5. NPA

This is Non-Peroxide Activity of honey. A bit similar to UMF. But not quite. Check out Apiculture NZ's take on it. And if you want to know what non-peroxide activity is, have a read of this post.

6. Medical grade manuka honey

Medical grade manuka honey is used topically to treat wounds and ulcers, in medical situations.

To be medical grade honey, it seems (although I can't find the 'bible' on this, and I have looked heartily) it needs to be (I think) UMF 9.5+, microbe level < 500 somethings, and moisture < 20. Plus a range of tests for contaminants - these need to be below the relevant thresholds, so hygiene and straining for impurities and such comes into play. Might be other things as well.

Why the confusion?

None of these tests quite covers the fraud issue. Read here for more on manuka honey fraud.

How exactly do you tell that manuka honey is the real deal, and not just normal honey with a few chemicals added, to mimic some of these tests?

One way is to look for leptospermum pollen markers. Another might be DNA tests. Who knows? The scientists do, I guess, I'm just making stabs in the dark here, based on the local industry gossip.

We'll find out soon enough.

What is it going to mean for beekeepers?

The street story is that the new regulations will mean that anything labelled 'manuka honey' will need to be 10+. 10+ what is the question of course.

But, let's say equivalent to 10+ UMF, or NPA - now that is a pretty high standard.

So what does this mean to the ordinary beekeeper (OK, I know none of you are 'ordinary').

Well, maybe it means that a lot of so-called manuka honey that is being produced now, is going to fail. And only the beeks with large manuka holdings, or access to large manuka holdings, will benefit from the manuka honey craze. And those beeks are likely to be the bigger guys and gals.

So if you are making 'only-just' manuka honey, what is your strategy going to be?

And just in case one of your strategies is 'Plant More Manuka', check out the resources available for growing and planting manuka - Free How-to for seeds, E-courses for everything to do with establishing a manuka forest.

Australian Manuka Honey - OK or not OK?

New Zealand is not the only country that grows manuka. Australia does too.

And in fact, Australia has far more varieties of leptospermum than NZ. We have one, leptospermum scoparium, but Australia has 83 types. 83! That's a lot!

And what's more, Australia manuka honey is antibacterial too. Just as good, maybe better, depending on who you talk to (um, that would be a NZer or an Australian).

Check out this report on the good qualities of Australian honey.

But all good, right? The world needs all the natural antibacterial products it can find?

Well, you would think so. And by the looks of all the celebrity endorsement, even the normal properties of manuka honey are useful too. Try googling say Kardashian and manuka and see the face mask recipes that pop up.

But trouble is brewing. After all, 'manuka' is a maori word. So...should the Australians be allowed to call their leptospermum honey manuka?

Well, you pick. But my take on it is that it's still the same excellent honey. And it is the healthy and medical benefits that are important. Especially as other chemical antibacterials are struggling.

So why not share the love around? It seems there is plenty of room for all. Especially if you look at news like this Manuka Fraud. Which would imply that the demand is far greater than NZ's ability to produce.

And all honey industries have their own challenges. Here in NZ we've had an appalling season, honey production-wise. And on top of that have had honey rejected in the UK, and China has increased their scrutiny and requirements for imports. All of which is making it a very skinny year for beekeepers this year.

But this article would suggest that Australia has it's own challenges.

So maybe we should start working together and aim to create a win win situation?

Well, that's my tuppence worth. What do you think?

If you would like to try growing your own manuka trees, check out the free Pictorial Step-by-Step Guide to Growing Manuka from Seeds.

The 2017 Honey Season in NZ

How has the honey season been this year? Terrible!

The manuka has hardly flowered at all, around our place. And it looks like it is universal, across the country.

Comvita has come out and said that it expects their honey harvest to be only 40% of normal. Check out the article in the NZ Herald.

Why is the season so bad? Must be the weather. It has been quite cold for summer, for most of the season.

The season is not over yet, and I guess it could still surprise us. My apple tree has decided to blossom. Again. So it has blossoms AND apples on at the same time. And my magnolia is equally confused, it's doing a second round of flowers, after the normal October flowering. Almost like they think it is just spring now.

So what can you do when the weather wrecks your honey season?

Not a lot, but check out these suggestions at Business of Bees.

And may the force be with you. Everyone is in the same boat this year, it seems.

3 fatal mistakes to avoid when starting a new bee business

Are you making these 3 fatal mistakes in your planning for a new bee business?

You've decided that there is money to be made in the manuka honey industry. You've done the research on the interwebs and found a wealth of useful information. It all looks like a dream run. What could go wrong?

Well, that's all fine. And not. 

Here are 3 fatal mistakes to avoid in your planning for a new bee business to take advantage of the burgeoning manuka honey industry.

1. Trying to do everything

Paying people to do some of the tasks is expensive, right? So, no problem, you'll do them all yourself.

Here are some things that are involved in creating honey and bee products and getting them to market:

• own your own hives
• be the beekeeper
• run all aspects of the business
• build boxes
• make queens
• extract honey
• package honey
• sell honey
• make other products, say hand cream or candles
• own the land the hives are on
• grow your own manuka

Doing all this means you are self-sufficient, a grand and wonderful thing.

It also means you are very busy. And very busy translates to only being able to do so much. For a full description of what you are likely to achieve and what to do about it, read more here at businessofbees.com.

2. Not allowing for the weather

We have weather, pretty much guaranteed. And some weather is not ideal. You can bet your bottom dollar on this one too.

So does your financial and business plan allow for a bad season? Or bad parts of the season?

2015/16 was a poor season in parts of NZ, a storm stopped short the manuka honey flow. 2016/17 is not looking too grand either. Word is, it is not so flash in many parts of the country - it's not over yet, but not going good so far. Even though the weather has been pretty benign, you would think.

What if next year is poor? And the year after? Does your plan suggest you will survive? Or do you need a string of bumper crops to make it all work?

Which brings us to mistake no. 3:

3. Using the wrong numbers

The internet is a strange place. You can find just about anything you want. But finding the context is a bit harder.

So here are some numbers the internet might suggest are good for bee business planning:

• growing about 1000 hives in your first year
• getting 40 kg honey per hive
• making $40 / kg on your honey

That sounds great doesn't it? No problem with making a profit then. But there are a few traps using these numbers just straight. It's all a bit more nuanced than it might first seem. 

For more detail on how these numbers can go wrong see this blog post.

And for some ideas on how to fix this, check out the full story in this blog post.

If you can avoid these 3 fatal mistakes and still make your financial and business plan look like it'll work, then you are ahead of the game, and have a good chance of having a business that will work. 

Beehive Thefts

There's been a rash of beehive thefts lately.

There are a few things going that that might cause this: The price of manuka honey is rising fast. And the bee industry is growing like crazy too, with lots of new beekeepers coming in to the industry to try and make a good dollar.

This also means the value of beehives is increasing too. A 2 box hive used to cost about $700 a couple of years ago, now it is above $1000.

All of this creates an industry where the get-rich-pickings seem irresistable, so the opportunity is there for less scrupulous people to take advantage too. Hence the increase in beehive thefts.

Where are the bee thefts from?

This is not from any official source like the police, but my gatherings of anecdotal information over the last month or so.

It seems that beehive thefts have been occurring in quite a few places:

• North Waikato
• Whanganui
• Tauranga
• Hokianga
• South Wairarapa

It doesn't seem to be such a problem in the South Island.

What have the thieves been doing?

Well, this is where it gets a bit bizarre.

There is the usual, which is what you might expect, where thieves take whole boxes. At this time of year it is often 2 box hives. And they leave just a dent in the grass. In one case they took the boxes but left the bases.

And how many hives are taken? It depends a bit on how many hives are at a site. And how many make up a truck or ute load. The numbers are from 12 to dozens.

Thieves have cut through padlocks to get into paddocks. Or lifted the whole lot over wire fences, quite a mission.

In another variation, the thieves took just the frames and bees out of the boxes, and left the boxes behind.

Then bizarrely, there have been a couple of cases it seems, where the thieves took the frames, and replaced them with new plastic foundation frames. Is that weird or not? Well, maybe, maybe not.

Read the full post here for some theories about who these thieves are, and an outline of things you can do to protect your hives.

18 tips for making $1mill in your first year beekeeping

Can you really make $1mill in your first year beekeeping?

A row of beehives waiting for the honey flow

We have a honey rush on. Everyone is jumping on the bee bandwagon hoping to make millions from manuka honey. Are they nuts, or on to something? Let's do the numbers:

Let's say you get 1000 hives in your first year. Each hive makes maybe 25kg of honey. Manuka honey sells for much more than pasture honey these days, so let's say $40/kg. So that's 1000 hives x 25kg honey x $40/kg = $1mill.

Well, that works. What could go wrong? Or maybe, a better question, what do you need to do right to succeed? 

Here are 18 tips to help you avoid some of the common pitfalls as a new beekeeper wanting to get in on the honey rush. For more information on each item, read the full post on Business of Bees.

Making 1000 hives

1. Bees are excellent at growing. When a hive is big enough, you can split it, and make 2 hives. But 2 split hives are way less productive honey-wise, than one big hive. So it is a trade off - lots of hives or lots of honey.

2. Hives that are too small tend to die. Don't split too much.

3. Splitting requires new queens. Queens are in short supply (lots of beekeepers doing just this, and splitting like mad to create lots of hives). Have a strategy for this.

4. 1000 new hives will require 1000 hive lids and 1000 hive floors and maybe 3000 hive boxes, and 30,000+ frames. And the boxes need to be ordered, and assembled, and painted, and stored.

5. 1000 hives will need 2-3 beekeepers. Who know what they are doing. Not your sister and cousin. Or not immediately, they can come in later when there is training sorted.

6. Your beekeepers need to be dedicated, hard working and smart. There is no free lunch here. Same goes for any other hangers-on. Everyone needs to be earning their keep.

7. Bees die. Varroa, AFB, starvation, swarming. Plenty of things to do all year to keep your bees alive. Find out about this, and know what you are doing. And then do it.

8. Where are these bees going to go over autumn and winter? Have you got sufficient space for them, and food?

Making 25kg honey / hive

9. See 1. Too much splitting means you are growing bees, but not honey. You may actually make 0kg honey / hive. Make sure you are choosing this deliberately, if this is your strategy, or that you have your balance of hives:honey sorted to keep your business going.

10. Where are these 1000 hives going to live? The stocking rate is 2 hives / ha. So that's 500 ha.

11. You will likely need other farmers' land. And agreements for hive placement. This means $, not a jar of honey.

12. Don't crowd your hives. Bees starve if there are too many bees and not enough flowers.

Making $40/kg

13. $40/kg only happens with manuka honey. So...put your bees in manuka. Otherwise you might get $6/kg.

14. A small patch of manuka will not cut it. You need at least 20ha, 50ha is better, so the bees have enough to forage on.

15. High DHA manuka nectar is the way to go. The science is still new on this, so it's a bit of 'watch this space', but something to keep in the back of your mind.

16. Bees don't like manuka all that much. They would much prefer to go to that lovely clover. You need some tricks and techniques to help them do what you want, which is feast exclusively on manuka.

17. Manuka only flowers for 6 weeks. Where are they going to forage for the rest of the year? Got a plan?

And my last, and most important, tip

18. Be passionate about bees. Work hard. Employ others who will work hard. Be smart about what you do. Constantly monitor, measure, tweak and think about how things are going. Just like any other business really.

There might be a honey rush on, but this is not a free-lunch opportunity. Only the best will make it through the long run.

Read the full post on Business of Bees

Manuka Honey Madness

Why is this sight of stacks of beehives going to become more familiar?

The manuka honey industry is growing like mad. The annual value of honey exports is up by 45% to $286mill in the 12 months to December 2015.

Did you catch that? 45% increase! Little old NZ!

So what does this mean? And why is it happening?

Manuka honey stats

Well, it's all from our manuka honey. And guess what? No one else makes manuka honey. IN THE WORLD!

Check out my blog post here on Business of Bees for all the in-depth stats and analysis, but the executive summary is that NZ is punching way above our weight in terms of value of honey exports. We are right up near the top in terms of $ value, although not for volume.

Which means manuka honey is much more expensive than other honeys. Well, we know this...I bought a 500g jar of honey at the market for $60 last weekend. $60! To spread on my toast!

Another great reason to get into this industry

So say you don't actually want to deal with the bees; cute furry little creatures, but they do sting. Well, how about planting manuka?

All those beekeepers are going to need manuka trees to put their beehives near, right? 

It's estimated that a new manuka plantation on marginal hill country can return 10-15% yearly on the cost of establishment.

For more on this check out the resources on Business of Bees

Why is the NZ honey industry going crazy?

If you wanted to invest in an industry that was growing exponentially, then beekeeping is the thing. For this decade at least.

So, what's been happening?

Back in 2010 there were around 3000 registered beekeepers.
By September this year (2016) it is expected there will be 7000 registered beeks.
That's a crazy increase of 4000, or more than double (133% increase) in only 6 years.

But that's not all....Back in 2010 there were around 375,000 hives, give or take a few.
By September its expected there will be 700,000 hives. That's 186% increase.

And why? Because of the amazing, and recently discovered, properties of manuka honey and its application in medical and hospital situations. The price for a kg of true manuka honey is just rocketing. And, not unlike the Auckland house market, if I put a price on it here, it'll be out-of-date before you know it. So I'll stick to words like thriving, and flourishing, and gangbusters.

You get the picture.

If you want to read more in depth about this, and get a few more gnarly stats, check it out here. You can sign up to my email list for updates and free information here too. And don't forget to make a comment below.