Planting manuka trees time

OK, so we know that the best time to plant manuka trees is autumn and winter. Then they have a good chance of establishing roots and getting lots of water before they start growing like crazy in spring.

And now its one week off September, and then officially spring. Eek. And yippee.

Our bees have certainly figured out it's spring, last weekend they were out in force.



But, its been raining and raining all winter. And raining, did I say? Not such great weather for the humans planting the trees. And on a lazy Sunday, get all rugged up in the gumboots and coat? Nah. But no worries, we planted some last weekend. Still winter, right?



Here you go:
1. Dig hole
2. Add compost
3. Bung in tree
4. Press down a bit.



Some of our new trees even have flowers. I would be picking these are the ones that we made from cuttings, which helps them reach maturity a lot earlier.

For more pictures (and words) check out Business of Bees Blog.

And, from the hot-of-the-press department, the new Pictorial Guide to Growing Manuka from Seeds (FREE!) is now available. So go on, go and download it and enjoy!

Don't forget to share it with your friends too. And add your comments below.

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.

Propolis Mats

Extracting Propolis from a hive

Normally, to harvest propolis, we use a propolis mat. The dribbles of the previous post are just a bonus.

A full propolis mat

Our bees make a lot of high quality propolis, and we think it is because we linseed oil our boxes and the bees just love that. It seems to keep our bees healthy too. A double win.

Another full propolis mat

This propolis goes off to someone else to make high quality health products.

And check out this great video of scraping down a propolis mat - no, its not our beeboys, they have a kiwi twang, and we just send them off and don't do it ourselves. The mats, we send the mats off for a scrape down, not the beeboys.......

If you'd like to more in-depth information, or to be sent free chapters of my new book 'Growing Manuka from Seeds and Cuttings' as they become available, check it out here and sign up to my email notification list.

Propolis

Propolis from bees

Our bees are making rich orange propolis by the bucket load. Here is a box in the 'winter scrape down processing department' and the orange dribbles are leftover propolis.

Propolis on a beehive box

Propolis is a product the bees make from plant resin and beeswax. It's thought it keeps the bees healthy. It definitely glues the boxes together to keep them air tight and cosy. Its name comes from Greek for 'defense of the city', the bee city of course.

It contains a whole bunch of active compounds that seem to have all sorts of health benefits to humans, like antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory. But it is one of those things that is not well studied or understood. You can buy propolis lozenges, capsules, spray and creams.

Propolis from bees

Our bee expert Bob swears by it for health, and these old bee dudes know a few things the rest of us are just catching up on. Sounds a bit like the story of manuka honey doesn't it?

And, as a side revenue stream from our amazing bees, it's all good. Bees do way more than just make honey. More on this in future posts.

What do beekeepers wear?

So what exactly do beekeepers wear? Well, there's the bee hat and the overalls and the thick gloves. Tuck your overalls over your gumboots so the bees don't crawl in.

Or not. Some seasoned pros just go out in their normal clothes, unless they are doing something aggressive like taking the bees' honey.

I think this is a good thing to wear. A birthday present from my kids.



I'm sure Muhammad Ali would agree too.

Collecting Manuka Seeds

When is the right time to collect manuka seeds for planting?

We've been collecting manuka seeds. These ones are from the trees that we found in near the Kai Iwi lakes, but I have also picked some from our own trees in our back yard.

So, when is the right time to collect manuka seeds?

You want to pick them when they are ripe. And ripe means they are starting to open. But on any branch there are ripe ones and not so ripe ones, so my rule of thumb is: if some have already opened then they are ready. If none are open yet, then try a different branch or a different tree. Each tree will be slightly different.

And, what does ripe look like? If you go back a couple of posts you'll see a close up of a seed pod that is just about to burst open. That's ripe. The ones that have already opened won't have any seeds in, they'll just be empty pods. So you want some on the branch opened like that too.

And then what? I store them somewhere dry until I am ready to sow them. These ones in the dish will open over time and the fine seeds will all fall out to the bottom of the dish, with a bit of a shake.