In a message dated 5/7/00 3:49:36 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:

> We had some honey sold in the state as apple honey, apricot honey, because
>  these fruit trees bloom and the retailer wanted to capitalize on the famous
>  Washington apple industry.  Fruit trees do not produce any surplus honey,
>  instead the bees use up this nectar to raise brood in the spring.  Another
>  retailer was packing honey with apple and other fruit bits as apple honey,
>  prune honey etc.  Both retailers were told that they were not in compliance
>  with truth in labeling laws and were required to change their labeling.

   Only partially true:  certainly there is phony product around, but it IS
possible to make surplus honey on apples, if you are a good beekeeper; not
every year, but about one year in three.  Perhaps every ten years or so,
apples have so much nectar that you can brush a blooming limb and be sticky,
as with oranges. In that year you could make a large surplus.

   It's easier to do if you have an abandoned apple orchard, where you don't
have to worry about moving the bees in a hurry.  A lot of beekeepers doing
apple pollination simply don't have time to try. But, if you go into the
orchard with bees strong and solid (early syrup and lots of brood), and get
the supers on, you can make this premium honey. The bees need to be built up
FOR the apples, not ON the apples. If you have old queens, or you wait too
long to super, they'll be hanging in the apple trees.

Dave Green
The Pollination Home Page:   http://pollinator.com