Glen van Niekerk said:

> Sunflowers are indeed a good source of pollen and nectar. Honey harvests
> may be influenced by e.g. Climate, soil type, cultivar, evening
> temperatures and adequate soil moisture. Black soil types (In South
Africa)
> tend to yield more honey than sandy soils.
> There is also a nice build up of your bee colonies when they are working
on
> sunflowers.
>
> My experience is that sunflower honey granulates quickly when temperatures
> drop.



Hallo All
I agree completely with Glen van Niekerk. Here, in Serbia, we have very good
sunflower pasture in northern area.

As chestnut honey (Castanea sativa), sunflower honey has a lot of pollen
too, and maybe this is the reason of its increasing demand in our market.
For example, from the third classe honey, chesnut honey became one of the
most expensive honey sorts.

Regarding hive placement, to pollinate sunflowers fields, experiance of our
beekeepers is to place about 2 hives per hectar. As I know, average honey
production is 20-50 kg per ha, is very dependent on sort. If we expect good
honey production, the soil must be very fertile and without any weeds.

regards
Predrag Cvetkovic, Serbia

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