View Full Version : Opinions on going into the lavendar farms
Chef Isaac
02-07-2006, 10:48 PM
I received an email from a lady today asking if I would like to put osme hives on her land. She owns a lavendar farm. This bee yard is around 40 miles one way. Traffic can be heavy at times.
What do you all think? Lavedar honey worth the miles?
George Fergusson
02-08-2006, 04:08 AM
How many hives you talking and is she paying? Bees sure like lavendar, but how big is her farm? There'd have to be a lot of lavender for you to get a discrete amount of lavendar honey, and at that you'd have to manage it closely.
Michael Bush
02-08-2006, 08:09 AM
It is a lot of work to move hives. I'd make sure you get paid enough to be worth the trip. The bees will probably make honey fine where they are. smile.gif
BjornBee
02-08-2006, 09:00 AM
If the farm is more than a planted acre, which will produce a good honey crop, and you are to be paid, then I would do it.
A specialty honey such as lavender can bring a premium. And if she has 5, 10, 20 or more acres, it could be well worth the drive a few times a year. Lavender plants produce a very good amount of honey. Not many beekeepers have a chance on something like a lavender farm. If it is not worth it after a year, chalk it up to experience, and move on.
I'm with Bjorn on this one. Lavendar honey is a very unique honey and would certainly bring a premium price. I have people ask for it all the time and have none. I would jump at that chance and as you expand it may be a top shelf new location.
I have a buckwheat yard that is that far and it really is not a huge inconvience in comparrision to the return for the speciality honey. You'll just have to plan a 1/2 day once a month or so to check those hives.
Incidentally if you do it we all want a sample!!
peggjam
02-08-2006, 10:53 AM
"Incidentally if you do it we all want a sample!!"
Theres the first years crop, and if it's good, we'd all like samples next year too..........LOL
sagittarius
02-10-2006, 05:37 PM
Why would a lavender farm owner want honeybees, unless she is harvesting alot of seeds? Or, Wants to sell lavender honey along with her lavender.
FordGuy
02-10-2006, 07:50 PM
I thought in order to produce lavenders the blooms had to be pollinated? haha.
Jim Fischer
02-10-2006, 10:06 PM
My parents have a decent-sized 1/4 acre patch
of lavender, and the bees are all over it
every time it blooms. A mere quarter acre
does not seem to be enough to keep the entire
foraging force of my father's six hives busy,
so we have never attempted to make a "crop"
of pure lavender honey.
But the bees just love the stuff.
Beekeeper Bill
02-11-2006, 11:24 AM
My wife is not too keen on spending money on bees,but she will buy flowers,she is helping out she just doesent know it, so this lavender thing is making me think ( what a headache )more lavender more honey he he, I can see more lavender coming this spring.
Bill
FordGuy
02-11-2006, 04:49 PM
How do you grow lavender anyway? Do you have to buy the plants,or can you actually get seeds?
George Fergusson
02-11-2006, 05:16 PM
You can buy plants, but I've grown them from seed. They seem to take forever to get going. They're a perennial and once they get started they spread like crazy.
FordGuy
02-12-2006, 06:31 PM
George, I googled a little and learned there are quite a few varieties, that it is a perennial, like you said, that it is harvested and there are many farms.
How would one start a quarter acre of this stuff? Do you think it would be an expensive proposition to purchase all those plants?
drobbins
02-12-2006, 06:39 PM
FordGuy
I googled around and the plants are pretty steep, but the seed are cheap
http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/perennials/lavender.html
maybe George can clue us in on starting them
I don't have a field but they look like they'd make the ditch bank pretty smile.gif
Dave
iddee
02-12-2006, 06:53 PM
>>>How would one start a quarter acre of this stuff? Do you think it would be an expensive proposition to purchase all those plants?<<<
Just ask Jim where his parents live and what time they go to bed.
>>>I thought in order to produce lavenders the blooms had to be pollinated? haha<<<
And it requires killing a lot of little naugies to get a substantial amount of naugahide. tongue.gif
FordGuy
02-12-2006, 07:44 PM
Jim, iddee wanted me to ask you where your parents live, what time they go to bed, how much money they have and if there are any guard dogs/alarm systems?
FordGuy
02-12-2006, 07:47 PM
wait a minute, maybe I misunderstood....this is about lavender!
DANIEL QUINCE
02-13-2006, 08:55 AM
I ordered seeds from www.Carterseeds.com (http://www.Carterseeds.com) The smallest package is $28 and has like 26000 seeds. Other sources sell 100 seeds for $2. You need to refrigerate them for a few weeks before planting. Apparently the best would be the English lavender since through pollination in time you may get hybrids that are "less perennials". I'll try and see if they grow in my sanding soil after I pull out all the Christmas trees. Hope this helps.
Daniel
DANIEL QUINCE
02-13-2006, 11:40 AM
Oooh, and I've got 2 big dogs, and I'm so worried of not having any money, that I never sleep.
Ahh lavender, one of my favourite plants. Like millions of people, whenever I pass a plant I pick off some flower, crush it in my fingers and inhale that scent mmmmmmmmm.
Theres heaps of varieties, its a native of southern Europe mainly. Id say one in 4 gardens has a lavender plant in it around here.
Heres a link to our local lavender farm.
http://www.nedlandsfarm.com.au/
Theyd be happy to tell you about bees and lavender, I checked. Lavender honey is pretty popular speciality honey here.
Fresh lavender flowers have a real sweet honey after smell. I reckon half the work is already done with these.
yeh its hard to find but $12.00 for 8.8 ounces aint to bad. don't know what it would cost here but that is a fansy jar they are showing, must be a high dollar store.., heck I would do it chef....
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002FH0Q0/103-0842582-9227868?v=glance
[ February 14, 2006, 02:37 AM: Message edited by: TwT ]
stinger
02-15-2006, 06:23 PM
doesn't lavendar honey tend to crystalize easily? I was told it did or maybe a certain variety of lavendar???
ainsof
02-16-2006, 03:31 PM
Just how much are you pros paid (I guess per hive?) for pollination services?
ainsof
02-17-2006, 07:34 AM
<doesn't lavendar honey tend to crystalize easily? I was told it did or maybe a certain variety of lavendar???>
My wife was doing some research and found that honey's that are high in dextrose tend to crystallize. Lavender was on the list, but I'm not sure which university websites she was going to. Shouldn't be too hard to find out.
Being a gardener, she also said that lavender will grow like weeds. Seed takes a while to propagate (she sprouts everything, then plants seedlings), but more mature plants are a lot more work to put in the ground. I guess it's a trade off.