# Locust trees and honey



## Wolfer (Jul 15, 2012)

Hi all, I live in southwest MO and have a lot of locust trees in the neighborhood. Does anyone know what type of locust ( black, honey, etc ) that we have here and is it something the bees will work.

The honey my bees put up early was very light with a smooth taste ( for lack of a better way to describe it ) and I never could find what they were working. My early/ midsummer honey is typical wildflower. It has a taste that I sometimes smell when I'm outside but it's not a plant I recognize. Right now the only thing I see them working is chicory in the mornings.
Just curious about the locust, I try to kill as many as I can but if my bees could work it I might give em a break.

Thanks for any replies, Woody


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## Roadstar (Nov 1, 2010)

What you have are most likely Black Locust, and yes, in our part of the country the Locust is one of the first things to bloom, and it provides the first major flow of the spring. You will know Honey Locust when you see one, as the trunk will be loaded with clusters of big, nasty thorns. If you have Black Locust on your property, and you want your hives to get started with a bang in the spring, you would do well to encourage all the locust growth you can. We have a lot of them up here (just east of St. Louis), and my bees work them hard.......and make good honey.


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## Wolfer (Jul 15, 2012)

Mine are loaded with big nasty thorns. Also I don't recall ever seeing flowers on them.


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## Roadstar (Nov 1, 2010)

Wolfer said:


> Mine are loaded with big nasty thorns. Also I don't recall ever seeing flowers on them.


You have Honey Locust if they have big, nasty thorns. They usually bloom in mid to late June, and the flowers aren't as "showy" as Black Locust. I don't see any bees on Honey Locust blooms around here. Honey Locust wood is HARD, and makes good firewood and fence posts........and IMO, that's about all it's good for. (That being said, there are several "thornless" varieties that make very nice yard trees.)


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## Riverratbees (Feb 10, 2010)

This yr here in southwestern Va the one thing we around here have been wondering is what happen to the locust around here it didn't bloom. We had a great spring around here. Had plenty of rain and lots of sun but the locusts never bloomed not just a few trees all of them. This is one of the best flows in the area cause locust trees are everywhere. The honey is very light in color and the hives smells great and it is one of the heaviest flows we have around here. I lost a lot of honey and so did other beekeepers in the area.


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## [email protected] (May 12, 2010)

Riverratbees said:


> This yr here in southwestern Va the one thing we around here have been wondering is what happen to the locust around here it didn't bloom. We had a great spring around here. Had plenty of rain and lots of sun but the locusts never bloomed not just a few trees all of them. This is one of the best flows in the area cause locust trees are everywhere. The honey is very light in color and the hives smells great and it is one of the heaviest flows we have around here. I lost a lot of honey and so did other beekeepers in the area.


Funny how spotty the Locust flow can be. I drove through Richmond Va with a load of packages on Easter weekend and the locust was in full bloom. Here in the Northeast, our Locust also didn't bloom. Some years, we can make 100 lbs per hive from Locust!


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## Tom B (May 11, 2011)

We have black locust here in Wisconsin, early nectar source and produces excellent, water-clear honey. Missed the bloom this year due to odd spring weather, usually blooms right after the dandelions. Honey production was delayed as a result.


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## Ozone (May 24, 2011)

I read once that the black locust bloom hits about one in 5 years, depending upon weather.

Figures,  .


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## dixiebooks (Jun 21, 2010)

Riverratbees said:


> This yr here in southwestern Va the one thing we around here have been wondering is what happen to the locust around here it didn't bloom. We had a great spring around here. Had plenty of rain and lots of sun but the locusts never bloomed not just a few trees all of them. This is one of the best flows in the area cause locust trees are everywhere. The honey is very light in color and the hives smells great and it is one of the heaviest flows we have around here. I lost a lot of honey and so did other beekeepers in the area.



We had a very nice locust bloom here in the state of Upper East Tennessee. -js


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## LAM (Jun 26, 2012)

I think the 5 year rule sounds about right. Locust was great in this part of Jersey but hasn't been in as many years.


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