# Queen Anne's Lace



## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

The owner of the farm stand that I keep some bees at says my bees have been working Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus Carota) hard. The hives I checked today are rapidly becoming honey bound so they are obviously getting nectar somewhere. Lovell's Honey Plants of North America says QAL yields nectar once every 10 years or so. Is there anyone else whose bees are working QAL? (Happy to experience a 1 in 10 year flow!)


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## gingerbee (Jul 22, 2006)

We have lots of Queen Anne's lace here, I'll have to go out and see if they are working it. Wonder how the honey tastes?


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## Benton2569 (Feb 26, 2007)

I looked quickly and did not see any activity here on the QAL.


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

Interesting thread. I had thought that the honeybees didn't work QAL. I've never seen 'em working it so I'll have to keep a closer eye on it now.


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

I have tons of QAL here and never see a bee on it.


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## MapMan (May 24, 2007)

Ross said:


> I have tons of QAL here and never see a bee on it.


Yep, here too.

It's a predominant weed in my pasture - livestock won't touch it unless it is young and tender, and I have _never_ seen a honeybee work it - if they did, and it produced sufficient nectar, I'd have supers up to the ionosphere.

MM


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

*Hold your nose.*

Queen annes lace will ruin any edible honey.
In the Willamette Valley, it provides a lesson to most new beekeepers about greed. While all of the local associations are advising newer beekeepers to pull honey by August 1st, there are always those exclaiming, ",They're still bringing it in,,they're still bringing it in!!!!"
Then, they bring in samples to a later meeting asking, "What happened to my honey?".
QAL has a powerful smell of B.O. (Human bad body odor)
If the honey sets around or chrystalizes and is heated, it gets even worse.
I have seen newer beekeepers have their entire crop spoiled to the point of inedible.
Wish I could think of something positive to say about it.


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## Show-me (Aug 3, 2007)

Same here with the QAL. Tons of it everywhere. Most I have ever seen.


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Harry,
Everything I have read on QAL confirms what you said. It is noted for crystallizing within two weeks, is dark in color and has a not so nice smell.

It does not sound like anything I'll be getting excited about.


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## Benton2569 (Feb 26, 2007)

*BO*

BO -that has got to taste pretty bad! I can just imagine a persons reaction as they put a spoonful of sweet golden honey in their mouth and then the look on their face when they realize how awful it is. Better save that for when the kids / grand kids act up.

Luckily my bees are avoiding this plant like the plague!


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

On the drive up to our West Virginia apiary Sunday, we noticed the Queen Anne's Lace blooming everywhere, but lamented the fact that, as far as we knew, honeybees have no use for it.

Then we got up to the cabin and I marched out to the back yard to see what, if anything, the bees were working. Bumbles were on anything with a bloom. The honeybees were working chicory (gathering white pollen), mountain mint (nectar only), and, just to make a monkey out of me _*again*_, Queen Anne's Lace.

At one point I even saw two bees attempting to work the same flower. Watching closely, each tiny blossom was getting a good tonguing, and there was no pollen in their baskets, so I assume they were finding nectar. 

But the hives are not showing weight gain except from their feeders. No major flow is on. In any case, the supers on at present are for winter stores ... mostly sugar syrup. We won't be harvesting it.

One can hope ... QAL is all over the place right now.


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

Ross said:


> I have tons of QAL here and never see a bee on it.


X2


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## thehackleguy (Jul 29, 2014)

It's edible....harvest it and sell it at the farm stand!


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)




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## wallyblackburn (May 5, 2015)

BjornBee said:


> Harry,
> Everything I have read on QAL confirms what you said. It is noted for crystallizing within two weeks, is dark in color and has a not so nice smell.
> 
> It does not sound like anything I'll be getting excited about.


We have a ton of it around here, but I have never seen a bee on it. But, I *did* notice some patches of really dark, uncapped honey/nectar when I looked in hives a few days ago. I hope it's not QAL if it's as nasty as they say!

Wally


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## jly500 (Jul 28, 2013)

Like everyone else. Ton of it never see any bee's on it.


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I pay pretty close attention to what the bees are working and this month they are working it here, and hard! I have never seen them working it in force before. Summer has been hot and dry here so maybe it is the last ditch effort. I also noted the stink that Harry mentioned doing some mite checks last week and was actually alarmed because I do not have goldenrod here like the guys in the Midwest and was thinking foul brood. 
I pull my honey just after blackberry so it is not an issue but it is nice to know.


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## huntingken111 (Jun 8, 2013)

We make jelly out of queens anne lace


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## camero7 (Sep 21, 2009)

two years ago my bees were working it but never before or after. Not this year for sure. Goldenrod has them very busy.


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## Nivtup (Mar 17, 2014)

We have quite a bit on our property, the bees had not been working it much at all. Saturday we got the first rain in some time, and Sunday morning was a sight to see, the bees were out in force working the queens Anne's lace. They only stayed on it for a few hours. Makes me think it might only be putting out nectar in short spurts.

I hadn't connected the smell to it until this thread. And the good news, our honey is pulled.


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## Ian G (Jul 29, 2014)

My field is packed with QAL. Ive looked in the morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and have never seen a bee working it. I plan to hit it all with roundup this fall and plant alsike clover in its place.


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## wcubed (Aug 24, 2008)

Why has nobody mentioned that QAL is wild carrot. pull a plant up by the roots and break a root in half and smell it.
W


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

I thought it was a carrot plant.
Saw so many of them growing in the ditch.
Lucky for me I dug up this carrot plant not knowing it as QAL.
How about sweet annie then?


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## Reef Resiner (Jun 9, 2015)

Careful about handling it though. It has a deadly look alike which is hemlock. The difference is the queen has hairy "legs" and has a carrot smell.

I left supers on late last year and haven't got this B.O. Honey people speak of (knock on wood)... Did get a really good tasting honey that was fairly thick and amber looking around the same time as the QAL bloom. Still not sure what it was from.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

beepro said:


> I thought it was a carrot plant.
> Saw so many of them growing in the ditch.
> Lucky for me I dug up this carrot plant not knowing it as QAL.
> How about sweet annie then?


Some people call them wild carrots. They're related.


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