Longan honey is a leveraged turtle again this year! Unusual weather longan only blossoms but does not shed honey, willow lychee medicine, bee farmers wandering with bees

5 sharing

The unique flavor of longan honey is loved by consumers. Last year (2019), the harvest of longan litchi failed, which led to the first suspension of honey evaluation in May every year. Longan flowers were in full bloom this year, and bee farmers were full of joy to look forward to the harvest. Unexpectedly, the cold air mass brought by the front in March and April caused longan to blossom but less honey, resulting in a substantial reduction in honey production.

Seeing the poor honey situation in the south, most bee farmers nomadic to the middle to release bees, but too many bees lead to a decline in the average amount of honey harvesting, coupled with the overlap between the early flowering of longan and the medication periods of willow and litchi, and some bee poisoning incidents have been reported. Bee farmers can only continue to wander with the bees and seek the next safe place to flow honey.

Wu Jufang said that honey harvesting requires three conditions: full bloom, weather cooperation, and exuberant bees, but the weather does not cooperate this year. (photo by Cai Jiashan) Bee farmers are nomadic all over Taiwan, and abnormal climate causes longan to blossom without honey.

According to the statistics of the Beekeeping Association, there are more than 1,000 beekeepers in Taiwan, mainly in the central and southern regions. Every year the Spring Equinox litchi blossoms, in order to collect honey, the island bee farmers like nomads, with litchi, longan flowering grazing bees. The first wave began in Tainan, Kaohsiung, then the second wave in Chiayi, and finally came to Taichung and Nantou in April, ending the annual migration.

The largest producing area of longan honey in the south is Kaohsiung in Ailian and Neimen, which extends to Nanhua and Yujing, and the other is in Dongshan, which is a "first-level war zone" in the eyes of bee farmers. A lotus is famous for its "Dagangshan" brand, while the inner gate has the largest planting area of longan. Due to the lack of water resources in bad terrain, it is not suitable for farming, and it is generally extensive to plant a wide area of longan.

Wang Kai, a bee farmer in a lotus production and marketing class, said that this year, longan blossoms two weeks earlier, almost colliding with litchi, and encountered low temperature interference, less than 28 degrees during the day, resulting in longan blooming but not honey: "Longan honey is not as expected this year. Longan blossoms are not very ideal. Longan flowers only bloom 10% to 20% in Dagang Mountain, and they are knocked out by rain, resulting in a harvest of only 20% to 30% of honey this year, which is not ideal."

The inner gate has the largest beekeeping and marketing class in Kaohsiung. Yue Shengji, a bee farmer, said that last year's poor harvest was expected to be this year, but the climate disturbed it. "the south wind was not blowing in March or April, and the temperature was not enough for longan trees to produce honey. In case of heavy rain, they can only collect some miscellaneous nectar."

The blossom and fruit of longan are greatly affected by the weather (upstream and downstream data) the southern bee moves northward, the bee farmers squeeze to the middle to collect honey, and the temperature drops after the Qingming Festival, reducing honey production.

Trapped by the low temperature and the poor honey production of longan, Chen Shu, the monitor of the beekeeping and marketing class of the Gangshan Peasant Association, moved the beehive to the middle where the flowers were better, and went to Chiayi Takasaki and Nantou Zhongliao one after another. Unexpectedly, the honey situation was not as good as expected. "this year, litchi was received, and longan honey was only harvested. Although it is not ideal, it is a little better than the tragedy of litchi and longan almost hanging at all last year." He tried to comfort himself in this way with the happy days unique to bee farmers.

Lai Chaoxian, a big beekeeper in Puli, just participated in the group verification this year. He, who runs a beekeeping sightseeing factory, is also an evaluator of the honey quality competition. Lai said that today