# Poisonous plants affect honey?



## pinfeather (Nov 12, 2006)

I live on the coast of northern CA. Around here we have rhododendrons and mountain laurel blooming in the spring. What do beekeepers do about possible poisoned honey? Do you not harvest when poisonous plants are blooming? How do you know how long to wait? I'm thinking about keeping one or two top bar hives and wondered what your suggestions might be for managing more or less desirable honey from different flowers.


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## scrapiron (Jul 23, 2011)

non factor


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## indypartridge (Oct 26, 2004)

I agree with scrapiron - it's a non factor. On various bee forums I've read that many beekeepers are in areas with lots of mountain laurel & rhododendrens and haven't had any problems.


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## defenestrate (Aug 23, 2005)

I can't recite plants offhand, but I have heard of several types of honey that are largely based on the flowers of essentially inedible or even toxic plants.


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## Narshalla (Sep 11, 2008)

I've had honey made from everything you've named and more, and while I can tell that there is a distinct flavor difference between varieties, there is more of a difference between, for instance, raspberry honey and buckwheat honey.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

deleted


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## pinfeather (Nov 12, 2006)

Thanks for posting - one less thing to worry about!


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