• PATRONS: Did you know we've a chat function for you now? Look to the bottom of the screen, you can chat, set up rooms, talk to each other individually or in groups! Click 'Chat' at the right side of the chat window to open the chat up.
  • Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
  • We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.

?Toxic oleander honey

Barrel Char Wood Products

jayich

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 27, 2009
479
0
0
Anchorage, AK
My son,who lives in Thousand Oaks, CA, would like to set up a beehive in his yard which has several oleander bushes. I know that all parts of the oleander bush is quite toxic, and after a google search, found some sites that say that oleander honey is toxic to bees and to humans. If he sets up a hive there and it thrives, would the honey be safe- assuming it it is diluted with the nectar of other flowers in the vicinity? Does anyone out there have any direct experience in collecting and using honey from hives located near oleander bushes?
 

Riverat

Premium Patron
Premium Patron
Should a hive produce it's honey from only (or a vast majority) of Oleander blossoms yes it would not be healthy, but bees are pretty wide ranging as they need to visit a LOT of flowers so I doubt a few bushes present are going to be a problem, would be a point of conversation though.
 

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
Hmm, that is interesting. I'd be really worried personally, but you could always get a mouse from the pet shop (the kind they feed to snakes) and feed it some honey. If it dies, don't eat the honey!
 

jayich

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 27, 2009
479
0
0
Anchorage, AK
Thanks everyone. I told my son if there is a doubt that maybe he shouldn't do it. It seems that if this were a definite risk that there would be more information out there- or maybe I'm just not aware of it.
 

Demolitron

NewBee
Registered Member
Hmmm, I was just doing a little looking into this and noticed that rodents are relativley immune to the toxin... So a pet store mouse may turn out to be a Judas. =) Keep in mind this is from a wiki...


Toxicity studies of animals administered oleander extract concluded that the rodent and avian species were observed to be relatively insensitive to oleander "cardioactive glycosides".[8] Other mammals, however, such as dogs and humans, are relatively sensitive to the effects of cardiac glycosides and the clinical manifestations of "glycoside intoxication".[8][9][10]

-Demolitron
 

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
Huh, well so much for that idea.

I've been thinking about this a bit more too. There is lots of oleander in California. Lots. Huge sections of highway are lined with the stuff. (it's very drought tolerant and stays green year-round.) But I know there are companies that sell honey foraged in the urban areas around San Francisco, e.g. Oakland, Berkeley, Marin, and Napa. These bees certainly run across oleander on a regular basis, but the honey is fine to eat. Considering how sensitive bees are to toxins, if the bees make the honey it's probably ok to eat.
 

mmclean

Honey Master
Registered Member
Jul 22, 2010
1,135
2
38
Tennessee Valley
I don't know for sure, but would think that if the necter in toxic the bees would know to stay away.

They are not nearly so dumb as to drink something that would harm them. Unlike some animals. :rolleyes:
 

mmclean

Honey Master
Registered Member
Jul 22, 2010
1,135
2
38
Tennessee Valley
...or maybe:

There are three categories of plants that are associated with toxic honey:
1) plants whose nectar or pollen kills bees before they can transform it into honey (e.g. locoweed [Astralagus lentiginosus], Veratrum californicum, Vernonia spp.);
2) plants whose nectar is harmless to bees but when turned into honey becomes toxic/inebriating to humans (e.g. oleander [Nerium oleander], thorn apple [Datura spp.]. angel's trumpet [Brugmansia spp.], mountain laurel [Kalmia spp.], false jasmine [Gelsemium sempervirens], Euphorbia marginata, Serjania lethalis);
and
3) known poisonous plants that are harmless to bees and yield edible and often exquisite honey (e.g., Rhustoxicodendron, Metopium toxiferum, Jatropha curcas, Baccharis halimifolia, Ricinus communis) (Morton 1964, 415).
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
I'm tending to agreee with Riverat and Akueck, a couple of bushes is not going to poison a whole season's worth of honey in a hive's entire harvest unless it's plunked right in the middle of fields of the stuff. We eat small amounts of many toxins all the time, it's a concentration thing like the cyanide in certain fruit seeds.

And if he's really concerned, just make sure there are plenty of other options in the area, plant some other flowers that bees like. I'm not going to make suggestions on what because I don't know what grows in the climate, I only know what I'd plant up here :).

 

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
If it grows in Canada, it grows in California. ;) You probably want something drought-tolerant though.

We had some alyssum in our front yard that grew really well and didn't need much water after being established. Nice groundcover, pretty little flowers. Ligustrum is also pretty hardy, though the flowers are shorter-lived they smell really nice. Rosemary and thyme grew nicely in Oakland, perhaps they'd be good in SoCal too.
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
If it grows in Canada, it grows in California. ;) You probably want something drought-tolerant though.

We had some alyssum in our front yard that grew really well and didn't need much water after being established. Nice groundcover, pretty little flowers. Ligustrum is also pretty hardy, though the flowers are shorter-lived they smell really nice. Rosemary and thyme grew nicely in Oakland, perhaps they'd be good in SoCal too.

Do you have crabapple trees? :D

Oh, if I had a lawn, I would rip out the grass and plant nothing but creeping thyme...
 
Barrel Char Wood Products

Viking Brew Vessels - Authentic Drinking Horns