I live in Washington State and Marijuana is legal here. If my neighbors are growing their own legally, will it affect someone that eats my honey? Sounds crazy, but I just thought I’d ask, and maybe our friends in Colorado have some experience with this.
That is quite an interesting question[quote]Marijuana plants are either male or female and the females are wind-pollinated. Bees might collect the pollen, it wouldn’t surprise me since I’ve seen them on corn which is also wind pollinated, but I don’t think the female marijuana flowers produce any nectar.
one
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I found this as well:
Detailed information regarding weeds as bee flora in various agroclimatic zones is very scanty. This
study will help to know foraging behaviour of Apis mellifera on cannabis sativa and importance of this weed as
a pollen source in dearth period.
http://www.bijenhelpdesk.nl/pdfbijen/Cannabis&Bees.pdf
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An this is from a site where peeps grow cannabis: [quote]To answer your question: No. But honey infused with THC does exist (man made). Source: pic and I ate some last week and it was delicious.[/quote]
Apparently Cannabis does not produce nectar, and is mainly wind pollinated
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I wouldn’t worry; if anything you’ll sell ALOT of honey and have extremely happy customers.
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RHC, I’m not going to sell anything any time soon. My honey production will be for myself and immediate family members. You never know, I may go bonkers and my brother in law has around forty hives, but for now, just the one.
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Valli, Thanks for the information. I replied once, but I think it must not have posted since I didn’t hit the “reply” button. I read the study, and now know that the plants would provide a good stopgap pollen source for my bees. I also learned that if I want to see this activity, the bees will most likely do this in the early mid/early morning, or much later on, but not much during the day, and I should leave a bag of Doritos nearby, just in case the bees are like us.
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…just don’t try to smoke the comb.
Just sayin’.
Hey! I have 40 hives too! lol
The subject has been thoroughly discussed on all the bee forums in the past. The conclusion is that there is no THC in the pollen or nectar and the bees don’t show much interest anyway.
I seem to recall a bloke who grew his own telling me he tried to avoid his pot flowers from being pollinated for some reason.
New in from Bee Culture: CATCH THE BUZZ – THE BUZZ ABOUT HONEY BEES AND MARIJUANA (SORRY, WE JUST COULDN’T RESIST)