Silver fir
A great conifer of the central European mountains and one of the sources of honeydew honey — which comes not from flowers at all, but from the sugary excretions of aphids and scale insects feeding on the tree's sap. Silver fir honeydew produces the dark, resinous, low-sweetness honey sold in Germany and Austria as Tannenhonig, and its supply depends on aphid populations rather than on any flowering.
Value to bees
- Nectar
- None
- Pollen
- Low
- As a honey crop
- Major honey crop — yields a surplus in good years
- Which bees, and why
- Honey bees collect honeydew from the needles and twigs where aphids have excreted it. Ants and wasps compete for the same resource, and in a strong honeydew year the forest is audibly busy.
- Worth knowing
- No floral nectar and negligible pollen. Its entire forage value is honeydew, which is why nectar and pollen are rated separately in this catalogue — a single bee-friendliness score would make this tree look worthless.
Flowering
- In flower
- June to September (northern hemisphere)
This is not a flowering window. It is the period when aphid and scale populations on the tree produce honeydew, which is what the bees actually collect.
- When nectar flows
- There is no nectar. Bees collect honeydew excreted by aphids and scale insects feeding on the tree's phloem, and the flow depends on the size of those insect populations.
- Year-to-year variation
- Notoriously unpredictable, because it depends on a two-step biological chain — a good aphid year following a suitable winter, in a forest with the right insect species present. Honeydew years fail completely and without warning, and forecasting them is an active area of work for European beekeeping associations.
What it does to the honey
Very dark, almost black-green, resinous and malty with a low sweetness and a distinct woody, slightly balsamic character. It is high in minerals and does not crystallise readily.
Growing it
- Conditions
- Cool, moist, sheltered mountain conditions on deep soil. It is shade-tolerant when young and intolerant of drought and air pollution.
- Size
- 30-50 m tall, and among the tallest native European trees.
- Native range
- The mountains of central and southern Europe — the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Carpathians, the Balkans and the Vosges.
- Suits
- Large gardens
- A forest tree of considerable size, unsuited to any but the largest gardens.
- Sensitive to drought and to late frost in exposed positions.
- Bark beetle damage and drought stress are the principal threats to silver fir across central Europe.
What it looks like
A tall conical conifer with flat dark green needles carrying two distinct white bands beneath, and upright cones that disintegrate on the tree rather than falling whole.
Sources
- The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting — Routledge (1999) · Historical text
- HoneyHQ editorial synthesis — HEKNO Ltd · HoneyHQ synthesis
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.
Guides covering this plant
- What makes a honey strongStrong honeys are dark, mineral-rich and usually lower in sweetness than pale ones. Understanding which axis a honey is strong on tells you what to do with it.
- Why some honeys are rareRarity in honey almost always comes down to botany and weather rather than to deliberate restriction. Understanding the mechanism explains why supply swings so violently from year to year.
- Which flowers make honeyBeing good for bees and producing a honey crop are different things. A honey crop needs a plant that flowers in enormous quantity, in one place, at one time — which most good bee plants do not.
- How plants decide honey flavourNearly everything that distinguishes one honey from another arrives in the nectar. The bee contributes enzymes and evaporation; the plant contributes everything you taste.
- Honey chemistry explainedHoney is a supersaturated sugar solution with a small and consequential fraction of everything else. Almost every practical question about honey resolves into a question about that composition.
- The best honey for coffeeCoffee is bitter, roasted and assertive, which reverses the usual advice. Here a mild honey disappears and a strong one earns its place.
- The best honey for cheeseHoney and cheese work because sweetness, salt and fat balance each other. The pairing fails when the honey is too mild to register or so strong it flattens the cheese.
- Strong honeys: a guide to the assertive endA shortlist of the honeys that demand attention, sorted by which kind of strength they have — because aroma, bitterness and mineral weight are three different problems.
Tools for planning planting
- Flowering calendar
What should I plant so that something is always in flower for bees?
- Bee-friendly garden planner
What should I plant in the space I actually have?
- Plant recommendation tool
Which plant fills this specific gap?