Poison sumac and Bees

[2BeeHealthy]

Hi , I am considering staring to raise bees. I live in a place where there is a lot of poison sumac. Would the bees be interested in that pollen? If so will it cause problems in the honey for those that are severely allergic to the sumac???

[jayj200]

welcome
not all plants and all plant parts are poision

[Maggiesdad]

Welcome to Beemaster!

Part of keeping bees is knowing what forage is available when, and what the bees are working at that time. Plus knowing whether the bees are storing surplus (for you) when the questionable plant is in bloom.

I wouldn't let the fear of questionable honey keep me from having bees.

Sending you a linky by pm...
Glen

[iddee]

I use sumac to smoke bees. It is said to help with varroa mites.

Poison Ivy makes a great honey and there's never been a reported case of anyone breaking out from the honey.

[Michael Bush]

"Sumac (/ˈsjuːm?k/ or /ˈʃuːm?k/; also spelled sumach) is any one of about 35 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. "--wikipedia

"oxicodendron vernix, commonly known as poison sumac, is a woody shrub or small tree growing to 9 m (30 ft) tall.[1][2] It was previously known as Rhus vernix. "--wikpedia

They are not related.  I've never heard of getting honey from poison sumac.  Sumac makes a very nice honey and a nice tea and good smoker fuel and nice pipstems as the center of the wood is pithy and can be pushed out or burned out easily.

[buzzbee]

Poison sumac:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=rhve2_1h.jpg

Often perceived as poison:
Staghorn Sumac
http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=rhty_002_ahp.tif

Not sure why, but people around here often fuss about the staghorn.

[deknow]

To be  clear...DO NOT BURN POISON SUMAC IN YOUR SMOKER.

[Michael Bush]

>To be  clear...DO NOT BURN POISON SUMAC IN YOUR SMOKER.

Thanks.  Perhaps that wasn't as obvious as I thought... :)

[GSF]

(as shown in the previous links) It's my understanding that the best way to distinguish between the two is the bloom. If it's white it's poisonous. All others okay.

[jayj200]

some one who knows help this (me) clueless person

I thought we could throwsome on the campfire

[Maggiesdad]

the urushiol in the smoke can ruin an allergic person's lungs

[rober]

back in the 70's I had a neighbor that was extremely allergic to poison ivy nearly die when he burned a big pile of poison ivy while burning brush & breathed in the smoke. he had breathing problems the rest of his life because after his allergic reaction was cured he had extensive scar tissue on his lungs. just make sure you know which is which if you're going to burn it. as far as the bees working the flowers if they did the honey should be fine.
http://poison-sumac.org/

[GSF]

I've heard pretty much about the same with the smoke. Here's a video from a guy I have a lot of confidence in. "The Southern Herbalists". He shows an old trick on how to immune yourself against poison ivy. Not saying it a cure all;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sux00hnd4BU