Problems & Honeydew Honey Production in Greece: An exclusive report from John Phipps, Editor of Bee Keepers Quarterly

摘要

Observant visitors to Greece will no doubt notice that many of the country's species of pine and fir trees have varying amounts of a white cotton-like substance on their trunks and branches, and that the affected trees look stressed or are even dying.Many go away thinking that the trees they have seen suffering in this way, whether in the boulevards of towns or in Greece's large forests, are suffering from a severe fungal disease. However, their thoughts on the subject would be completely wrong, forwhat they have seen is, in fact, the protective covering produced by thousands of a minute sap-sucking insect, Marchalina hellenica, which provides Greece with almost 60% of its honey - the honeydews 'Pefco' from the pine trees and 'Elato' from the firs.