Green propolis harvest season here in Minas Gerais — Southern Hemisphere check-in
While you northerners are drowning in nectar, a dispatch from Brazilian winter — dry season here in Minas Gerais, cool nights, almost no flow, and my Africanized colonies are on minimal inspections. But this is exactly when the famous green propolis work happens. The green comes from Baccharis dracunculifolia (we call it alecrim-do-campo), a scrubby native plant the bees visit for resin from the young shoots, not for nectar.
I run plastic collector screens under the lids — bees hate the gaps and caulk every slot with propolis. Pull the screens, into the freezer overnight, then flex them and the propolis pops off in brittle green sticks. Small yields, maybe 50-100 g per colony per month in season, but buyers pay serious money, most of it ends up exported to Japan for the artepillin-C content. Anyone else's winter income based on glue instead of honey? Curious what other Southern Hemisphere folks are doing this month.
The Japan connection is real — Brazilian green propolis has near mythical status in pharmacies here, sold as tinctures and throat sprays at prices that would make you laugh. Meanwhile in Hokkaido we're in peak summer flow and I couldn't collect propolis now if I wanted to, every bee is on nectar duty. Fun mirror-image thread.
MieleMarco · Jun 26, 2026
In Tuscany propolis is an autumn afterthought we scrape off frames, and it's the brown poplar-resin type. Interesting that yours is a deliberate managed harvest with its own season. Do the colonies stay defensive around the screens? Africanized stock plus disturbed propolis lines sounds spicy to a European.
NalediBees · Jun 27, 2026
Mpumalanga winter here too — my scutellata are clustered tight, I'm down to hefting for stores and keeping entrances reduced against robbing. No propolis economy this side, but winter aloe flows give my strong colonies a small surprise harvest some years. Enjoy the quiet season, northerners will be moaning about dearth soon enough.
PropolisRafa · Jun 27, 2026
MieleMarco — smoke, timing, and speed. I pull screens on cool mornings when they're calm and it's a 30-second job per hive. They're defensive by nature but a fast, smooth routine matters more than the stock, honestly. And yes HokkaidoHachi, we joke the real price of green propolis is set in Tokyo, not here.