In a message dated 9/8/99 7:26:30 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<< Just finishing up my first season in Upstate New York, near lake Ontario.
We have had an extraordinarily low honey flow. of 11 supers only 2 of
capped honey and 3 uncapped. We've had a relatively severe drought in the
area, could this bee the cause? If any of you are upstaters could you let
me know how your hives are doing? Am not sure if it's me or the weather.
Didn't put first supers on until about July 4th as we got a late start. >>
Your main flow there is late June to mid July, from basswood, sweet
clover and white clover, so the flow was probably half over by the time you
added supers. August is often quite lean, though you might have loosestrife
nearby (looks like Pennzoil, and doesn't taste much better). You may also
have alfalfa in August if you have hayfields that don't get cut before bloom.
Goldenrod is abundant and deceptive, because it doesn't yield much on the
limestone soils along Lake Ontario. It yields much better on the shale-based
soils in the Finger Lakes.
You are also in an area where pesticide hits are very common. Did you see
any evidence of any hits? One hit can deprive you of your crop, as bees will
stop producing and become consumers while they replace lost bees. You also
can get residual poisons stored away in pollen early in the summer. The
losses appear to be over, but during the winter, when bees uncover and start
using the contaminated pollen, they will lose more bees and hives can die,
without fresh pollen to dilute the effects. These winter losses are often not
recognized as pesticide losses, but you can tell, if you put frames of pollen
from these deadouts back into live bees in the spring, and you will see the
brood pattern become spotty, as if the queen were failing.
The worst pesticide hits occur from three occasions: 1. fruit growers
spray petal fall sprays before full petal fall, 2. fruit growers spray
insecticide on clover in the orchard floor in late June or July, 3. sweet
corn growers spray insecticide during corn pollen shed, or when goldenrod is
blooming along field margins in late August/September. Once in a while, some
idiot will spray blooming alfalfa. All are devastating, and illegal, because
they are violations of label directions. Give your local growers a copy of
the pesticide flow chart, which you can find on the pollination home page
(under cotton).
Drought would have to be extremely severe to cut production much. Some of
the best production years in the past have been droughts. Beekeepers say a
drought will scare you to death, but a rainy season will starve you to death.
Of course the timing of the drought is probably quite important. For many of
the flows, you need rain before bloom, and sunshine during bloom.... There
are some patches where black locust provides a nice early flow. Black locust
is deep rooted, and can yield like crazy in a drought year, but if it rains,
the flow is over.
If your bees are in good shape in the spring, practice good swarm control
and super early, because you are in an early area. There is no place in the
world where dandelion grows more prolifically, and an expert beekeeper can
sometimes get a deep super or more just from dandelion. Poor beekeepers (who
let bees swarm, or don't have supers on), and those who do fruit pollination
give up this flow. Late May and early June are lull times, unless you have
locust, then you have abundant clover the last week of June and most of July.
You also have basswood which blooms briefly but yields a lot some years in
early to mid July. There are brambles, sumac, milkweed, and many other
sources also at this time. Then you may have another lull. If you have the
capacity to move your bees into the shale belt in mid-August, you can
sometimes get a big goldenrod flow in early September. In a good goldenrod
area, with ideal weather, and bees in good shape, you can make a hundred
pounds per hive in a one-week flow.
Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA
The Pollination Home Page: http://www.pollinator.com
The Pollination Scene: http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles):
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm
|
