I am just south of Maryland in northern North Carolina and my first
question is how much honey are you making each spring, regardless of the
source?  I see tremendous variability in the mm of color in my honey each
spring but I seem to make a crop every year in spite of the weather.  This
year the color is about 20 mm but last year it was about 70 mm - much
darker.  I did notice the poplar trees had so much nectar this year that it
was dripping on to the lower leaves of the trees and causing sooty mold to
grow on the surface of the leaves, though given the color of the honey crop
I doubt the bees harvested poplar.  I have bees in the NC mountains at 3600
feet and they made a fair crop of poplar honey last year in the spring that
was about 90 mm in color, and it tasted great.   The only constant I see in
the bee business is variability, though the market here is consistently
strong for local honey, whatever the color.  I would worry less about what
kind of honey the bees make and focus on keeping them alive and making
whatever they choose.

good luck,
Bill Lord
Louisburg NC (34 degrees N)

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