Hi Chris, Jim & all

Jim Said...
> > I've been advocating tracking growing degree-days
> > as a way to nail down blooms to within a few days
> > for years now, and I've yet to find any other
> > beekeeper even trying it.  Discouraging.

Chris Said...
> I did something of the sort myself about 20 years ago
> unsystematically and
> there was quite a wide variation from year to year.

Similarly about 20 years ago (I did not know Chris then), a
commercial beekeeper (John Inchley, died 1996) tried to get me
interested in a similar project. He had several years of data on
blooming of target species and asked me to find an empirical
formula to use it for prediction.

I was not able to make any sense or draw any direct conclusions
from the data presented (which was meticulous), BUT the concept
of growing degree days was not mooted at the time, nor do I think
anything more than spot temperature were recorded.

For UK conditions, a temperature measuring method that
incorporated averaging or integration over the full 24 hour
period, would be needed as the weather can change dramatically
many times during a day.



 Best Regards & 73s, Dave Cushman... G8MZY
Beekeeping & Bee Breeding Website
Email: [log in to unmask] or  [log in to unmask]
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman &
http://www.dave-cushman.net

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