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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
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Mon, 16 Aug 2004 13:23:14 GMT
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Thank you all for your informative responses.

>>All that said...does goldenrod produce nectar in your area?  Where it is on lime soil, goldenrod seems to always produce nectar.  The more acid the soil, the less reliable is goldenrod production.

This will be our first year on goldenrod and we are excited.  With a fellow bee keeper, we have moved 5 hives out to a great looking goldenrod field 2 weeks ago.  There are minimum 30 acres covered with at least several species of goldenrod.  Some have been blooming since early August while others appear a couple of weeks away.

If the bees have increased brood rearing since they were put out in the field and the peak bloom happens in 2 or 3 weeks, there should be a very strong forager force to harvest the nectar.  Typically, Long Island winters frequently offer good cleansing temperatures and we hope the bees will overwinter well.  We'll find out.

Last Saturday morning there was a good bee traffic in front of the hives.  Quite a few bees returning with several shades of orange pollen in their baskets while others were only covered in orange/yellow pollen.  Checking the frames in the supers revealed a good rate of increase even though it had been dry for some 10 days. (Rain has returned last Friday and over the weekend.)

Does goldenrod secrete nectar only during certain hours of the day?  There was almost no bee traffic after 6 pm.

We also saw a few predatory wasps/hornets/bees that occasionally would snatch and kill a honeybee.  They were about 3 or 4 times the size of a honeybee with a yellow abdomem and a red-brown thorax/head.  They appeared to perform mating dance in the air with the jaws interlocked.  Quite attractive but it hurt to see honeybees being devoured.  Can anyone guess what these predators are?  Hopefully they are not great in numbers...

I am not sure about the soil pH in that field, Lloyd.  Will need to measure it next time I am out there.

Regards,

Waldemar
LI, NY

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