> Waldemar wrote > > Can malnutrition occur under East Coast conditions? Here in the Finger Lakes of NY after the Basswood flow in July--there is a dearth. This lasts from end of August until September. Pollen flows slow & almost stop. In some years (like this year) its a good idea to feed sugar. My colonies were putting on nothing & my scale hive was back pedaling--couple pounds a day. I pulled supers, added a 1 lb patty & put on two gallons of 1:1 sugar per colony. (July 28) Now I have pollen traps back on & the Bamboo is flowing, some Goldenrod (not strong yet) and clover pollen--they get little honey from dutch clover this time of year, but quite a bit of pollen. My hives are on the mend. rather than gobbling up the first week of flow after this dearth they will start to gain weight because I fed them. (they also got to clean up the supers following a pitiful extraction. 1 barrel--should have been 3-4 by this time of year. Prior to the release of the three insects for Loosestrife control, beekeepers could get Loosestrife honey if near a swamp in August but thats gone around here--beeks complain that biological control of invasive plants destroyed such a nice olive oil green honey. So yes on the east coast there are periods ( in places) with hive malnutrition. Mike *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html