Dan&jan wrote:
>
> Some years, REGARDLESS OF GROWING AND WEATHER CONDITIONS, our
> honeybees do not work goldenrod. It is not that there are other nectar
> sources as they are not collecting anything and we have to feed them.
There is goldenrod and there is goldenrod. If were were all botanists,
we could differentiate between goldenrods and other plants that look
similar and which we group as a single type. Tony Jadczak pointed that
out to me, since I have large stands of goldenrod but not the "right"
goldenrod. I get little honey from it but a lot from aster, when blooms
slightly after the goldenrod. I still have no idea which one is the
right one, since my bees are all around the asters but occasionally are
on the goldenrod.
It is a lot easier when we see different clovers, because they look
different. Even there, however, there are variants in the white, red and
other clovers. Some produce better then their kissin' cousins. Just do a
search on variants of red clover. Some are great honey plants and others
busts.
It could also be, in your area, that goldenrod has never been a good
source but it is something else that is the problem, especially if the
summer flow was poor, as it was here in Maine. Then it is not the lack
of fall nectar but you are starting from a deficit.
It could also be the time of day we observe, since plants do regulate
their nectar availability during the day.
It could also be the amount of water in the ground. Or the life cycle of
the goldenrod. Or insect damage. Or weather.
I have found with beekeeping questions from afar, that there are so
many variables that it is difficult to answer a general question
concerning why something is wrong, which is why few "expert' beekeepers
even bother to try. However, that has never stopped me as a "talented
amateur" ( a euphemism for someone who does not know what they are
talking about).
Bill Truesdell (are you ready for the government mandate to shift your
bees plasma tvs from analog to digital tuners? I did mine early.)
Bath, Maine
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