Things are Poppin' Now.
 
   Swarm season is just about over, and most everything that didn't get
worked got itself requeened at least.
 
   In the lower coastal areas had an excellent tupelo and blackberry flow.
Plenty of sunshine plus leftover moisture from the winter flooding made ideal
conditions.  Unfortunately this is my breeding range, and I had to use just
about everything to raise replacement bees; only a few were supered here. In
the upper coastal plain, where I supered quite a bit, the light soils dried
out so much that there is nothing in most of the supers.
 
   Blackberry is now over.  There is *snow bloom* on the privet (a lot of
abandoned homesites around, where it practically makes a tree), so what honey
there is, will be darkened. They are also working ligustrum.  Gallberry
hasn't kicked in yet; I think it's going to be too dry.   We are in a full
blown drought, with .7 inch of rain in March, and .3 in April.  A few
scattered areas got heavy rains and violent weather yesterday morning. We've
had four days in the 90's, but generally spring has been sunny and cool.
 
   We made a lot of nucs, most of which we'll use ourselves this year. Mating
was very good, except for one dragonfly infested yard, which only made 50%.
 I've been changing them over into ten frame boxes, adding a frame or two of
brood to each, and feeding them some more syrup to help them fill out the
empty comb..
 
   Bees have already been placed for squash and Kiwi fruit, and soon will be
going for cantaloupe, watermelon and cucumbers.  Look for a small crop this
year.  Some farmers did not get good stands due to the drought. Some has
already been disked up; others they've saved, but figured weren't worth
putting in bees, so the drought will hurt my business.  I did not think I'd
have enough bees, now maybe I'll have extra.  But I'll wait and see. Some of
the irrigated guys may order extra, seeing a potentially good market.
 
   On Interstate 95, you could sit and watch the bee trucks go by, headed for
northeastern apples and cherries. Probably half a dozen tractor trailer loads
a day.  The guys at the scales love 'em. You can tell when there is another
bee truck ahead, by the bees on the scales.
 
    Do any New Zealand or California beekeepers on this list do Kiwi fruit
pollination?  Kiwi is hard to pollinate, and info is hard to get. I think we
are doing okay, but I would love to connect with others that are doing it to
share info.
 
    It would be awful barren without our honeybees.  I spent about three
hours at midday today just observing the Kiwi pollination. I saw only one
solitary bee and one carpenter bee, besides our busy little helpers. I love wa
tching the honeybees wallow around among the anthers.
 
   Some of the growers tell me that bumblebees work them, but I think it's
carpenter bees.  I haven't seen a bumblebee yet this season, but carpenter
bees have been plentious.
 
  (Our local supermarkets have rock hard Kiwi fruit, and don't sell very
many.  When they reach absolute perfection, they put them in the mark-down
bin.  Nice for me - spotted some today and I'm eating one now.)
 
[log in to unmask]     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC