> Bob can you mention a couple of those flower concentrated on weed? Would
> the  Golden Rod be part of those fall flowers?

In my area we have a wide variety of fall flowers/weeds.

It seems for many of us that the fall flows we could always depend on are
getting scarce. It has been awhile since we had a decent fall surplus from 
most areas. However with proper preparation after July 15th. and movement 
into areas of many fall honey plants around two supers of fall honey can be 
obtained in certain years.

However on the positive side in all years but years of severe drought we
seem to get plenty of fall pollen.

The problem in the future will come in
drought years when pollen becomes scarce and the bees pack in large
quantities of a neonicotinoid treated seed pollen such as corn. My game plan 
is too move the bees around July 15th. to the south of me ( 40-50 miles) out 
of row crop areas and build for winter with supplemental feeding of both 
syrup and pollen patties to get the number of brood cycles needed for 
winter.

 The last two winters have been like the winters of old. Our Midwestern 
Beekeepers meeting for today has just been cancelled because the meeting 
location  will have 6+ inches of fresh snow by meeting time. By the end of 
the meeting we will get freezing rain and high wind conditions.

Although I would have attended despite the two hour long drive both ways. 
The normal drive at highway speeds is over an hour as I think I have got the 
longest commute of a person which tries to attend every meeting. I have an 
issue with ice but not snow as I have got 4 four wheel drive trucks.

 I voted a few minutes ago with the president and the rest of the board to 
cancel the meeting. Our members anxiously wait all month to attend but not 
worth one of our members getting hurt. We had a speaker involved in an 
accident trying to get to a fall meeting we held in bad weather.

I try to produce some darker fall honey for sale but I have got enough in 
the warehouse to sell for two years. I try to produce a mixed  fall honey 
from Goldenrod, Spanish nettle and asters and without heartsease mixed in. I 
do not try to place the bees on goldenrod alone as the honey granulates 
easily and can have a slight odor ( but usually disappears when processed).

I prefer heartsease (smartweed) for the bees to winter on and can move a 
huge number of hives onto my smartweed location of about 1000 acres of the 
pink variety. However drought is the enemy of smartweed . The best smartweed 
years are when the Backwater river bottoms flood. The bottoms look like a 
waving field of wheat in fall but only pink.
Although we have got the white variety in the area most large areas are the 
pink variety.

Within minutes of unloading the air is full of bees going back and forth 
from smartweed. When I sit the bees on a couple hundred acre field of 
goldenrod the bees are only interested for a couple hours a day. I know 
goldenrod is a major crop for Peter and Lloyd but not for us and again all 
beekeeping is local.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison





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