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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