White clover all over and not a drop of honey! Rain, rain and more rain.. Bees stranded in their hives sipping on sugar water!
Today I saw the sun for the first time in almost 10 days here in New Jersey.
-Rodni
Sounds like out last year weather on the west coast moved to the east coast this year. Hear your pain.
We've begun collecting lumber for our arc here..the good news is my lettece is HUGE!!!
Rodni,
We're right over the NJ border in Rockland county. I notice that whenever the sun peeks out, even for a moment, the bees all get out at least for that period of time.
My yard is now a swamp with all the rain.
Peg
It does seem like alot of rain here for June, it rains a couple of days out of each week.
Its been rainy here for the last 4 days, just off and on.
I have been dealing with flooding rivers since Feb.! I can count the number of sunny days since then on my fingers and have fingers left over. This week it was supposed to have two sunny days....they changed that this morning and rain all this week!
Mud is everywhere and lots of the bloom that I counted on for honey this year, well, the land was underwater! Lost all of the low land plants for pollen and nectar, it was too cold and windy (plus the rain) early this spring and it is still raining and pretty cool most days. Lots of wind too and most of the blooms were knocked from the trees.
Believe me, that you are not alone on the rain situation! My bees have been sending me plans for an ark as well!
Brenda
We had the same problem in May. Weeks of endless rain. We really needed it but constant rain is not a beeks friend.
Northern NJ (Bergen County) here. So much rain!! I haven't been able to open the hive for two weeks now (going on three). This is my first year beekeeping so I know the noobs go in way too much but I am just hoping everything is allright in there. I doubt that I will get any surplus honey this year. My first priority is to have alot of bees to make it through the winter but some honey would be nice.....This coming Thursday (6/18) will be my first chance to go in. If I find that the second brood box is fully drawn and being used I will put the queen excluder and medium honey super on and remove the syrup. Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.....
It still rained today! :(
Imagine this: A garden with 75 tomatoe plants all flowers and no developing fruits.. 40 Zucchini plants the size of mules, flowers wilting in the rains.. eggplants.. smothered in rain.... Pepper plants.. Just needing a full day of sun.
Bees not being able to forage and now temps are going down into the 60's at night.
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Howdy there fellow Bergen county! I am in Essex county. Do you know that some Bergen townships have some of the strictest bee laws in the nation?
Ouch, Rodni73! I have an enormous garden and 2 hives, and the picture you paint is depressing me! I will be extra grateful for the wonderful weather we have been usually having. Not perfect but certainly not as awful as yours! The crop farmers must be hurting, too.
It makes me think---In really cold winters I hope for massive death to some bugs (mosquitos and ticks). So do really extended rainy seasons cause die-offs in pollinator insects?
Even here in the Mountain West we have rain everyday this year. Feel like Oregon moved here. Being this is high desert I welcome this unusual weather as it is refilling our reservoirs and aquafers. Sure have the best weed crop ever. They grow fast. Hope when it all drys up and the summer heat comes out we will have a nice period of wild flowers. Well, I can hope anyway.
Steve
So glad Utah is getting rain! We have family there and have heard of your droughts and the desperate need to refill the aquifers.