For those of you I'm Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, how do you think this fall flow is going? In the last week the Goldenrod has bloomed here. As I watch the side of the road I am seeing yellow everywhere. Here in Alabama we have had almost no rain, but I am still seeing lots of Goldenrod blooms. Is Goldenrod just not that dependent on rain? I was hoping this cool front would bring one day of showers to help sustain it, but it doesn't look like that will happen since the front came through last night and we got no rain. How will such dry conditions effect the rest of the flow, and how long does it generally last in these parts?
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Goldenrod is one tough plant. Heck it's a weed :) I was around my hives this evening and I could smell the faint smell of goldenrod. The fall flow has probably just got started around here. They worked cotton this summer.
It has jsut started to bloom lightly. but i see tons of budding plants. have dasies poping also. hoping for great flow.
The thing that is interesting is I see yellow blooms everywhere, but the Shelby County Beekeepers Association said on their Facebook page that we are in a dearth and you should consider feeding right now. I had been feeding through July and August, and was happy that I could take a break, but now I am having second thoughts. I guess what they are saying is there hasn't been enough rain to produce enough nectar. What's yall's thoughts on that?
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First year beek and second language English speaker. I did not know what golden rod was before this year. Now I started noticing them all around me. Gotta love beekeeping. Lot of yellow bloom in my bee yard in North Dallas: Golden rods and some small yellow flowers.
Hey Matt lift the back of your hives, if they seem heavy to mildly heavy I'd wait so they can get nature's sugar water. Monitor them of course.
Pjigar, I think yellow is one of the dominate colors of nature. Some of the fall flowers around here have small yellow blooms. I saw the bees working them so there's something there.
Greenville NC good fall flow from Devils walking stick & aster for the past Month. Goldenrod, Aster, and other weeds just now starting to provide nectar. So far a great fall flow after a disastrous spring flow!
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Quote from: GSF on September 28, 2016, 08:39:32 AM
Hey Matt lift the back of your hives, if they seem heavy to mildly heavy I'd wait so they can get nature's sugar water. Monitor them of course.
Pjigar, I think yellow is one of the dominate colors of nature. Some of the fall flowers around here have small yellow blooms. I saw the bees working them so there's something there.
I lifted them yesterday and they seemed light. But I've got no experience in what they should feel like. One hive had 2 mediums of brood with probably 2 frames of honey outside the brood nest, and a third medium with 4 frames of honey and they were drawing out the rest of the frames. I'm not so much worried about that hive. My other hive is 2 mediums lots of brood, and probably 2 frames of honey on the outsides of each box. Both hives had lots of bees. I think on hive 1 they will fill out the 3rd medium with honey before winter. On the other hive, I don't know if I should add a box for them to hopefully draw out and fill or not. This is the one that looked like they were backfilling.
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Are you also considering FL as part of the SE?
My bees are hard at work bringing in a lot of goldenrod and possible yellow rain tree.
I have Ben lifting my hives every few days since I pulled honey 3 weeks ago and they have been putting on a lot of weight.
It is neat that they put on the weight and then a few days latter it is dropping off and then it goes up again. I think the drop in weight is from the nectar drying out.
Jim
Unlike my less fortunate Alabama friends we have got some rain in the past couple weeks. I have never paid a lot of attention to golden rod but it looks like it has bloomed out so the fall flow should be pretty strong here.
Brazilian Pepper and Golden Rain trees are rocking here in the Keys.....we dont get Golden Rod down here ;-)