When is it to late to split or start a new hive here in north florida.
I can't speak for Florida, but I've done splits as late as August here in NY.
Here in Pinellas county, just a bit to your south, I like to do a split near August or September. The hive may need some feeding and, it should be a sizable split (2 frames brood, 1 frame honey, 1 frame pollen min.) Then, they're just large enough to get through the winter and, come spring, build up incredibley. Now there's no difference in population between the hive I split last year and the split it made. The populations equalized around February. Granted, the split I did had an already mated queen from Georgia.