Question on michigan nectar flow?

harvey · July 12, 2010, 01:13:51 PM

Right now the thistle is in full bloom at my place, bottom of the thumb, We won't really have anything else until the golden rod will we? Would it help to plant buckwheat at this point or am i to late?

danno · July 12, 2010, 03:14:24 PM

Thistle is the best! It has come on alittle earlier than most years. Golden rod will be the next big one but I leave it for the bee's. Its just to strong smelling for me and my customers. It is not to late for buckwheat. Buckwheat wont handle even a little frost.

skflyfish · July 12, 2010, 05:00:09 PM

I have my plots tilled and will get my buckwheat planted this week. I did it around the 3rd week of July last year, but things are earlier this year. It sure gave them something to work on between the thistle ending and the goldenrod starting. They were all over it last year. Though I live in a township, it is a bit urban and with 10 hives in various states, I want to give the girls something to work on, other than my neighbors flowers.

HTH,

Jay

harvey · July 12, 2010, 06:56:08 PM

I think I will get the current buckwheat mowed here in the next couple of days and then just disc and reseed right over the top, Cant hurt. I need to mark the calender and try and figure the flows around here out so that maybe next year I can time stuff better.

Livefreeordie · July 12, 2010, 09:21:33 PM

Quote from: harvey on July 12, 2010, 06:56:08 PM
I think I will get the current buckwheat mowed here in the next couple of days and then just disc and reseed right over the top, Cant hurt. I need to mark the calender and try and figure the flows around here out so that maybe next year I can time stuff better.

Great idea, but I have been trying to figure out bloom times for years now, for an entirely different purpose, it seems every year is different, depending on moisture and temperature.

glenn c hile · July 13, 2010, 02:31:40 PM

In agriculture we calculate flowering dates based on heat units (not days) from planting (temperature above a certain minimum, usually 50 degrees). For corn you take the daily high (ignore above 86 degrees) + daily minimum (ignore below 50 degrees) divide by 2 and subtract 50. This gives you the heat units accumlated for that day. Keep a running total from planting. This will give you a pretty accurate estimate as to when to expect flowering, harvesting, etc.

skflyfish · July 14, 2010, 10:02:08 AM

@Hireal,

Thx for the info. Very helpful.

Jay

bee-nuts · July 14, 2010, 01:51:50 PM

I dont know if you have much alfalfa over there but its been the bomb this year. I cant keep up with boxes and my bee just keep swarming and taking off with half my honey. what kind of thistle are we talking about here? Star thistle (knap weed) It is the bomb. I love how long it flowers.
http://www.dianasgrove.com/tour/wildflowers/knapweed.html

danno · July 14, 2010, 04:56:30 PM

Quote from: bee-nuts on July 14, 2010, 01:51:50 PM
I dont know if you have much alfalfa over there but its been the bomb this year. I cant keep up with boxes and my bee just keep swarming and taking off with half my honey. what kind of thistle are we talking about here? Star thistle (knap weed) It is the bomb. I love how long it flowers.
http://www.dianasgrove.com/tour/wildflowers/knapweed.html

its knap weed here. best flow of the year as long as we dont get to much rain. When its done, I'm done. I pull and leave the rest for them. We do also have bull thistle, canadian thistle later but its nothing like the star thistle. We have alot of alfalfa but most farmers cut before it flowers.

harvey · July 14, 2010, 10:48:25 PM

I have a lot of the little purple flowered canadian thistle and it is mostly all in bloom right now, We also have knapweed which is in bloom, not all that much though. My current buckwheat is all flowered, not sure how long it lasts? was thinking of mowing it and replanting but went out this morning and it was still covered in bees. All my hives are first year hives, three are now supered over two deeps. They havn't started putting comb in the supers though. The other four hives I am just hoping to build up to double deeps for the winter. Still have my swarm traps out to but haven't seen any action in a few weeks. I did get four nice swarms this year though out of the woods, my other three hives consist of two that were 3lb packages and one that is a combination from last year and a nuc from this year then a queen about two weeks ago? tuff hive to get going but it is starting to go now. One of my packages is getting to be a fiesty bunch, don't even think of cracking the lid without smoke!!!! Course it is also the strongest hive.