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Author Topic: Euc's after hail  (Read 2742 times)

Offline max2

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Euc's after hail
« on: December 14, 2016, 01:40:35 am »
After a very long dry spell in our part of Qld ( near Maleny, S-E Qld) we had 3 storms within 3 days with a lot of hail.
A lot of trees have lost most of their leaves and of course flowers and buds.
Bees seem to be able to survive and even produce a little honey on ground flora.
I wonder if other Beekeepers have gone through severe hail storms and have recorded how long it took the Euc's to recover and flower again?

We have a good mix here from Iron Bark to Blue Gum to Grey Gum plus Brush Box ( yes, they should be flowering at the moment) and pockets of rain forest.

I wonder if our recovery period will be similar to a post-fire situation?

Offline Milo

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Re: Euc's after hail
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2016, 03:51:45 pm »
I read a report a while ago (can't find it at the moment) on hail damage in plantations and one of the points made was around damage to the cambium being an entry point for dieback. There was a whole lot involved in it but one of the points was that wind speed (how hard the hail was driven) factored into the damage.

Not sure how relevant that is to you post? It may be that hail damage could be both an acute and chronic issue - stripped flowers / delayed flowering versus long term damage of dead trees.

Offline Andersonhoney

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Re: Euc's after hail
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2016, 04:24:34 pm »
Yes, been there done that. Christmas day 6 years ago.  You tube it for vision of the event. I've seen larger hail before but never for such a long period of time.  Hail storms are usually short events, this one went for over a hour. It stripped all the foliage of the trees, it was like winter in a deciduous forest. The strength of the hail even knocked hives over.
It finished the flowering to say the least. I had about 50 hives in the storm,  all the queens stopped laying for several days, it was quite interesting to see the laying pattern.  The bees had been on the last of red box ( eucalyptus polyanthemos ) and yellow box ( eucalyptus melliodora ).  The trees put on new growth very quickly as this was out of its normal cycle it then followed some of them with flowers that quickly dropped off.  Then infestation of insects on the massive amounts of new growth, lerps, scarb beetle etc. The trees looked terrible for two years. Then growth at a normal time. Then four years after the event a massive flowering that yielded more honey than I could handle.
 So hang in there if it comes back like it did for us it will be a great honey flow in 4 years or so.

Offline max2

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Re: Euc's after hail
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2016, 06:51:36 am »
Thanks - I hope I can hang in there for another 4 years!

I noticed that the Lemon Myrtle put on new leaves and buds - In - wait for it: 12 days!

I could smell some honey wofting over from the hives - so maybe all is not lost.
It will be an interesting experience , if some disease is not going to take them.

I Googled and there is no relevant information around.

Any other personal experience much appreciated.

Offline max2

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Re: Euc's after hail
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2017, 09:48:22 pm »
Some good news - we had some good rain out of TC Debbie and a few Euc's came down on a friends place ( he did not know what they are) but the positive part is that they are budding heavily.
The rain ( we had about 180 mm) with some follow-up rain should mean a good Clover flow. A good Clover flow means early swarms/strong build-up

 

anything