Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: FloridaGardener on February 09, 2023, 07:00:43 pm
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Warm winter except for 2 spots of record cold temps = busy bees and hives are still packed with honey. Unusually warm temps could mean hurricanes since the Gulf gets so warm by summer.
Carolina Laurel (nectar source) popped open this week. Azaleas (no nectar) and saucer magnolia have been blossoming since late January.
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I think my maples are blooming now. I don't have one on my property and I haven't been out in a couple of days, but I'm seeing real looking pollen coming in, and the bees seem to be leaving the bird feeder alone.
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Manzanita just opened here in California. Lots of other plants in bloom and the bees are busy collecting pollen and some nectar from the manzanita
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Not sure the type of pollen but my two hives have been bringing pollen in the last few warm spells here in NE Oklahoma
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Japanese Cherry is blooming here, as well as the lawn weed henbit which provides red pollen.
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9" of snow here... bitter cold and wind. Hard to picture blooms...
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Japanese Cherry, American Elm, red maples, dandelions, daffodils
too rainy to see hen bit or dead nettle for me, just mud.
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Walked around the yard this morning.
Not sure what this bush it, but it?s right beside the porch and all these will open
Into little blooms soon. I don?t ever see much activity on it though.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/8cacf8a133694c7749759ba5e5482671.jpg)
Dandy Lion
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/8c98dc54de7915edf93907277ef3b196.jpg)
Japanese Maple or something. Pink flowers and purple leaves.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/6e29cae0568fbc416ffe1a9d61659d18.jpg)
Plumb tree
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/99e5ce663b7f89b625069bd46267fd1d.jpg)
Peach tree
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/0c0cf03024e95cc0a77a899086c45cf6.jpg)
Nothing in the pears or apples yet.
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Clover(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/270b82b659a60a2ff8be345cc32c9f6c.jpg)
Maple is starting to pop out pretty good.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/4d166201dbde5a7f41a9cbd7375be8eb.jpg)
Bradford Pear
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/444f10111da1b11b9bc5e0ee51091cc8.jpg)
Some kind of ground cover weed.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/8147a75f3932285f7508b7ae4a387693.jpg)
I forget what. Put these bulbs out with the kids a couple years ago.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/4a3b3df306cc843b365060160cebacd5.jpg)
Daffodils
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/8f62a43112a64c2071862b9eeb96525b.jpg)
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I can't believe how much is blooming out in the piedmont already! We've only got daffodils and maples. Just FYI, first picture reply #8, my botany isn't very good, but I really don't think that is clover. I don't know what it is, but it's not clover.
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Yeah, I?m not sure what it is, but for some reason that?s what I typed. It grows in the same area that all the clover will come up in the summer. It must like the same conditions, because this comes up first then the clover takes over the whole area.
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(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230219/fa75695d0cc4a0988cbad0d939cc52c0.jpg)
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26 F this morning... no blooms.
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60s today, no blooms yet. 75 tomorrow then back to low 50s and rainy most of the week
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Noticed a few daffodils today's as well as Bradford pear trees starting to bloom. Some of the maple trees appear to be starting to leaf out as well, the buds are opening on a few trees. Only 40s today and tomorrow then moving back to 50s+ for the foreseeable forecast.
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All the wild pear trees are blooming. They get visited by the bees sometimes, but they spread a lot and have wicked thorns.
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2 F (-17 C) this morning. 12 mph wind. No blooms.
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Yesterday I noticed that the maple trees are blooming. I guess it is officially the start of te beekeeping season here. Easter flowers and henbit are blooming also.
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2 F (-17 C) this morning. 12 mph wind. No blooms.
Time move south! :-)
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The weather is what keeps those Californians from moving here...
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The weather is what keeps those Californians from moving here...
So true!
Hate to say for those folks up north but it's currently 82?F here in the Florida panhandle...
...DOUG
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Trees are leafing out quite a bit today, buds are opening on them
This young guy (almost 6 months old now) met the bees this afternoon, he was a little too friendly at the hive entrance and received "instruction" on proper hive entrance etiquette. Hopefully he learned.
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Nellie R Stevens Holly is blooming here.
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Wild cherries and pears are blooming.
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Same here..
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Redbud trees are happily blooming and dandelions are starting to pop. Not in my yard of course, the sheep are eating the down, but in neighbors yards haha.
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Redbud trees are happily blooming and dandelions are starting to pop. Not in my yard of course, the sheep are eating the down, but in neighbors yards haha.
Off-topic, but what kind of sheep do you have, Occam?
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Redbud trees are happily blooming and dandelions are starting to pop. Not in my yard of course, the sheep are eating the down, but in neighbors yards haha.
Off-topic, but what kind of sheep do you have, Occam?
I have shetlands, 3 for now. Should be lambing in a few weeks
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Redbud trees are happily blooming and dandelions are starting to pop. Not in my yard of course, the sheep are eating the down, but in neighbors yards haha.
Off-topic, but what kind of sheep do you have, Occam?
I have shetlands, 3 for now. Should be lambing in a few weeks
My sister is interested in perhaps getting a fiber animal, would you be willing to answer some questions about your sheep? I have a thread on fiber animals going in the farming section, if you don't mind moving down there to discuss them further.
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You bet, I'll head over there
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The blackberries are starting! My first big flow of the year! :happy:
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Love the blackberry flow!
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Magnolia Virginia (Bay magnolias) and Persea Palustris (swamp bay) have been blooming for a couple of weeks. The air smells like roses. Our main flow has begun with the addition of privet, saw palmetto, and Richardia Scabrosa (mexican clover) is beginning to flower on the ground.
This winter has been too dry, and the 17 degree cold snap last winter affected the early carolina laurel, citrus trees, and lemon verbena hedges. Many citrus were lost, and if saved, only with about 25% of their canopies. Bees seem slow to build up.
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Frost yesterday morning...
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80*
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Mid 80s here, a spike near 90 by the weekend
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57 degrees this morning, Tupelo, Gallberry and Palmetto all in bloom at the same time here and the Chinese Tallow is getting ready to bloom. Usually they each have their own bloom times. I?m hoping that they each spread out when individual plants bloom or we are going to have Avery short flow season.
Jim Altmiller
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Catalpa trees ate in bloom like crazy right now. Mulberries are starting to ripen, the squirrels and birds are enjoying them immensely. Rough sumac buds have started and should be opening in another few days to a week.
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Occam,
I also have Mulberry trees. I put light tinfoil pan?s hanging from a string in the trees. It really helps keep the birds out of them. I had lots of berries this year and I was able to eat as much as I wanted every time I went out to pick berries. Our mulberries are done now.
Jim Altmiller
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Tallow Tree (Popcorn) has its long yellow panicles all out. The bees are crawling on them, looking for open florets. After a couple hot weeks in April we had a cooler May and stayed about 80-85 daytime and 70 at night. But now comes the heat until October.
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Oy, we really dropped the ball on this thread this year. :sad:
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Reagan, I will contribute, goldenrod is blooming here. :grin:
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We are having a very nice fall bloom. Not enough to get the bees drawing or anything, but they are happy and easy to work, which is nice. We have goldenrod as well, along with native sunflowers and various other asters.
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I have Spanish Needle in full bloom here and Golden Rod is just starting.
Jim Altmiller
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I'll pitch in with a sum-up for NW Florida Panhandle - Okaloosa/Walton Counties.
At the start of the year, a hard freeze down to 17 degrees killed most of the citrus trees, unless gardeners added heavy blanketing. Locally we lost mature grapefruit trees, sweet oranges, and even a "Florida King" peach tree. Persimmons and Loquats were fine. Many other plants went to the ground for the first time in decades.
The Carolina Laurel - usually an early starter in late Feb - put on a poor showing with hardly any flowering. I made up nucs first week of March as most beeks here do - when significant amounts of drone brood is capped/emerging. Third week of March we had a long, tough cold snap. Drone brood was pulled everywhere. Not sure if they couldn't cover it or were just worried about stores with the onset of another 'winter.' They did all have enough stores and I was careful to insulate the nucs. But I had only 40% success on the nucs, whereas in five prior years have had over 75% success with all queening efforts.
The main flow was light. Everything I saw had a light proportion of bloom compared to prior years. All year long was a drought. Many of the manmade lakes here are almost empty. Every beek I have talked to said it was an awful year for honey. Some beeks had complete absconds with no evidence of cause in the "autopsy".
We usually have a long summer dearth beginning when the sabal palms stop putting out inflorescenses in early July. Our 2000-acre community has many hundreds of sabal palms. Oddly, this year the sabals continued producing new fronds of nectar-laden florets even until the last week of August. I couldn't believe it was real and took photos to document the dates. Perhaps the cold delayed their bloom. As a result, there wasn't a real dearth in summer...the bees kept putzing around on the sabal until the liriope, mexican clover, and spanish needle. It wasn't much, but the bees weren't sulking on the hot landing board.
Of course, now, in October, goldenrod and other autum asters are everywhere. Temps have been 70-85 and as November begins, the temps are dropping to 65 daytime. The bees have stores, but they're testy, as if they weren't bringing in enough. The are fussy and robby, quick to pick on an open hive. My larger colonies robbed and killed a small swarm I picked & brought back on up Oct 10.
Never before have I seen them forage in October on Chinese Lacebark Elm florets. There is an audible buzz in the lacebark elms when the evening sun warms up the tiny bracts. I was amazed an took photos. The ground is dry, dry. Mature azealeas are withering. But the sasanqua camellias have popped open this week and are providing pollen and some nectar also.