Planting forage & nectar flow for my area

gooday Lori ,
This is the Captain From Down Under ,

    The subject of stationary beekeeping is contentious . Your bees

will forage over the distance required for 1. survival and 2 . ultimate
swarm instinct , which requires surplus honey to their survival . In fact
swarming is the natural procreation survival instinct of all honey bees .
We mere humans intervene in this process and both manipulate their natural
cycles and remove surplus honey bees would produce to complete this cycle.
So in planning to enhance floral abundance in your
area , a few reality checks are necessary , so
for,profundity,sagauciousness and sapience, please absorb the following
insights and plan your garden,neighbourhood and 5 x mile radius around you
.( oh and did i forget Humility )
12 x steps not in any order :-
1. Join two local bee clubs
2. Ask if anyone has a local flowering chart of bee
friendly plants .
3. Contact your local Department of Agriculture and
explore the advice their apiary officers have regarding Commercial
insecticide and fertiliser spraying in your 5 x mile radius . Ask for
advanced notifications of the above spray dates performed by Farmers ,Local
Councils and other government departments . You can relocate your hive
during this time or shut it up if weather permits .
4. Once you have a floral map of your garden and
district , Study the flowering times of abundance and dearths ( non
flowering periods }
5 . to maximise the impact of your planting efforts
,minimise costs ( optimise effort/results) , hear are some hints -
* lobby your local council to
remove non bee friendly plants and trees and replace them with bee friendly
plants .
* Join your local LANDCARE GROUP
or greeny equivalent organisation and volunteer to plant bee friendly
plants in your area , this will minimise costs to you as most groups get
government grants and do fundraisers to facilitate these programs . You
might have 20 x helpers all planting in your area and beyond at little cost
to you but your time .
6. Get cuttings / seeds from bee club members and
plant them around your garden .
7. Take back to your club surplus plants for other
club members to use , swapping is good for bio-diversity .
8. Concentrate your house and local plants
flowering times to suit a gap in the flowering times of your local flora .
This will give vital food security at a time when food for bees is scarce
ie early spring , late autumn/fall . Study your local floral charts and
give plants to neighbours and friends in your street . This will have
mutual benefits -win/win/win scenarios .
9. Ultimately drop in a pot of honey as a xmas
present and you may have to get another hive to keep up the demand !
10. Put a water feature in your yard and make it
bee friendly , your bee club friends will have some ideas .
11. Go to your local nursery and source plants
your bee club friends can not .
12. Unless you have a really extensive garden
set up , few of your own bees will frequent your garden . Most bees you see
will be from elsewhere . However if you plant Purple , they cannot resist ,
so go sages ,lavenders , and any other purple thing you can find.

                 Happy bee keeping and please remember , .1 x kg of

honey is probably made from 50,000 flowers by 15,000 bees and took a week
of good weather to produce it .
Cheers The Captain -
now there are too many variables to this data but essentially all flowers
help but you need plenty of them so do not discount weeds in the flowering
equation - bye for now.

Thank you for all the Wonderful information. I will follow your guidelines and I would like some seeds for the tree you pictured above. send me your email and I will forward my address.
Thanks… Lori Peters NoLongerNurse@yahoo.com

I read in another forum that buckwheat was great for planting in open fields to provide a repeat source of flow late in the summer.

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http://www.dimeofarms.com/index.html

This place is 45 miles from me and I will be going here today.

They also ship :slight_smile:

Hi Lori ,
I have not forgotten your request for seed , but I am so slow getting around all my promises . by now , you should be into information overload but we all come out of it at different times . it is our mid winter down hear but my bees are busy on all the warmish clear blue sky days and they are busy bringing in pollen . I am mindful that bee - triggers , to swarm are weather dependant and our strange weather patterns may play havoc with normal cycling . I have 4 x hives at home to study every day , and scattered apiary’s to take advantage of different food sources and for bio-security as I can isolate diseases when they strike and not face a complete catastrophe if I do .
so far I have only had a few wax moth and a few hive beetles , a wet hive , and perished lids and boxes . All replaced with only one colony collapse in 6 x years . I feel lucky .
Working on seeds for you ,
Cheers David - and some time I will need an address ,

Glad to hear all is well on your end. We have had a HOT summer that is getting into full swing and I lost my original hive to small hive beetle infestation. So I prepped my apiary area with nematodes that I purchased near here and treated around the area of my hive location. I also put down fabric weed block and stones. I then purchased a nuc from my friend and it was full when she opened it prior to delivery and I bought a whole new set up and got it ready and split them upon arrival with new queens as the nuc was queenless when we originally looked at it. So now both of my hives seem to be doing well and I am happy. Enjoying my girls activities and learning about them. I am concerned about my first winter, I am not taking any honey at all this year. Sounds like you are an old hand at this bee business. She was a slow starter in this one hive and the other one is going gang busters. She will catch up I feel sure. Have a great day and thanks for remembering me.

Lori Peters
If you send a direct email I can send an address.

Hi Lori ,
a bold move to split a new nuke but I guess it must have been
strong . I normally build a nuke up to at least an 8 x frame deep with
heaps of activity before I contemplate a split . The idea not to rob honey
yet is sound as building hives generally do better if undisturbed for at
least 4 x weeks of a honey flow . Checking regularly is good to fine tune
your decisions . I find though too much manipulation is bad for the colony
health in general . With bee keeping there are always exceptions to the
general rules however I find hastening slowly a good rule . Early time
panicking is understandable however in 90% of the cases the bees will work
out any problems by themselves . Our meddling often makes things worse .
For example if the weather had turned adverse soon after you
split a nuke ,the outcomes could have been different , you always have the
choice to re-combine colonies but you loose a queen or you isolate the
queens and it can work but that gets complex .
Keeping things simple and learning a system that works for
you is what will keep you motivated and enjoying the experience of bee
keeping . After all most bee keepers do things a little or a lot
differently and most end up with beautiful honey !
My permaculture take on bee keeping is to watch nature ,
observe what works and what does not , then try to copy it as close as
possible . For example I sacrifice extra honey production by not feeding
bees sugar and water unless absolutely desperate . When I need to feed , I
pull frames of last years honey out of the deep freeze and warm them in my
warm box , then I break the wax caps and put full frames of honey and
pollen in the hive . I also put in a frame of brood from a strong hive .
This technique just about fixes anything . Now you have two colonies ,you
are much more capable to correct problems and minimise disease transfer etc
.
If you are a member of a bee club, talk to your mentor group
and they should help .
Not all of what I suggest is mainstream , but
it fits well within Michael Bushes teachings and you could find worse to
follow .
Oh yes , if you do not require the honey stored
in the freezer (as conditions were good and stocks in the hives built
rapidly and well) , just warm it and spin it out , you have only delayed
your harvest and given your bees a great insurance policy by holding stocks
.It is my contention that sugar in hives weakens them ,pollen supplements
also are not as good as locally sourced pollens in a prime harvest period .
In turn bee health is then strengthened by quality food ,builds resilience
to diseases and pests by maximising natural health and eliminating sprays
and chemicals that in most cases fix one problem but create others -Ref

  • (MB ).
    sMALL HIVE BEETLE , ATTACK WEAK COLONIES WITH
    EASE . I recommend tight fitting bases , lids and boxes , slotted bottom
    boards -with underneath oil traps , smaller bee entrances and adequate
    ventilation ports screened . Minimise the uncovered frames in your hive by
    staging frame and size boxes to bee colony expansion . ie do not put two or
    three frames of bees in an 8 x frame box . You might get away with it once
    or twice but unprotected frames in hives are targeted by wax moth and small
    hive beetle .
    JUST SOME THOUGHTS on this sunny winter day
    ,temp 14* C and my bees think it is spring - I must be careful of early
    swarm signs -

Cheers David Smith .

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Gooday once a nurse ,
How are your hives going over winter ? Down under here we are having a record year and swarms abound . A fantastic year to expand hive numbers and recombine to create super hives . I am working on a hybrid super hive for a friend who is dying of cancer . Wouldn’t you know it in a bumper year he looks like his struggles are nearing an untimely end ,given 6 x months . Norm is his name and he is a tinkerer like me . His long box has two dividers to make 3 x brood chambers totalling 4 ’ long . At each end he has a deep super like twin towers rizing . he is using the long box as a brood box ,then stacking Langstrof deeps and Ideals at will -Looks impressive but he is not well enough to bring it into production .
This is where i help and we might build the ultimate honey colony yet . Norm is 82 years young ,bright and feisty so he will fight the grim reaper all the way .His love of bees is just brilliant and he only started 4 x years ago . His honey comes from coastal Bancksia , a myrtle derivative producing a dark full bodied sweet honey with a malty aftertaste . Great for cooking i bet , i must try it on my recipes . Located only 4 x miles away in his micro-climate ,totally different to my honey from my other 5 x Apiary Locations - all different ! Colour , flavor ,texture , aroma ,and logically different healing properties , a ha such diverse amino-acid / primordial concoctions -yes i love my bees too .
Happy new Year and i hope this little info from the other side of the world makes you warm and fuzzy in our bee lovers world . Cheers David
alias " Captain Midnight "

This past Spring I planted 50 Tulip Poplar trees: This upcoming Spring I’ll be planting 50 Persimmons, a handful of Eastern Redbuds, Witch Hazel, and Little Leaf Linden.

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Love those Redbuds. Sudden splash of color on the bare branches. Wish they lasted longer.

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Meant to add that I am envious of your ambition. That should really be a benefit to your hives.

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Hi Lori ,
Hope your spring has sprung . How has your neighborhood planting going , have you convinced your local council to plant bee friendly plants in there parks and common areas ?

I HAVE HAD AN AVERAGE year with more hives and honey . Now my next investment will be in the candle making and value adding products .Less is more so not wasting wax ,propolis and other basic boring work like wax dipping boxes,lids and bases . Then painting cleaning stacking sterilizing -yuck like washing dishes 24/7 .

I am enjoying helping newbees at the clubs i am a member of but my ideas are far from traditional and i make waves as i am neither a beginner or a professional expert . I still want to do a tour of bee clubs in the USA , and learn about varroa mites as we are next and last on the world conkering mite . I am studying the remedial management issues to minimise its inevitable impact .

Hope you have a brilliant honey flow as i pack down for winter here ,

Cheers from David -Down under .