Tuesday, September 20, 2016

After two weeks

I did hive inspections yesterday. Over all, another poor harvest is in the making.

Ambrosium: A bit of honey, none capped, distributed over both supers.

Josephium: Maybe 10 pounds, none capped, in the lower super. Maybe less. None at all on the upper super. I moved that one onto the Lucium.

Lucium: A full super, some of it capped. They are doing the best, so I rewarded them with a second super.

Salomium: They drained their syrup dry, so I put on another four pounds at $2.09 a bag.

The knotweed is still in bloom at the bottoms of the ravines, although the stuff on the ridges is basically done. The goldenrod is getting earnest, including in our yard.

Monday, September 5, 2016

Club Speaker

In the last two months, I've put 8 more pounds of sugar on the Salomium.

There has been a dearth with almost no pollen going into the hives.

Right now we have begun our knotweed bloom, and I expect our goldenrod bloom in about two weeks. I expect the goldenrod honey flow to end around October first.

Our club speaker, Tom McCormack, last Thursday said we should feed six weeks before the honey flow starts, March 1 through April 15, and July through August 15.

He recommended formic acid at the beginning of August, if I recall correctly.