The Honey Factory

[Sally PB]

Yeah, that's a bit of a drive for a meeting.

I'm excited to go to this one.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Yeah, that's a bit of a drive for a meeting.

I'm excited to go to this one.

I'm sure it'll be a good one! Ana Heck is awesome!

 

[Sally PB]

The honeybees are working the New England Asters!

The goldenrod is just past peak, so I'm very glad to have the NEA in bloom. And 3-4 of the 10 plants are just barely starting, so there will be more flowers for them for several days. I dead headed them today after I watered them.

I will be trying (again!) to start some NEA from seed for next year. Nothing came up this last spring when I planted several pots in the greenhouse. The seed packet said they were "pre-stratified," but I wonder if maybe they weren't...? I'll check on how to stratify them and do that before I plant seeds in a few months. I want a BIG bed of these. I like them, the bees like them.

A surprise bee favorite: Borage. I had a wide row of them near my grapevines, and the bees were all over them. Borage reseeds itself, so it can have that spot next year too.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Bees were a little feisty yesterday, got whacked on the underside of my wrist when I went in to apply Apivar and check their stores (NUC). Wall to wall honey packed frames on the winter deep above winter brood at various stages of development. Going into the BIG hive tomorrow after 12:00 PM as they get a late start with the cooler weather and expecting to take the 2 mediums. High populations in both hives and lots of brood. Lots of yellow/ orange pollen being brought in, Golden Rod and Rag Weed I suspect. Everything set up for fall extracting.

 

[Sally PB]

We'll be taking the Formic Pro off the hives on Monday. And looking to see if (finally!?) the might be paying a bit of rent???

As hubby says, having bees is humbling. They do things their way. And only their way!

 

[jerryse]

The honeybees are working the New England Asters!

The goldenrod is just past peak, so I'm very glad to have the NEA in bloom. And 3-4 of the 10 plants are just barely starting, so there will be more flowers for them for several days. I dead headed them today after I watered them.

I will be trying (again!) to start some NEA from seed for next year. Nothing came up this last spring when I planted several pots in the greenhouse. The seed packet said they were "pre-stratified," but I wonder if maybe they weren't...? I'll check on how to stratify them and do that before I plant seeds in a few months. I want a BIG bed of these. I like them, the bees like them.

A surprise bee favorite: Borage. I had a wide row of them near my grapevines, and the bees were all over them. Borage reseeds itself, so it can have that spot next year too.

There should be wild Asters in your area. I have them here. Light blue and white. Not sure of the species. A common weed here.

 

[Sally PB]

I haven't seen many wild asters around here. That's why I bought some plants last spring: I want to get a patch of them going, and then spread them around when they're big/old enough to divide.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

I wasn't going to take any fall honey but they have done so well I'm taking the 2 mediums from the established hive. I like the darker fall honey as it has a heat along with the sweet. Our spring honey is lighter and all sweet.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

The seed packet said they were "pre-stratified," but I wonder if maybe they weren't...? I'll check on how to stratify them and do that before I plant seeds in a few months. I want a BIG bed of these. I like them, the bees like them.

I just saw a YouTube video on this:

Hope it helps!

 

[Sally PB]

I was out dead heading the New England Asters, and the girls were going to town on these flowers! Most of the flowers are a darker purple, but I was by this bunch with my phone.