All beed up and nowhere to go: q for Londoners

[TryingToLetThemBee]

So here I am in the June gap (and the weather's gone to pants) with 4 national brood boxes bursting with bees. So they are eating me out of house and home.

Good news is they are not flying, so are not dying.

Beeks talk about the "main flow" in July, but does that date from the prelapsarian days of wildflower meadows and the like? Do we get a July flow in London?

 

[Tom Bick]

Yes things pick up in July and it should be steady in June and for me it should be good right now with the blackberry starting to flower but we need that big yellow thing to make an appearance for more than the odd day. I think we could have a very good July as everything is so lush and green the flowers that follow may produce.

Right now I want a couple of days of hot sun to get a nectar flow going as a few of my queens have reduced egg production and I want them to pick it up a bit otherwise it will impact on the hives in a few weeks time.

Personally I am not to bothered as the early spring was great for my bees and the past few weeks just balancing the books but would like a week or two of nice hot weather to make me think it will be a record breaking year once more.

 

[cjhart2]

Hi due to yet another terrible May , we are already feeding down in Charente in France , the supers that were pretty full are now nearly empty . The temperature is due to go ballistic over the next week and the lime trees are sitting there in full bud so we may get away with it . But yet another year without spring flower honey .

 

[REDWOOD]

That are still quite a few parts of Wales that are still prelapsarian, some still call it gods country

 

[pargyle]

I would think that some of London is a lot like down here on the South coast ... lots of urban forage/allotments/gardens and acres of brambles in some places. There's not much sign of the June gap at present .... and lots of stuff in bloom or budding.

 

[Minxpinx]

Round here we have loads of lime trees that will be flowering soon, so hopefully that will give us a decent flow. For me it isn't a June Gap, but all the rain that has slowed everything down.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Round here we have loads of lime trees that will be flowering soon, so hopefully that will give us a decent flow. For me it isn't a June Gap, but all the rain that has slowed everything down.

yes,agree,making up super frames this evening, the lime is almost there and black berry is out, pity alot of mine swarmed (never go on holiday in April!!!!!)

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I would think that some of London is a lot like down here on the South coast ... lots of urban forage/allotments/gardens and acres of brambles in some places. There's not much sign of the June gap at present .... and lots of stuff in bloom or budding.

Maybe, Philip, and I hope so, but my apiary is quiet quiet quiet after dusk even on the few decent flying days. No air conditioners...

 

[richardbees]

I was feeding 1:1 syrup on 2 AS colonies this pm. The unusually mild Winter means a lot of suburban wilderness has flowered much earlier - and my local Lime trees have been and gone in the bad weather...all that's left is Blackberry.

"woe, woe .... and thrice woe "

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

yes,agree,making up super frames this evening, the lime is almost there and black berry is out, pity alot of mine swarmed (never go on holiday in April!!!!!)

I was feeding 1:1 syrup on 2 AS colonies this pm. The unusually mild Winter means a lot of suburban wilderness has flowered much earlier - and my local Lime trees have been and gone in the bad weather...all that's left is Blackberry.

"woe, woe .... and thrice woe "

Round here we have loads of lime trees that will be flowering soon, so hopefully that will give us a decent flow. For me it isn't a June Gap, but all the rain that has slowed everything down.

richardbees; you're outvoted. Accurately I hope!

 

[Roola]

I was feeding 1:1 syrup on 2 AS colonies this pm. The unusually mild Winter means a lot of suburban wilderness has flowered much earlier - and my local Lime trees have been and gone in the bad weather...all that's left is Blackberry.

"woe, woe .... and thrice woe "

your lime trees have gone? Are you sure? Ours here only just starting to produce flowers.

 

[beeno]

your lime trees have gone? Are you sure? Ours here only just starting to produce flowers.

Hi Roola,
I was thinking I saw buds on a lime tree today not that they were over!

 

[Roola]

Hi Roola,
I was thinking I saw buds on a lime tree today not that they were over!

yes, buds here is all... will this year be the year we get a lime flow?!

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

yes, buds here is all... will this year be the year we get a lime flow?!

I thought there was a monster last year?

 

[Roola]

Didn't really happen here

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Tom Bick]

We always do ok with the Limes but never quite live up to their reputation, perhaps one day they will deliver big time.

Personally looking forward to the eucalyptus especially for the hives at Kew as what the trees did for the nuc's last year was very interesting and it will be interesting to see what full sized colonies do.

 

[beeno]

Hi all,
How does Lime nectar smell - just in case. There are some Lime hidden away in my neighbourhood, not sure if there are any close enough though.

 

[Tom Bick]

I don't know what it smells of beeno but the honey is reasonably light in colour and if you get a lot of it it can have a slight green tint to it. The taste is not unpleasant but sometimes described as medicinal with a kick to the back of the throat.

 

[djg]

Here's my take on London's Lime flow: http://www.apis.gb.com/lime-time-is-prime-time/

 

[Roola]

Here's my take on London's Lime flow: http://www.apis.gb.com/lime-time-is-prime-time/

Thats a good read! thankyou. Its frustrating at the moment as I have 4 supers on my hive but they are not all capped and only showing sig ns of capping now... I want them off before the lime flow starts as the honey in them is a nice light blossom honey and I don't want to mix in lime... they pass the drip test, would you remove and extract?