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Author Topic: Kicking myself for NOT expanding upward  (Read 3490 times)

Offline beemaster

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Kicking myself for NOT expanding upward
« on: October 06, 2005, 07:23:54 pm »
Just wondering if ANY OF YOU have had the thought at the end of any season (in my case THIS ONE) of Expanding to a 3rd or even 4th super JUST going by a GUT FEELING that your bees could fill the supers for you throughout the Summer?

I left both C1 and C2 at 2 supers high and it has been a DRY but tolerable Summer - I honestly feel though that I should have gone those extra supers and made out tremendously. Instead, I have enough for them and SOME to keep for myself, but NOT the quanity I should have had.

I just got lazy, had other MORE PRESSING things on my slate and never ordered the extra supers, frames and foundation - and because of this, I'm out 200 pounds of honey - ugh.

Just curious how many others felt this way either THIS or some other season and if you learned from the lesson. Thanks.
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Offline Apis629

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Kicking myself for NOT expanding upward
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2005, 08:41:13 pm »
I think my case was the exact opposite.  At about July 20th I put an extra super on just 'cause I wanted to see if the bees would draw out plain plastic and from what I've heard from beekeepers in the area there was a flow but, supposedly very weak.  So I put the super on and about a week later went out to the hive and a little work had been done but not very much.  Maybe 1 frame fully drawn.  I came back in another week and couldn't lift the super.  I thought that I was lifting the bottom deep as well but, wouldn't ya know it, the bees has stored about 50 lbs. of palmetto honey.  Now, I just can't afford an extractor.

Offline Joseph Clemens

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Inadequate supering
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2005, 08:56:58 pm »
Presently I have 12 full-size colonies, most are all medium supers, two are single deeps with mediums above them, and one is a hybrid TBH (can accept Langstroth deep, medium, or shallow frames as well as top bars) and a double stack of normal Langstroth supers can be stacked on top of it.

I know that I haven't yet been supering adequately, every year, just after our main flow (mesquite) I check to see the status of the supers I provided for each colony --- they are always filled completely, optimally I would like some space left in each top super to show that they didn't run short for storage space. I'm gonna need a lot more than just 3 medium supers per colony.

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Offline Dale

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Kicking myself for NOT expanding upward
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2005, 09:58:21 am »
I think it was opposite for me too.  I had a great spring flow, small clover flow, then it finally rained!  I figured the goldenrod would really grow, and provide alot of nector.  So what I did, was put 4 supers on my strong hives, and 2 on the weaker ones.  They filled about half, because it got really dry again.  I did make out like a bandit in the spring, by doing the same thing though.
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Offline leominsterbeeman

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Kicking myself for NOT expanding upward
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2005, 09:14:29 pm »
Yes, John  I too have "super envy" this season. Wish I had more time and equipment. The end of the season here was a great flow for honey.  Those that waited to pull their supers until this weekend got a lot extra.  
Looking on the bright side....Well more for the bees to use, I suppose.
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Offline Finsky

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Kicking myself for NOT expanding upward
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2005, 12:25:35 am »
In Eastern Finland spring was one of the worst. Termperature did not rise over 15C during willow blooming. With pollen patty I got hives in some condition. In western Finland they said that spring was one of the best.

Rasberry gived spended honeyflow to them who had those pastures.

Rape suffered from heat. Temperature 20-22 is good for rape but now it was near 30C. I got allmost nothing from rape. Normally it gives something 120 pounds per hive.

In the middle of summer I saw the situation and I went to seach moist bottom fireweed areas. I found huge area and when I look closely flowers, there was readily nectar dropping from them.

I moved half on my apiary to fireweed pastures  2-3 hives per point. From this I got tremendous yield during two weeks. On dry soil areas yield was only 20% from those wet soi fireweed pastures.

3 hives need about 15 hectares best fireweed area. They are able to collect honey from flowers. It is really big area.  And the next point was 2 km distance and again same circumtances.

This was new to me. Fireweed and fireweed! They look the same but are not. In picture it is dry soil area (sand).This area is about  1 km x 0,5 km. In clay bottom areas fireweed were 2 m long and blooming time douple that of dry area.


Offline Jay

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Kicking myself for NOT expanding upward
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2005, 11:42:44 am »
Finnman, this fireweed looks like our purple loostrife, I wonder if it is the same plant?




Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.)

P. Harris and J. Corrigan




The problem1,3,4: Purple loosestrife was introduced from Europe in the early 1800s. By 1900 it had spread widely in eastern North America. It was noted as an aggressive pasture weed of flood plains in Quebec in the 1930s and a problem in southern Manitoba in the 1950s. Currently purple loosestrife dominates many wetland habitats from the Maritime provinces to the Great Lakes, but distribution is still spotty in western Canada with the most extensive infestations in Manitoba and British Columbia. Most Canadian infestations are south of latitude 51° N, but plants occur north of 56° N, and should spread further north as the limit in Europe is 65° N.

A purple loosestrife plant can produce over 2 million seeds. Both seeds and seedlings float, so spread is rapid in moving water. Seedling establishment requires open moist soil or organic debris and often occurs on bare shores exposed by dropping water levels. Purple loosestrife forms stable stands, and can invade undisturbed marshes to displace up to 60% of the native vegetation. It has low palatability to vertebrate herbivores and suffers only minor damage from native insects, so stands support little wildlife. No herbicides are registered for use against purple loosestrife in Canadian aquatic habitats and plants regenerate readily after mowing.

On the positive side, loosestrife is a copious honey producer, although the grade is low, and the flowers are showy. In the 1950s several widely used horticultural varieties were produced by hybridizing and increasing chromosome numbers. However, since its noxious weed designation in five provinces, the nursery industry has substituted Liatris, which also has a purple flower spike.
By the rude bridge that arched the flood
Their flag to Aprils breeze unfurled
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world
-Emerson

Offline Finsky

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Kicking myself for NOT expanding upward
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2005, 03:10:59 pm »
Quote from: Jay
Finnman, this fireweed looks like our purple loostrife, I wonder if it is the same plant?



We have Lythrum salicaria beside waterline here.
 
Fireweed is a forest plant Epilobium angustifolium. It is as common like dandelion. In Alaska you have it alike.

I think that Lythrum salicaria has quite few nectar. Bees gather pollen from it.