sourwood flow any good this year?

[terencius]

I am just outside of Asheville NC and am very interested in hearing from other beekeepers about whether the sourwood bloom this year is producing a honey flow? How long do the blooms produce nectar? When is their peak? I have seen flowering sourwoods here but so far not many bees working them

Terry
Fairview, NC

[joebrown]

We have had a great bloom in the Caldwell and Wilkes County areas. The Sourwood Trees typically bloom around 20 days. They use to peak in the middle to end of July but recently they have moved up. I typically see Sourwood start blooming around the 2nd week of June and it stops around the 2nd week of July. I have heard of beekeepers already pulling supers of Sourwood. I have not checked my bees since the bloom started, but I am going to try tomorrow. I will try to let you know how mine are doing. This website is what you need to be checking for NC Blooms!   http://ncbeekeepers.org/plants.htm

[terencius]

thanks for the fast reply and link to map of what is blooming now. Have five hives with supers with drawn comb ready to take all the sourwood honey my bees care to bring me;) Is a bit puzzling tho to not see any bees on the sourwood blooms; maybe they dont produce much nectar until the blooms have been open for week or so