okay so here we are summer's over and we are at September 28th so it's late in
the summer early autumn and the bees are working on asters and other flowering
plants on my property so I thought it would just make a video and we'll walk
around and see where they're getting their nectar and where they're getting
their pollen resources these are asters asters come in a variety of colors and a
good stop to start off with would be the landing boards in the apiary so we're
gonna look at the different landing boards and I noticed that they are all
bringing in pollen that's a good sign we want them to have brood and you know
what those bred to be strong going into winter and I also pay attention to where
the foragers are flying off to kind of helps me go and scout it out myself and
see what kind of flowers they might be on so we're just gonna walk around some
of the plants that I've added this year to bridge the time of year when we've
lost pollen and nectar might be in decline
they definitely forage on white clover throughout the year and now we're gonna
look at some of the other floral sources this is a box that has a feeder on top
of it it is the only hive box and colony in my apiary that's being fed and that's
because they're late season swarm this is my Tiger colony I call it and they
are bringing in lots of pollen but notice that it's different colors and
coming from different sources so I'm gonna walk you out in my lower meadow
here and we're gonna see what they're on
I'll get a close up of the landing board and just see the activity levels since
I've shot this film we have dropped in temperature quite a bit so I've put
screen entry producers on all of the colonies now so that the Yellow Jackets
which are prolific this year cannot easily get into these colonies these are
purple asters and this is a honeybee on it of course and mostly and this is
an orchard Bee I like seeing them and look at all the pollen on that tiny Bee has on
its hind legs and again these are asters orchard and mason bees are all over
these are native pollinators and we have a lot of asters because I've
let them grow throughout the years
you can just hear all the bees and this of course is another honeybee super
loaded with pollen and notice that the pollen that's on its legs looks darker
than the pol and that's on the flower and that's because they mix it up with
nectar and they add some color to it on their own this is of course a monarch
butterfly and again on asters so pollinators of a variety of different
species benefit from the flowers that we allow to grow and this year the monarchs
have made a really good comeback now these yellow flowers are a native
sunflower variety they're called Maximilian sunflowers and they grow to
eight feet in height on average and this is something that I think is very
valuable at the end of the summer because they come into bloom when other
floral resources are going into decline so Maximilian sunflowers are fantastic
next year we'll be doubling the amount of area that we're dedicating to this
plant lots of pollen and loaded with nectar
but you can really tell when a flower has lots of nectar by the amount of time
the pollinators spend on each blossom either they're gathering a lot of pollen
and that takes time but notice like this monarch butterfly it's sticking its tongue
down there and spending a lot of time collecting nectar also when you cut off
one of the blooms and hold it in your hand they're heavy
so this nectar release continues in tiny bits throughout the day and that's to
keep the pollinators returning to the same blossoms over and over now of
course even though the monarch is considered a pollinator it does not
itself eat pollen it is really only after the nectar and they just become a
carrier for that pollen from plant to plant flower to flower
it's a little bit windy today so these blossoms are moving around on me and
they are on long stalks so and it's a little bit of a challenge to track them
here at the camera but I wanted you to see how well these insects are utilizing
the pollen and nectar resources on these flowers
now Maximilian's are native to the state of pennsylvania where i reside and
they're native to many other states in the United States I purchased these from
Eden Brothers is the name of the website if you want to check them out
I also source my sunflowers from them and they're available online they sell a
lot of open pollinated plants and they're a primary source if I'm buying
seed here again is a monarch butterfly now on asters and they don't spend so
much time on the blossoms because each blossom only yields so much nectar and
they go blossom to blossom fairly quickly now if you were to run your
fingers across these little leafs on the Maximillian sunflowers here they feel
kind of like sandpaper or like a cat's tongue so they're very rough if you're
trying to identify them early before they've blossomed out and of course the
honeybees are working them more and more the honeybees are moving from the asters
and concentrating more on these Maximilian sunflowers so again as the
other floral resources are in decline the Maximilian's are coming in and
they're going to continue to provide nectar and pollen to the honeybees for
several weeks yet
here we are back on the Astor's and you can just listen and hear all the
honeybees that are working these flowers this of course does produce aster honey
goldenrod also produces its own honey and it's pretty strong kind of granular
so it tends to solidify or crystallize quicker than some other sources and of
course the honeybees are still working the white clover even though I haven't
taken the time here to show you that now there is floral constancy when it comes
to honeybees they go to one species only on a flight but I guess they do consider
the asters purple or white to be the same species because I did notice these
honeybees jumping directly from purple asters to white asters
now we're back on goldenrod goldenrod as I mentioned before is a great source of
honey this time of year and my hives are filling up with honey
all the flow-supers are at 80 or 90 percent they're ready to be drawn off in
the coming week I'm just waiting for a really nice warm day to do that but and
as you can see there is plenty of brown on this goldenrod so it is kind of getting
to the end I expect we'll be out of goldenrod honey here within the next
week
and again notice how little time the bee spends on each flower moves quickly and
that's an indicator that there's very little nectar there and here we are back
in the maximilian sunflowers and notice how much time the honeybee spends on
each blossom they're really loaded and of course we want a really strong brood
going into fall because the winter bees are going to come from the upcoming
brood and the pollen is really gonna be the greatest indicator of their success
there how excellent and healthy and big and active they are going into fall and
winter and that's what we really want and one of the reasons we take the time
to establish late season pollen resources
I started these flowers from seed in the spring we did till down a section
and rolled them in and so this is a first-year yield with these Maximilian
sunflowers and they are perennial so they'll continue on their own without
requiring reseeding which is something I like I'm all about low maintenance now
something that people always ask is what can we do to improve the survivability
of pollinators across the nation and that is looking at this fence row that's
a field of soybeans in the background there but by allowing wild flowers like
these asters to grow along hedgerows and to have these wild areas instead of just
mowing them down definitely provides resources for the pollinators and not
just the honeybees but butterflies mason bees wasps any
number of other insects are going to benefit if we allow these wild areas to
continue between farmer crop fields I think it's very very important that if
you're looking for something to do then allow some of your rough areas to grow
up and make sure to plant some wildflower seeds there
here we are back on goldenrod and if you'll notice this is a wasp
now some people often claim that wasps and flies are also native pollinators
and that's true this year I will say though that the Yellowjackets are
terrible and they're really taking their toll on the honeybees and we want to
work kind of against the Yellowjackets in favor of the honeybees this is a
ladybug of course getting into the nectar ladybugs also eat aphids and
other pest insects so they're nice to have around
and here again is a yellowjacket wasp and notice their bodies are slick but
look underneath the thorax they have a lot of fuzz there and this particular
Wasp is showing that it does carry pollen incidentally of course underneath
its thorax and it rubs itself all over these flowers as it tries to get the
nectar out when it shows how the Yellow Jacket wasp is indeed a pollinator I
don't know if the pollination benefit outweighs the aggression that they show
thanks for watching hope you learned something grow wildflowers and if you
don't have them and you're in the north grow maximilian sunflowers for a late
season crop thanks again