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Friday, April 5, 2013

Pussy Willow Bloom 2013

The pussy willow bloomed a few days ago on April 2nd.  This is always an exciting day as it is the first bloom of the year where I can actually see the bees working the blossoms.  They actually do start bringing in a pale yellow pollen a week or two before the pussy willow blooms, but I have never been able to figure out where it is coming from.

The pussy willow bloom also give me a good idea of when honey production will kick into high gear.  For the last three years at least, the alfalfa bloom has occurred seventy days after the pussy willow.  That should put this year's alfalfa bloom on June 11th.  Between now and then we will have the dandelion and fruit tree blooms- those will provide a little extra honey but not much.  Once the alfalfa starts up I will be checking the honey supers on a weekly basis.

Anyway- here are a few photos of the bees working the pussy willow in the back yard:






These last few photos show some of the native pollinators working the blossoms along side the honeybees:



1 comments:

Sam Smith said...

That early pale yellow pollen is likely from colts foot, that stuff is the first thing to bloom round our area.

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