The cold, wet winter and spring has many beekeepers in the box ironbark areas of Victoria saying that this is potentially the worst season for many years. The reason given is trees have put all of their energy into new leaf growth . Some trees will not flower for another twelve months and so there is little prospect for honey production. Yellow gum ( E.leucoxylon) only flowered sporadically in spring and Yellow Box(E.melliodora) did not flower at all. Red Gum(E.camulflowered is flowering in patches and may yield a little. The main hope may be Grey Box(E.microcarpa) in the autumn if it starts budding soon.
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One response to “Summer honey prospects”
The gums in the Bass Coast area have not flowered and the few flower buds I found are nearly all gone after the extremely hot days recently. The tea tree varieties only flowered for a very short time this year too. I am currently growing sunflowers, clover and lavender and hope these will provide some extra nourishment for our bees while the season is so poor.