Springtime for the Bees

Hives #1-4 after the February 9 blizzard.

It was a harsh winter here in Connecticut, but I had 100% survival on my five beehives from last year, thanks in large part probably due to generous feeding of the colonies last fall. The bees received protein supplements, and were left with whatever honey they had stored over the summer in addition to enough sugar syrup to get the combs good and full of stores.

Skunk Cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus.

In late February and early March, the Skunk Cabbage provided the first source of natural pollen for the bees. Skunk Cabbage inflorescences heat themselves up by oxidizing stored carbohydrates, possibly to keep pollinators active on chilly days as well as to melt away snow and ice. On sunny days when temperatures were well above freezing, the bees would be out patrolling the local swamps and streamsides, and coming back absolutely covered with pale yellow pollen.

Worker bee covered with skunk cabbage pollen. The blackish growth on the bark is a leafy liverwort common in New England, Frullania eboracensis.

Hive entrance in early May. Note the drones (male bees) peeking out at left.

 A little bit later the Red Maples bloomed, then Sugar and Norway Maples, providing more pollen and some nectar. Right now a lot of excellent nectar plants are flowering. Apple trees, other fruit trees and dandelions are past their peak but still pretty abundant, and Autumn Olive is just starting. The weather has been a little bit cool and cloudy lately, but my strongest hive had already just about filled one medium "super" (upper box for storing honey) with maple and apple nectar, and later this week the weather and flower conditions should be excellent for all the hives to bring in many more pounds of honey.

Nice frame of worker brood from hive #1.

The bee populations are in good shape, with the queens producing reasonably solid patterns of new brood in all of the hives. There hasn't been any loss of bees to swarming yet, although I did wind up making make two splits from hives that were starting to make new queens, probably in preparation for casting a swarm. I hear that there have been a few swarms from other hives in the area. Varroa mites are the great plague of the modern beekeeper, and while mites are definitely present in all of the hives, mite levels haven't reached the stage where harsh treatments are called for.

Sceletium tortuosum

South Africa has a rich tradition of using native plants in folk medicines. One of the most famous examples is Kougoed or Kanna, the fermented and dried leaves of Sceletium tortuosum, which is supposed to be effective against a huge range of maladies. Like various other members of the family Aizoaceae (the mesembs or ice plants), Sceletium tissues contain mesembrine and other alkaloids, which are known to have psychoactive properties. The plant has been subject to a certain amount of legitimate pharmacological research, and also--as an internet search will quickly show--a whole lot of enthusiastic amateur experimentation and attempts at commercialization.

The genus name Sceletium was inspired by the skeletal venation that is visible in old, dried leaves. The dead leaves of S. tortuosum persist for some time, and during the dry season act as protective scales over the living shoot tips. Some authors place the eight or so accepted species of Sceletium within the larger genus Mesembryanthemum.

Sceletium tortuosum at Kruisrivier, in the Little Karoo in August (late winter).

Sceletium tortuosum is very broadly distributed in the arid parts of western and southern South Africa. Its habitat is primarily in a winter-rainfall climate, but edges into summer-rain areas in the east. Cultivated plants grow most vigorously in winter, but can be tempted into a certain level of summer activity if water is available. Possibly the preferred seasonality of growth depends on the collection locality; I would expect that plants from the west in Namaqualand would be more strongly inclined towards winter growth. In cultivation, plants look best if given as much sun as possible, and quickly become thin, scraggly and unattractive if light levels are inadequate. Otherwise, Sceletium presents no particular problems in cultivation, and is easily propagated from stem cuttings.  

References:

Chesselet, P. 2005. Sceletium tortuosum PlantZAfrica page. http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantqrs/scelettort.htm

Gerbaulet, M. 2001. Sceletium.  Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants, Aizoaceae F-Z, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.

CCSS Show and Sale 2013

The Connecticut Cactus and Succulent Society is having its annual show and sale this weekend at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury, Ct. This photo was was from the show setup in a previous year, so while I can't guarantee that this particular Pachypodium will be making an appearance, I am reasonably certain that equally spectacular plants will be on display. As always, admission to the show and lectures is free of charge, and if you get there first thing in the morning, you might get a free plant, too.

We'll have our usual excellent selection of plant and supply vendors, too. One regular, Bob Smoley's Gardenworld, will unfortunately not be in attendance because Bob is recovering from an illness. However, we are adding some exciting additional plant sellers this year: Susan Amoy, Glen Lord, and Rick Logee's recently opened WRC Greenhouses. It looks like the weekend weather will be fine, so I hope to have a great turnout!

February 28 Sugaring

The '13 sugaring season so far has been pretty good so far. There have been a few short stretches where it was too cold and the trees stayed frozen all day, and some rainy periods where it didn't freeze at night and the sap petered out, but more days with a decent flow and a number of excellent days where each tap yielded a gallon or more. The first week's production was 3.25 cups of amber syrup from 10 gallons of sap (about a 48:1 ratio). The second week's operation yielded about 2 cups of clear golden syrup; the lightening of the color was probably because of a stretch of colder weather. 

 Here's a photo of a sap icicle on a sugar maple on the UConn campus last week, forming on a wound that the tree sustained over the winter. The tan tips on the sapsicle are where freezing and sublimation of ice have concentrated the sugar solution down to something that is probably pretty close to being natural maple syrup, if only a few drops of it. You can imagine that this sort of occurrence was how the Native Americans first got the idea for maple sugaring. 

Sugaring Season Start

I'm just getting done with shoveling out from the Blizzard of 2013 (and putting up a new mailbox, the old one having been pretty much finished off by the plows this time). The weather was very sunny and somewhat above freezing today, so I decided to try tapping the sugar maples. Success! Before the sun went down there was actually a strong flow, with an inch or two accumulating in the bottom of the buckets in the hour that the trees had between tap placement and the evening chill putting an end to the sugaring action for the day. Tomorrow is supposed to be a little warmer but rainy. Overall the forecast is for moderate temperatures and strong day/night temperature swings, so there should be some good sap runs.

In other locally-produced-sugary-substances news, the bee colonies have made it through the winter so far. I can hear faint buzzing from inside them, at any rate. They're pretty well covered in snow now, which should help keep them insulated from cold and wind.