# bees and maple trees



## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

Honey Dew? Look for aphids.

Might want to highly consider removing all the honey from the hive once this is done and back fill with syrup.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

Honey-4-All said:


> Honey Dew? Look for aphids.
> 
> Might want to highly consider removing all the honey from the hive once this is done and back fill with syrup.


Its not a bad thing right??!!


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

Read the following link and decide yourself: I know what I would do...... 

http://www.beesource.com/resources/usda/overwintering-of-honey-bee-colonies/


Specifically from the link: 

"Well-ripened honey or sugar sirup stores should be used for best results. If colonies have a predominance of honeydew honey, or if the honey has a high moisture content, dysentery may occur. The complex sugars in honeydew honey cannot be digested by bees and pass into the gut as wastes. If honey becomes solidly granulated in the combs, as frequently happens with dandelion or rape honey, the bees have some difficulty in making good use of these stores. They may use the liquid portion surrounding the dextrose granules, resulting in a diet with high water content leading to dysentery, and they may waste most of the dextrose crystals, which drop to the bottom board of the hive."


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## umchuck (May 22, 2014)

the hives are not honey bound and the activity ended around noon today, I thought maybe there was dew on the leaves but I couldn't see any and the bees were all at the very edge of the leaf they happen to be on, I'm feeding syrup right now but not every day, about 5 gal a week for 6 hives, this tree happens to be on the flight path from the hive to the feeder 80 yds away, maybe it was something simple like sugar drops on the leaves from the bees, come next week I will prob start feeding heavier. thanks for the replies
rand


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## Santa Caras (Aug 14, 2013)

My bank, for Earth Day, gives away trees. (small little suckers..bout the size of a #2 pencil only skinnier) This year was Red Maples (last year pine).
I looked up Red Maple and it was listed as a source of nectar for bees so I grabbed 4 of em. Not sure how that applies to Honey Dew, dandelions, or rape honey so I'll sit back and see what I can learn here since I'm intrested to see if I'm wasting my time growing them. They're pretty big at this point...bout a 1/2"-3/4"girth and 4' high.


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## Duncan151 (Aug 3, 2013)

According to one of the Maple Syrup books that I read before making my own syrup. Maples also have a fall sap flow that can be tapped though it is of a less quality and volume than the spring flow. Maybe that has something to do with it, maybe it is just a coincidence and some bad gouge in a book. I have not tapped any fall trees to check it out myself. Drill a small hole in the tree and see if any sap runs out of it.


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## RudyT (Jan 25, 2012)

Maples are good bee trees, especially for early spring brood building. As the tips begin to be red (now that you know to look), the bees get precious pollen.


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

Most years around here it's to cold for the bees when the maples are running and/or blooming. Last spring it was warm when the sap was running, and bees were clustered on cracks in the trees taking sap. After the trees bloomed most of the colonies had a full super. We extracted half our crop already in April from the maples. This year the bees were not even coming out during the maples, it was to cold.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)




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## BernhardHeuvel (Mar 13, 2013)

*Abscisic acid enhances the immune response in Apis mellifera and contributes to the colony fitness*
Pedro Negri, Matias D. Maggi, Leonor Ramirez, Leonardo De Feudis, Nicolás Szwarski, Silvina Quintana, Marin J. Eguaras, Lorenzo Lamattina
Apidologie, January 2015
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-014-0345-7

Abstract
The primary food of adult honey bees (Apis mellifera) is honey prepared by bees from nectar, provided by plants in order to stimulate the bee’s pollination service. Nectar consists of carbohydrates, amino acids and water, as well as other minor compounds whose proportion varies among plant species and whose biological implications in the honey bee physiology require intense research. Several environmental stressors are causing the decline of bee colonies, and thereby, we tried to connect the nutritional quality of bee’s diet with the strength of the bee’s immune system. The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) is present in nectar, honey and adult honey bees. It has been demonstrated that ABA stimulates innate immune defences in animal cells. However, the influence of ABA on A. mellifera’s health and fitness is unknown. Here, we show that honey bees fed with an ABA supplement in field experiments resulted in (i) the appearance of ABA in larvae and adult bees, (ii) enhanced haemocyte response to non-self recognition, (iii) improved wound healing and granulocyte and plasmatocyte activation and (iv) maximum adult bee population after the winter and increased pesticide tolerance. The results indicate that the naturally occurring compound ABA has a positive influence in honey bee immunity. ABA emerges as a potent booster of immune defence in A. mellifera and may be useful in addressing the colony losses threatening apiculture and pollination service worldwide.

=> One source for natural abscisic acid is maple sirup
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/QQLA/TC-QQLA-21571.pdf


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

This is when maples bloom. Maple pollen is one of the earliest sources. I would be worried if the maples were blooming and the bees weren't on them...


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

Check your dates Michael. The original post is from last August.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Check your dates Michael. The original post is from last August.

Sorry. I thought it was from today...


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## wcubed (Aug 24, 2008)

Have often wondered it the bees lack of interest in Sept. goldenrod might be the result of a peak of aphid population somewhere in the woods that I have no way of knowing about.
Walt


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

Michael Bush said:


> >Check your dates Michael. The original post is from last August.
> 
> Sorry. I thought it was from today...


Still good advice! I have some maples ready to pop. Mountain cedars are puffing clouds of pollen now, but nothing coming in the hives yet that I see.


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