Plain Talk: Autumn Walkabout (303)

Jim Tew

Listeners, several years ago. I bought one of those smart scales to tell me how fat I was. Well it I have to tell you it's really doing a good job It just informed me that I am remarkably have a low level of physical fitness.

It's a little bit more information than I actually wanted. I need to walk more anyway. Stay more involved and stay active So I'm gonna go on a short walk back here to a field that I have written about, talked about, and that surely one day is going to become a housing complex.

But for right now, It's just a field with native plants in it. I want to go look at them. Listeners, I'm Jim Tew.

I come to you here once a week at Honey Bee Obscura, where I try to do something. that in some way relates to plain talk beekeeping.

Introduction

Welcome to Honey Bee Obscura, brought to you by Growing Planet Media, the producers of the Beekeeping Today podcast. Join Jim Tew, your guide through the complexities, the beauty, the fun, and the challenges of managing honey bees. Jim hosts fun and interesting guests who take a deep dive into the intricate world of honey bees. Whether you're a seasoned beekeeper or just getting started, get ready for some plain talk that'll delve into all things honey bees.

Jim Tew

I'm here at the goldenrod plant. You know, plants are frequently not as exciting as they've been built up to be. When you read a bee book, And you think the goldenrod is a plant that's just going to attract everything being known to mankind, humankind.

Yeah, there's insects here. But it's not like a crowded buffet. Here's and uh about a ten square foot area There's a butterfly.

I should know the name of it, but I don't. There's two or three honey bees. There's a bumblebee right here There's some kind of a fly, a dipterous insect. Bumblebees collecting pollen.

There's a thread-waisted wasp. Would be called a Sphecidae. There's the red wasp that I've just talked about in other segments that used to terrify me and sting me to death.

It seems to be a general diversity of insects, but not like every insect known to humankind, something I've already said. Let's go up to a denser planting up here of naturally planted goldenrod All you beekeepers in my home state of Alabama go on these walks. And even though I don't think there's been a venomous snake here in Wayne County, Ohio, and 75 to 100 years, I always think well keep an eye out for you know what my grandmother would always say now you boys watch out for snakes out there and on occasion As you know, they were out there.

I haven't seen a snake in the wild in years. Sounds like famous last words, doesn't it? I'm out here in the planting.

There's honey bees, honey bees, gentle breeze blowing. I hope my windscreen is protecting the microphone so you don't have to hear the wind blowing This is just a wide open field. It's being reclaimed by goldenrod.

The fall flowers, the little tiny asters are just starting. So I may come back at some point. I don't want to bore you to death with this.

I may come back at some point Check out these asters because right now they're not competitive. Is that by design? There's a bald-faced hornet I didn't know they did this.

Let me get closer. See if I can get stung and give you some drama here Nope, it took off. Too close.

I got inside his territory. There is a lot of insect activity, but you see now I'm doing it. When I say there's a lot of insect activity I'm thinking there should be tens of thousands, but there's just hundreds.

The plant's always stuck with this notion of how much reward to give And when are they giving so much reward that it's costing them too much? You know, I just realized I don't know how goldenrod is pollinated. My neighbor for years has uh fertilizer lawn and then they captured the clippings, something I've never done, and they would bring them back here and dump the clippings in this field And where they dump their clippings, there's goldenrod that's higher than my head and outside that area is goldenrod that's hardly waist tall.

So I'm comfortable saying that goldenrod responds well to soil fertilizer rates. If I was going to do this, I should have worn something besides These running shoes for a man who doesn't run anymore. My machine's already told me that.

Yep, if I were in Alabama, I'd be uncomfortable right now. Trekking up in these weeds Well I'm comfortable telling it most of these bees are mine. And if you look up over the horizon, you can see good insect flight.

What what does that mean, Jim? I can see 25 30 insects over a hundred square feet of whatever here of goldenrod primarily. He's aster.

Here's Queen Anne's lace, but I don't ever see bees doing anything on that wild carrot or Queen Anne's lace or whatever you call it. A lot of the goldenrod hasn't opened yet. And you know I wonder if if just if there's different species of goldenrod out here.

I think there's two or three in Ohio and I can't tell them apart. Let's take a break, hear from our sponsor while I catch my breath.

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Jim Tew

When I went to Auburn and stumbled into beekeeping, I got three hives of bees. Can't recall where I got the third one. I got two from my uncle. And then I got a third one somewhere.

And I had them outside of Auburn on my major professor's property And I pulled into the yard one day, took my little three beehives, and there was a stink. To me it was a stink. that I had never smelled before and I went into high panic that I had American foulbrood so fast, so bad, that the whole bee yard was smelled up by it. I honestly called the state inspector and the county inspector came out and politely and lovingly told me that that was the fall nectar flow from goldenrod But I sometimes wonder if goldenrod gets the blame for what the aster is contributing to.

But you never get a chance to separate the fall asters and the Fall goldenrod to see which is responsible for the odor. I'm sure a chemist could do it at some point if there are reason for it. But all I had going that day was a good fall goldenrod crop coming in I learned to like the smell and sometimes with a good flow on, I could smell goldenrod crop from my bee yard to my back door.

And it's 80 yards away. And it was a very distinctive odor that primarily seemed to come out at night. Don't have a lot of basis for saying that We'll see if I can get out of this growth and go to another one of these.

And I got used to the smell. I learned to like the smell And I learned to know that that is a strong odiferous indicator of the fall nectar flow going on. And when that flow is over and that smell goes away Then it except just for an occasional planting and a flower bed someplace, that's it for the year.

2026 nectar production year is over and done. Back down nearby yard I was going to see if what they're doing here. Here's butterflies on the aster plant.

So several years ago I had a nine-frame observation hive. I 'm gonna work my way around this poison ivy. I had a nine-frame observation hive set up And when the fall flow started, there's a little whiff of it down this bee yard.

When the fall flow started I had that thing inside the porch on my shop. I just about couldn't stay in the shop. The odor was so strong.

Just overwhelmingly strong. I can't tell that there's any more bees on the goldenrod in the bee yard than is on the goldenrod up in the field where I just walked back from. I'm not really trying to tell you a falsehood here.

It's a nice day and I just wanted to be out walking around and I didn't want to have to light a smoker. I've got a trip coming up Wednesday So I'm not trying to start anything big before I leave. Be going through next Monday.

And I just wanted to get out for a walk. There's not a cloud in the sky, and it's just one of those days for no particular good reason you just Feel good about watching the bees come and go. This time of the year they can be the least bit cranky My daughter gave me a shirt that said, I'm a beekeeper.

If I run, you should run too. I know you've all seen those and my family thought that was hilarious So I wear it periodically so they can get a laugh out of it. Now I'm at a beehive entrance here.

There's absolutely beautiful flight And there's some pollen so they're bringing in both. There's a tall hive that they're up in the top of it primarily and they got cross comb up there. I think I'll just dread that till next spring Let that go.

Apple crop. I always get a ridiculous number of golf-ball sized apples because the pollination in this bee yard is 100% complete. Beekeepers is a nice day just to be a philosophical beekeeper.

Go for a walk and look at bees doing what they do on their own, watching the plants do what they do on their own, watching the other insects that come to the smorgasbord of the fall crop is all these insects get ready for the upcoming big dearth. That will definitely be here in just uh probably a few more weeks yet Trying not to fall. I always have my phone on me.

When you live alone, you always need some kind of an emergency, whatever. So I made it back out of the brush I'm back out in the ditch. I'm hiking back.

Listen, I really appreciate you hanging out with me. I know this is not incredibly insightful information, but it just feels good. It just feels good to be able and to move and to do as much as I can do I can't do the heavy lifting anymore.

I don't even try. So I don't have the best managed bees in the country, but I can't tell that they complain much about it. Until we can talk next week about something probably more beekeepingly relevant. We'll tell you bye for now. See if I can get back to the house, take a short break, and do something constructive.

That's all I got for now.