Goldenrod Starting to Bloom Fall Pollinators - Vid

Made a short video about goldenrod. Common plant that is incredibly important for pollinators and other wildlife. I go over three truths about it and debunk a big lie I see told all too often.

My Honey bees and I can't wait for the golden rod to bloom. To me it is the harbinger of fall. For my bees a vital food source

Interesting.

Anthony, do we have two types here? One bloom about now and one later? Noticed first ones yesterday. I watched and subscribed. Interesting.

i'd imagine you have more than one variety in your area and probably more than two. there are suppose to be 12 around here. ours spans a relatively long season from right about now until later in september. bit we dont usually think much about the earlies varieties as they arent too plentiful and the nectar source is very minor. typically the major goldenrod event here starts the last 4-5 days of august and its wrapped up by september 10th. might be a little later flowering this year as we've been behind schedule since spring. but overall i'm guessing we dont have much of a goldenrod event around me this year. the old saying here goes that you need soil moisture in mid july to make goldenrod. and we didnt have it so i suspect the goldenrod gets impacted

Here in Pa, there’s about ten varieties of goldenrod. Some starts to bloom in early July. As a rule, high elevation varieties bloom first, but honeybees don’t work them much. The main source of fall nectar here is from Tall or Giant Goldenrod….it will make its appearance during the first week of September, winding up during the third or fourth week of the month. I’ve seen bees make more honey in these three weeks than the rest of the season combined. Weather is critical for honey production….need calm, dry, sunny days.

This is another plant that is often considered a weed And for those that think every inch of land should look like a manicured golf course it gets mowed down instead of left to provide food and cover for many types of wildlife .Seeing it in bloom reminds me of the countless hours I spent hunting areas that had been left to grow for a few of maybe even many years that was reverting back to thicker woody cover .It was one of my favorite types of cover to hunt ring neck pheasants in and rabbits where usually there also And there where a few places that where hide outs for deer also .With a little bit of planning those spots could be hunted similar to how you hunted rabbits but now the rabbits had hoofed feet and antlers

The bees, both native and honey, are hammering the goldenrod here along with a ton of butterflies and some cool wasps like mason wasps and katydid wasps (that big black wasp with orange legs in the video is a katydid wasp).

KyTrapper - we have roughly 30 species in KY. There are two common ones that most places in the state have - one of those blooms around now and the other blooms September or so. Thanks for the sub!

Tatiana - I did not know Canada goldenrod was introduced into Siberia! It is an aggressive plant, even here where its native, but our other early successional plants can deal with it. I am not surprised that it takes over where the native plants have zero adaptation to it. I now have another example of a North American species that is invasive on another continent.

Glodenrod patches are almost like a small shrub thicket and it seems like all critters love to use the cover. I jump deer out of them frequently. Some of the best coon trails I have ever trapped were coming out of goldenrod thickets. They are a little too dense for turkeys, but quail and songbirds love them.

It's a great plant for us bee keepers. (perfect timing, God....Like always). Helps them get ready for winter. The honey smells terrible, however. I quit bottling it and let the bees store it now.

I too have had people tell me it's rag weed. Good post.

And, that little worm in a Goldenrod Gall makes superb fish bait in the fall or thru the ice! As a kid I used to collect some of the galls with a piece of stem and make floats out of them for spring Crappy and Gilley fishing.

Is your main summer crop basswood? Many years ago we use to run a few loads up the coast to the berries in Maine each season. There never seemed to much else though as the summer progressed so virtually everyone would pick up and move a couple states west as fall approached to try and get a goldenrod crop. Some years it was pretty intense; way more than ever seen here. My buddy who lived out that way use to say that he only had two sources of nectar that amounted to anything--basswood and goldenrod. And historically those were big crops in Michigan too but over time both have been knocked out of contention by star thistle in the dry areas of the state.

Lots of different species,of goldenrod here. And asters.

When do you typically see the goldenrod flow happen in your area? I see goldenrod all over my area but it never seems like it's much honey from it.

Basswood, or linden as we call it, is a great nectar source, but not overly common in these parts. Once you get past the tree blossoms ( maple, willow, tulip poplar, locust etc ) , it’s on to dandelion. After that, the only major nectar sources are clover. Late August, Japanese Knotweed, then goldenrod. Aster would be the last thing my bees would work, but I try to have all the supers off by that time. Honey from aster crystallizes fast, many times while in the comb. I can be difficult, if not impossible to extract.

Goldenrod nectar does have an odd smell to it while the bees are drying it….some compare it to stinky tennis shoes. But the finished product doesn’t smell like it. I like to blend 5 gallon buckets of light spring / summer honey with goldenrod honey. Gives you a nice amber colored, great tasting honey.

KyTrapper - we have roughly 30 species in KY. There are two common ones that most places in the state have - one of those blooms around now and the other blooms September or so. Thanks for the sub!


I’ve noticed the early one is smaller and more sparse. The one in Sept. is the one that’s plentiful and makes great crumbled up trap blending material after frost. It is my favorite wildflower because it signals trapping season is near.

Here's a secret for you:

(I'm going to misspell a few words on purpose for indexing)

Remember that virus last year?

Remember the Zilenko protocol?

It's Zinc and Quercetin and Vit. C

Zinc is in chickweed
Vit. C is in white pine needles
AND..............Quercetin is in................. Goldenrod

What if this virus-stopper (for more than just the most recent thing) is actually found in God's pantry?

Just a question for research.

We call Acer negundo Box elder or Manitoba Maple, and it makes some fine maple syrup in the spring, as we dont have other maples to deal with. In the old days before cardboard was invented it was milled for the BOX wood they would make with it.

yes goldenrod does make for some interesting bee work especially the native species and their survival and population dynamics
work in pollination of crops has shown that a 20 foot strip of native soil/ plants increases production 30% on canola fields

Thank you very much, nyhuntfish.

Thank you for pictures, Tatiana.

Many North American maples are considered invasive species in Europe and Asia, just as the Norway maple is considered invasive here. I can easily see how boxelder would be a problem where it is not native as it produces a ton of seed and tends to have a very high germination rate and grows quickly.

Great idea I wonder why I did not think of it.

Boxelder offers hollows after 25 years growth and great arboreal for many small mammals. Red squirrels and grey squirrels come to mind.

Wonder who here is pollen senasitive of the golden rod ?

First major wave of goldenrod is in full bloom and the second wave has flower buds swelling. All of the rain we had over the past month is making for a great fall bloom. Bees should have plenty of honey stored up for the winter.

Those gall worms do make great fish bait and are also a major food source for chickadees and smaller woodpeckers over the winter. Bumper crop of them here this year.

Missouri goldenrod is the only species blooming here thus far. Canada will probably be next, followed by rigid and tall goldenrods. The other local species are less abundant, but they’ll come along too. The tall goldenrod is our most abundant species (often extremely so in heavily grazed pastures) and is usually at its peak about the same time the monarchs roll through.

Canada and tall are our two main ones here in central KY. Canada blooming and tall has flower buds starting to swell. About the first of September the tall will bloom.

I planted a few pollinator plots in our yard years ago- you can see the center section has been overcome with Golden Rod- enjoyed the video and it makes me think about it differently.