Trickle Flow
Lexikon
Trickle flow refers to the small-scale intake of nectar and pollen spread across many plant species, in which the scale rises only slightly or not at all, while the colony is nonetheless supplied continuously.
Trickle flow refers to the small-scale intake of nectar and pollen spread across many plant species, in which the scale rises only slightly or not at all, while the colony is nonetheless supplied continuously. It comes from roadsides, gardens, fallow land, hedges and meadows and occurs mainly in high and late summer.
A trickle flow rarely produces a harvest. Its significance lies elsewhere: it keeps brood rearing going and supplies exactly the weeks in which the winter bees are developing. If it is absent, the beekeeper must feed earlier and more, and the colonies go into winter with a poorer protein supply.
In cleared-out agricultural landscapes, the trickle flow is scarce. This is exactly where flowering strips, late mowing dates and the selection of bee forage plants that bloom after the end of the major flows come in.
The term is not used entirely consistently. Some sources apply it only to the last intake in autumn, others to any spread-out minor flow. In both cases, the same counterpart to the major flow is meant.