Mold in the sugar water?

[blammer]

OK, I have some sugar water stored in the fridgerator.

some have developed black spots, mold I presume?

will it hurt the bees? Should I dump it or give it to em?

[dickm]

For the amount you could store in the fridge--toss it. It could be ready to ferment. Experience tells me the bees don't like it as it ages. Folks say a little bleach will keep the mold down. I've never added it but it's on the order of a cupful to a 250 gallon tote of corn syrup. Anyone else use bleach this way?

dickm

[Quint Randle]

I put a bit of lemon into mine. Seems to work okay.

Quint

[Jeffzhear]

I agree, I would toss it. When mold forms in my jars...and tops, they go through the dishwasher and new sugar water is prepared.

[buckbee]

When mixing syrup, add a few drops of Thyme essential oil. It prevents fermentation.

[Oldbee]

What process did you use to make the syrup? How hot was the water when adding sugar? How long was it in the fridge after making it? Just wondering if it makes any difference as far as how long it keeps. I haven't kept syrup in the fridge for any length of time myself.

[WVbeekeeper]

George Imirie wrote that a little mold in your syrup will not hurt your bees.

"During a real nectar flow (in April and May), bees won't take too much sugar syrup as the prefer the real nectar; but they will take the syrup at NIGHT or when it rains in the daytime. When it gets hot, like July and August, the sugar syrup might get black mold in it which will NOT hurt the bees, but nasty to think about. Just add a teaspoon of CREAM OF TARTER to a gallon of sugar syrup and that prevents the mold."
http://pxbacher.home.comcast.net/Pin...e.html#Feeding

[beemandan]

I don't know about the mold but once the stuff starts to ferment it becomes bee poison.

'When in doubt, toss it out'.....that's my motto.

[b_z_genius]

I don't know about the mold but once the stuff starts to ferment it becomes bee poison.

'When in doubt, toss it out'.....that's my motto.

Don't the bees know not to use the fermented stuff?

[Axtmann]

Thymol works perfect, there is no mould in the sugar water (syrup).

The recipe is on the website.
http://www.members.shaw.ca/orioleln/Thymol.htm

Go down to “Thymol strips as mould prevention”. I weight a strip, put the strip in alcohol and than weight the empty fabrics again. The amount of Thymol in one strip is approx 1 full tablespoon. All you have to do, divide the amount on the website by 3 and it give you an idea how it works.

[Gene Weitzel]

If you want an organic very non-toxic solution to preventing mold in syrup, add about 5 or 6 of drops of grapefruit seed extract per quart of syrup.

[beemandan]

Don't the bees know not to use the fermented stuff?

It depends on where you offer the stuff. If you put it out in the open, they would probably ignore it. If its inside the hive i.e. a division board or hivetop feeder they'll try to remove it. To remove it they must ingest it. I've had fermented syrup kill a colony. It aint pretty.

[iddee]

There is a thread just below this one about mold on frames. Everyone says let the bees handle it. In this thread, they say throw it away. What is the difference???

I let the bees clean the moldy frames, I feed them the moldy sugar water.

As for fermentation, I have never seen bees drink mead, and I don't plan to offer them mine.

[blammer]

How I prepared the syrup.

Got a gallon of water to a rolling boil, turned off burner added sugar and stirred till it was totally dissolved. Let cool to room temp or still warm, then bottled and put in fridgerator. Has kept a month in fridge this way.

What I was concerned about was the syrup I put in the hive. It was there 4 days and developed small black specks in the bottle. I removed it and discarded.

Diswashered the bottles and will refill with fresh syrup.

My new hive (one I got from the inside wall of a house) slurped down 2 quarts in 2 days, my old hive (from a package this spring) only took 14 oz....

I think with the new hive, not being used to free food and having to 'repair' hive damage from being moved really caused them to use the syrup....

[Benton2569]

I have had issues with mold developing after syrup has been in the hivetop feeder for a few hot days. I usually replace with fresh syrup. At .50 cents a pound for sugar it is more of an inconvenience than an economical issue.

An old timer told me to add some Honey-B Healthy to the syrup and it will prevent mold. This stuff looks expensive and I have not tried it but know others who have.