Today, we’ve invited Steven Coy back to the how to provide an update on the Chinese Tallow tree and efforts to eliminate them.  Chinese Tallow was brought to the USA in the 1700’s as an ornamental. They have very successfully invaded much of the Southeast US, and are moving north and west at a slow but steady rate. USDA-APHIS has declared them invasive and have introduced two insects that feast on Tallow trees to slow, and eventually stop that spread.

However, Tallow trees are a valuable source of honey in the spring for US beekeepers, who manage their bees to take advantage of the honey flow to build their colonies to full strength so they can super pollinate a great deal of the crops we eat. No tallow, far, far less pollination.

The American Honey Producers and the National Honey Board have combined to produce a survey to measure the full extent and value of these trees to US beekeepers and to those of us who like to eat Tallow Honey. The intent is to reduce, or better, stop the insects from destroying Tallow trees, maintain the spring honey flow and keep food on the tables of all of us.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

• Tallow Survey - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2St5V6uUJQ-rfINK2s5TOM_jgofIQfVCUORfybfYAdtQHvQ/viewform
• American Honey Producers Assn - https://www.ahpanet.com/
• National Honey Board Survey Announcement - https://honey.com/newsroom/press-release/industry-members-asked-to-participate-in-tallow-honey-survey
• USDA-APHIS Site on Chinese Tallow - https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/chinese-tallow  
• Beekeeping Today Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beekeepingtodaypodcast
• Honey Bee Obscura - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. Betterbee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: [email protected]

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC