Blakely's red gum (Clemson, p.19) has been an important floral source for tablelands beekeepers for many years, producing good crops of pollen and honey.

However, Northern Tablelands eucalypt dieback has caused a lot of tree deaths, and has greatly reduced the flowering of this tree.

In December 1990 Blakely's red gum had a large flowering around Tenterfield and Glen Innes. Two pollen samples indicated a crude protein level of 22.4% to 26.4% and a reasonably balanced amino acid level (Table 28). A sample collected in 1992 tested 25% crude protein confirming this protein range.

Blakely's red gum make bees breed well. The large volumes of pollen would be ideal to collect, freeze and feed back to bees when conditions are poor.