Russian Olive Trees

Does anyone have any experience with bees and Russian Olive trees? The tree produces large amounts of fruit so it must flower. Here in MT it is classified as a weed and can no longer be sold or planted. Just wondering as we have places with large amounts in the river bottoms.

Peter W
Belgrade, MT

I have not dealt with a tree, but I have had russian olive shrubs. They bloom in October and they bees work them very well.

The russian olives were just blooming here last week and I kept meaning to check for bees on them and didn't get it done. I am curious about that too.

There is a lot of Russian Olive and Autumn Olive here, I've seen LOTS of bees feeding on the A.O. flowers. I have not paid much attention to the R.O. but I would guess that they would both attract bees. They are both in the genus Eleagnus.

Hi RXMaker,
My mother had about 5 or 6 russian olive trees in a semi-circle on a slight incline. They grow fast in zone 5 but my mother read in the Southwest they grow slower. The russian olive trees made a little nook and so we could sit inside. They had grayish green leaves and tiny little yellow flowers that gave off a wonderful fragrance that permeated the area. At night when there was a slight breeze you could hear the leaves rustle in the wind, and still you could smell the flowers at night. They were not long lived-about ten years. Unfortunately she did not have honeybees at the time of the russian olive trees. linn

I have quite a few Russian olive trees here, but never thought to check them for bees. I'm subscribed.

Yes, they work Russian Olives but bloom here is prior to any honey flow.

"Met-How" Kraig

Got a few around my property. They are used a lot in our area as a wildlife habitat improvement, food and hedge rows. The berries are eaten by birds mostly. The seeds are desiminated by the birds so they pop up randomly. I see the bees on them. The amount they work it appears to be based some, on what else is in bloom at the time. No info on nectar or pollen. Me thinks both.:)

Russian Olives are an invasive species here in the southwest. They use excessive amounts of water and kill out native species in the riverbeds around. I know water isn't much of an issue in much of the country, but it is a huge concern in the southwest. Russian olives, salt cedar, and siberian elms are the most prominent invasives along riverbeds in NM.

Russian Olives can be an invasive species. I was visiting my son in Del Rio, Texas and drove through several large drainages (read mile after mile and hundreds of square miles here) containing nothing but Russian olive trees, all you could see was Russian olive trees. Up North, I don't think the tree is so invasive.

Everyone:
Thanks for the info. This is an invasive species here also but there is a great number of trees around as the State of MT up to 2008 offered these for sale at the state nursery.

Ben: Went thru WY yesterday. South of Buffalo I had a hard time seeing anything green. What started this thread is that at Buffalo and Sheridan there are forests of Russian Olive. Kudos to you and your bees this year.

Peter W

More of a shrub around here. Maybe to 8-10 ft. Autumn olive.

The bees do work them over while in bloom. And they bloom over a 2 week period here. Each bush on it's own schedule, some earlier, some later. This year they were blooming in early May.

:cool:

Here in Northern New Mexico, Santa Fe and surrounding areas, russian olive has indeed become quite invasive. In many areas russian olive trees exceeding 60-75' are not uncommon. It blooms profusely and secretes abundant pollen and late spring nectar. On several occasions my bees collected a shallow box of surplus, however, I never count on it as a dependable source of nectar, as it seems to vary greatly year to year, depending on ground moisture and weather condiitons for secretion. I have beeyards in areas where the olive trees are forrests, bordering fields and arroyos. Once established, it is one of the fasters growing species I can think of (even spreading faster and growing more than black locust). I for one find it hard to complain about any available pollen/nectar source living and keeping bees in this high desert mountain. I will note though, that it is prohibited from nursery sales as an ornamental landscape plant/tree. The honey is medium amber, and usually gets mixed into black locust and other available sources as previoulsy stated, but last year our locust bloomed long after the russian olive expired.

When I was a kid the Ohio Dept of Natural Resources gave out free packets of Russian Olive seeds for wildlife planting. Around here you can find them at almost every highway overpass as erosion control.

not invasive here. i have about 200 planted as a hedge down a roadway that borders my property. they were recommended by wildlife biologists as part of a land management plan. they bloom early, along with the dogwoods and the redbuds. the bees went crazy over them for the 3-4 weeks that they were in bloom. very fragrant, and would probably make great honey, but this nectar was used mostly for early spring build up.

We must be talking about two different species. They are commonly used in shelter belts and in nature plantings up north. They only get about 12 feet tall and are easily controlled. they bloom in early summer (I think) and while bees do work them I have never heard of a surplus of honey raised off of them.

jim, these are getting to be about 20 ft. high now, and they are the 'autum' olive variety. the berries are supposed to be highly nutritious, with a high concentration of lycopene, (i think). the health food community is starting to take notice of them. they have already started to ripen here, which is a little earlier than usual.

it was the wonderful fragrance that the autum olive blooms exuded that motivated my wife to invite a beekeeper to locate some bees here, which is how we got our start with bees. the bees prefer to work these over other blooms that are available at the time.

as far as being invasive, i planted these over 15 years ago, and haven't found any that have come up on their own.

Here's a page that compares the Autumn Olive and Russian Olive: http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry...tumn_olive.htm

The Russian Olive is what's found most often here in the northern plains. I occaisonally find them on my property springing up underneath bird perching spots (fence posts, mail boxes,etc) much like mulberry.

The Rusian olives in my area usually bloom at the same time as the fisrt alfalfa bloom. I have seen bees on the Russian olives but I think that if they have the choice they will choose alfalfa avery time.

In the Atlanta, GA area, Elaeagnus is a very invasive under-story shrub. I weedwack every new start I can see. I have so much of it, I can't get rid of all established plants. The thorns make pulling out established plants even more difficult. It is evergreen here, however.

I have had blooms in December and photographed bees working the tubular yellow blooms (there was nothing else for them to eat). I have also tasted honey said to be Russian Olive - oddly, it tasted of olives - not a good taste for honey.

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