Beesource Beekeeping Forums banner

What to plant-

12K views 49 replies 21 participants last post by  BerkeyDavid 
#1 ·
getting ready to move my 8 hives to our new property (10 acres). I have a few acres that will essentially be unused. I was thinking of planting a bee crop and was looking for ideas of what to plant. Thought of going the regluar clover route, possibly buckwheat.

I dont have alot of experience in different varieties of honey, just the basic "wildflower"

I'd love to put in a basswood tree or two but it'll likely take too long before they are a worthwhile honey tree.

Thoughts?
 
#3 ·
"Our 4000 trees were planted in the spring of 1872, and in 1877 many of them were bearing fair loads of blossoms."

Under "Basswood"

ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture 1908 edition

There is a company in Wisconsin that sells small basswood trees for (I think) $4 each, and they should be easy to find for the digging. Plus you get a lot more blooms per acre than smaller plants provide. Plus, you can seed between the trees with whatever you want.
 
#5 ·
I have several thousand black locust around my main bee yard. They grow like weeds from root seedlings but I have never been able to transplant any. The problem I have seen with the black locust is the short boom time. Sometimes the bloom stays on and sometimes it doesn't. They really bring it in when it is there. White clover in the yard and pasture are have been my big producers.
 
#7 ·
Since you are not going to make that much of an impact on the forraging area the bees have available to them, I would plant a forage that would tide them over during the darth of summer.

You are going to plant less than ten acres, the bees will forrage out at least two miles, that is thousands of acres. The best you can do for them is to provide them something when there is nothing else. I do this with Huban clover, hairy vetch, alfalfa, and buckwheat.

Huban will stop blooming in the heat of the summer, but will come back in the fall and bloom until freeze.

Hairy vetch blooms just after yellow clover and until the heat of summer sets in.

Alfalfa isn't that great of a honey plant but is better than nothing. It should be sprayed every spring for aphids and you will probably not get two good cuttings without some lucky rain, (well, not here anyway).

Buckwheat is the best choice for a fill-in crop, however it is more labor intensive as it needs to be worked and replanted every seven to nine weeks, but that is the good part, you can get three good crops if the weather holds good for you.

For tree plantings look around your area for what grows there, check the county extension office for recomended tree varieties. Black locust is a poor choice to invest in. It only blooms every two years and then it is subject to late frosts and heavy rain will knock the blooms off. Go with bass woods, lindens, Jap arbor, Jap lilac, etc., Look for trees that advertize to attract "Butterflies and Hummingbirds". To put bees in that would kill sales, but is a good way to identify nectar trees.
 
#8 ·
<<Alfalfa isn't that great of a honey plant but is better than nothing. It should be sprayed every spring for aphids >>

In this area, aphids are rarely a serious problem, the usual treatment for them, if they get bad, is to simply cut the hay. I think they just get a later start here.
 
#11 ·
Sweet or white clover is your best bet. It will provide bee forage for months, and will produce the whitest honey you will get. White honey=more money!!
Clover will be the easiest bee forage to grow. I have hives around buckwheat feilds, and will say that it does produce lots of honey, but hit and miss depending on the year. If the bees have any other access to nectar from anyother flower, the bees will totally ignore the buckwheat. Not many people like BW honey, but I always save a few hundred pounds for my nich market,..

Ian
 
#13 ·
You might try Anise Hyssop, if only in the margins and such. My Organic Gardening Encyclopedia (under honey plants) says "that an acre of Anise Hyssop might be sufficent pasture for 100 hives". I was able to buy several large clumps at a local nursery, and saved the seeds, I hope to sow into flats this spring. They did bloom all summer,through several frosts,but once the goldenrods & asters kicked in the bees paid it little attention.
 
#14 ·
You might try Anise Hyssop, if only in the margins and such. My Organic Gardening Encyclopedia (under honey plants) says "that an acre of Anise Hyssop might be sufficent pasture for 100 hives". I was able to buy several large clumps at a local nursery, and saved the seeds, I hope to sow into flats this spring. They did bloom all summer,through several frosts,but once the goldenrods & asters kicked in the bees paid it little attention.
 
#15 ·
I agree with dcross. A while back, someone on this fourm posted honey productions of various trees and the Basswood (linden tree "Tilia cordata") was far above the rest. I planted 5 last summer - three I bought and two I propogated from cuttings. It may be a few years until I see any blooms, but its a long term investment and really helps to fill a nectar gap in my area. Basswood blooms later than most of the trees in my area.
 
#16 ·
My pat answer for this kind of question.

Look at The Hive and the Honeybee by Dadant. They have a nice section that shows major and minor honey plants for a given area. Look and see what is major for your area.

Also as a compendium reference, try Honey Plants of North America.

Seed establishment can be costly. For 10 acres, a 50 pound sack of clover seed might cost $150. Soil should be prepared in advance for best establishment or else you have to overseed to plant in sod. The areas that I disc harrowed and pulverized, leaving bare soil had better establishment of clover than the areas that I overseeded on sod. Keep this in mind!
 
#18 ·
Last spring I planted an acre each of white, yellow, dutch, and alsike clover. Also an acre of hairy vetch. The alsike bloomed very well and the hairy vetch a little. I also planted 2 acres of buckwheat late summer and the bees worked it very well but the surprise was no dark honey when we extracted. I pulled supers in late august before the buckwheat bloomed and again after the bloom and had expected to get a dark honey. Anyway it gave them something to do until goldenrod started to bloom.
 
#21 ·
isnt this great- at least where I am they are talking about 6 inches of snow tomorrow and it hasnt been above freezing in a month and I'm worrying about what to plant for my bees. Maybe my wife is right in thinking I'm crazy.

I oftentimes wonder this time of year why I live in a place like this.........
 
#23 ·
>Where could I purchase some huban clover?

The following post came from page eight of the above mentioned thread. Note that these are last years prices.


posted April 21, 2004 10:50 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earl,
I am sending this in e-mail form also, but for anyone else who needs hubam clover at reasonable pricing contact;
Valley Feed and Seed
1-800-658-1775
Ask for Terry, he knows Bullseye Bill "from over there at the gun thing"

They will take plastic.

They can get it in to them in three days. Cost on a fifty lb bag is $137.20, and they will ship UPS to any destination. The shipping charge is actual freight plus $1.90 for repackageing.

Earl, your freight is $24.93, IF they tax you, your total is $170.77.

Sorry for the delay, personal crap getting in the way...

Hopes this helps.
 
#24 ·
I buy all my seed at the local co-op, Southern
States. Up north, there is Agway. Other places,
there are sure to be other co-ops.

I overseeded 500 acres with a mix of clovers, but
had to wait 3 years for the drought to end, and
for some actual serious clovers to get established.

Buy the real money from this effort is NOT in
the honey.

It is in producing hay for horses, cut, left to
dry, and then bailed with an old-fashioned square
bailer, and moved to a hay barn ASAP.

I never understood why farmers were such religious
folks until the hay was cut, and I realized that
one unexpected rainstorm would turn high-protein
horse hay into much lower-value cow hay.

If you pay attention, you will notice that none
of the local TV weathermen will EVER predict
three days in a row without at least a "chance
of showers" during haying season. They want to
protect themselves from being torn limb from
limb by a mob of angry farmers bearing pitchforks,
torches and blunt instruments.

And yeah, the bees liked the clovers, but I doubt
if selling hay and honey will ever pay for the
land. I bought it because all I want is my land,
and all the land that adjoins my land.
 
#25 ·
One word of caution on making hay.
If you plan on selling your hay don't plant any of the sweet clovers. sweet clover can create coumadin when it gets a little moldy, which can cause cows (and maybe horses) to bleed to death.

Personally I planted five acres of sweet clover, both yellw and white, a few acres of buckwheat, and 200 black locust trees on some real rough ground. Sweet clover is cheap to buy, but you do have to work the ground up and wait a year for the bloom. And it is very good for the soil.

This year I plan to plant some basswood trees and some kind of shrubs, not sure which yet.

Jim: A farmer doesn't want to own all the land, just the land next to him... ;)

david
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top