Bees favorite plant

[KevinR]

Where did you end up buying the borage from?

Any one found a lbs per acre planting guide?

[markmaster]

Ordered it through my local Co-Op store (don't know where they get, but everything they sell is suitable for this area). I have not seen a per-acre guide; I had to by by the ounce - I got 32 ounces.

[Walliebee]

Any one found a lbs per acre planting guide?

ND State University says 15 lbs/acre.

[KQ6AR]

Where I live borage re seeds itself readily.
If you plant it too thin it will probably fill in the next season.

[okaive]

I love how they use english on this site for what plants are good for just honey. <---sarcasm if you couldn't tell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_honey_plants

[aprici]

Wikipedia does provide quite a nice list, and this one provides some of the "per acre" values:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norther...for_honey_bees

Some of the ones I have tried and which the bees seem to really love are these:

• Anise Hyssop (nectar), both purple and white work well. Often has more multiple bees per flower stem.
• Borage (nectar). Note it reseeds itself very heavily.
• White Clover (nectar).
• Sunflowers (pollen). Note some varieties don't have pollen.
• Poppies (pollen).

Am also trying out some plants for winter/early spring sources and keep the information here:

http://aprici.com

Two other sources in this area include lavender (there is a lavender farm near here) and blackberries. Careful if you plant blackberries, they can be difficult to control.

[okaive]

What percentage of plants should you have on each of nectar/pollen?

[aprici]

I don't think I've seen anyone look at percentage of pollen vs nectar. I would suggest planting mostly for nectar, but make sure you have some pollen sources at the right time of year, particularly late winter/early spring when the bees are trying to build up. Mine have been harvesting pollen since Jan 28th:

http://aprici.com/drupal/node/278

[heaflaw]

I seeded a small plot two years ago in borage by broadcasting seed on an old garden spot of disked soil. It did great in summer and fall. The next year I had 10 times the number of plants volunteer in that spot. I never saw birds go after the seeds and never saw any outside that area. NC does not list it as invasive. It does need consistant rain or watering. It does not transplant well.

[jmgi]

Borage is a great plant for honey bees, bumble bees compete for it also. The flowers have an interesting shape and in a thick stand of borage the pale blue flowers are a gorgeous sight. The honey bees start working the blossoms at the earliest light in the morning and go till near dark. Like others have said, it will get top heavy and fall over, really not much you can do about that except plant it thickly so the plants kind of support each other, high winds will lay it down too, doesn't matter though the bees still work it just fine. I think I read somewhere that each blossom produces alot of nectar daily, and I believe it because the same bee will keep going back to the same exact flower over and over in one foraging trip, and seems to be getting more nectar each time. I know this because I have sat and watched a single bee come from my hives and fill up on nectar and return back to the hive. John

[DavesBees]

Coltsfoot is a very early forage for the honey bees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR66J0N_ub4

This was Ohio Zone 6 on March 12th.

[MJC417]

Cool video!! Did you do that?

[DavesBees]

Yes and thanks,
I only got a short bit of video but wanted to put it up so I made that quick clip. I am Going to try to get some good video thursday through sunday as the weather is going to be nice. There is going to be lots of pollen and nectar coming in on those days.

[SparksBee]

Interesting. I will have to allow some of my broccoli plants to go to seed this year instead of pulling up after the spring.

Jen

[John V]

I've been planting for bees for the last two years. My wife makes fun of me because I'll get rid of a plant just because there aren'y any bees on it...ever. Of the plants I've planted, their most favorite is a Caryopteris (spelling?). It is a fall blooming shrub I planted last spring. They were maybe 30" dia. in the fall and each had a good fifty honeybees on it for most of the day. The runner up would be the white Salvia. For some reason they perfered the white over the violet color.

Later, John

[SparksBee]

Interesting. My friend who is a former beekeeper and a landscape designer mentioned Mountain mint. She said her bees loved it. Guess I will have to try to plan seasonally for the bees now. It is still really cold/rainy here in MD but it isn't always that way. I will need to figure out what will work for March - May that will flower and survive during what can sometimes be a protracted winter. I know the sun is coming soon - I can feel it.

[forgeblast]

I planted native tobacco last year, and the bees were all over that. As soon as one would leave another would take its place it was pretty impressive.

[SparksBee]

I remember the massive tobacco fields on the farm when I was a kid. When it was in bloom it was impressive. Can't say I remember the bees but that was a long time ago.

[forgeblast]

This was just a pack of the iroquois native tobacco seed. I wanted to try to see if it would grow, and if I could use it as a natural pesticide. It took great in my garden. Nice looking plant too.

http://www.localharvest.org/tobacco-...remonial-C6426

[SparksBee]

How did it work as a pesticide?