Beesource Beekeeping Forums banner

Bees favorite plant

103K views 161 replies 102 participants last post by  mharrell11 
#1 ·
Is there one plant that honeybees just go crazy over?
 
#4 ·
I would have to vote broccoli, I had some blooming last year all the way to the middle of November, resisting temperatures to 20 degrees. The bees were all over it. I know most folks harvest the heads before they go to seed, but I'm now planting it for the bees. When it's blooming, it can have a 1000 blooms a plant and the plant is very waxy being in the cruciferous family, I noticed the same phenomenon when some collards I had went to seed several years ago. I think the bees like it both for nectar and the wax to build comb. I currently have it growing under lights, hoping to have some blooming in the spring so I can attract a swarm to my yard with a waiting empty top bar hive. I know the bees already know where I live.

Mike
 
#9 ·
here in West washington - they take to Borage great - they love Hyssop -
anything in the brassica family is great - plant a row of Radishes and dont pick them - same with Broccoli - after you harvest the prime head - leave the side sprouts - they bees will work them from sun up to sun down

here is a guild that will help you in detemining what to plant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_nectar_sources_for_honey_bees

the thing to do here is to plant something that helps both you and your bees
like Rasperrys - the bees love them - and you have a end product

but planting say Maple - does little good to you in the end - but the bees love them if the weather permits

also - if you have clover in your yard - DONT PANIC haha
if you let the clover flower the bees will thank you
let the mow go for and extra week - or let the bees work the clover then mow once the flowers look sprent

if you can get your niehgbors to also do the same thing - you might pull clover honey and not have to move your hives to get it

hope this helps - and if nothing i said helps at least the link will get in your favorites file
 
#10 ·
Beebalm?:)

I know around here they love the fruit trees in the spring, and goldenrod in the fall. If you've got acres to plant, I hear borage, buckwheat, white clover, maybe alfalfa...

It varies region to region- the bees will skip right over a marginal source in one part of the country but be all over it in another if it's the best thing available at the time. And it even varies year to year within a locale depending on how the weather cooperates.
 
#13 ·
Plant a patch of collards. Leave them in the ground overwinter. Plant some seeds the next year and you won't have to plant again. The bees love them and they will flower all summer and reseed themselves. Plus, you can eat them and being a dark green, they are very good for you. They like cold weather. Milkweed is also great and white sweet clover looks like it's dancing when the bees are working it.
 
#145 ·
I broadcast buckwheat and borage is suppose to be planted at the same one inch depth.
Trick is to keep the surface moist until it sprouts (5-10 days) at least and keep the wild turkeys out of it if
you have them . I've broadcast about 7 lbs of buckwheat over a 60'x60' area this spring because the dang turkeys found it
are woofing the stuff down before it has a chance to sprout.
I did plant some borage also but because of the cost i put it down to the recommended 1" depth.
 
#23 ·
If anyone wants to contact me for next fall, I can send them aster seeds for just postage and cost of envelope. I have New England Asters in the common lavender color (lots) and smaller amounts of pink and a really nice deep purple. The common white asters of various species I also have lots of. Because these are naturally open pollinated plants you probably won't get ALL the same color. But they are all pretty, and in most of the north, the last gasp of nectar plants.

JC
 
#24 ·
Nobody has mentioned echium, and from wiki and the melissa garden's lists, I see that both of them describe echium as one of the best nectar flowers in existence. They are considered a weed in most of North America, but I have got some seed and plan to plant it.

It's related to borage, and I find that here at least, Borage is in bloom until the day it dies - which this year wasn't until mid November.

Any experience?

Adam
 
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