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Unlike my first bees and farming experience last year, planting 25 acres of sunflower and an acre of “bee mix” for the bees was somewhat of a disaster. There were a few reasons: We used a few different new (to us) seeds and new planting equipment that may or may not have been calibrated correctly in a few (large) spots; We had some really stubborn grasses and weeds that have been here a lot longer than the flowers we’re trying to plant; We didn’t nourish the fields; Our winter wheat crop created some weeds. We should have planted oat, not wheat; We won’t use Roundup because of the bees; We didn’t have enough rain, the heat is miserable and most important we have an overpopulation of deer that are very hungry.
What to Do About Bees and Farming?!
In years past, we had great success by planting about 12 acres of a pollen-less sunflower. It’s the kind of sunflower that hunters specify for dove hunting fields. Despite the lack of pollen and little nectar that these sunflowers gave to the bees, the bees did very well during the “dearth” when most other plant material stops flowering. The bees produced quite a bit of honey for the fall and it was not-much-thanks to the pollen-less sunflowers. The sunflowers were planted a year after the field was covered in non-gmo soy. Farmers rotate crops like soy and sunflower to capitalize on what plants give to the soil (soy provides nitrogen) and what plants need from the soil (sunflowers need nitrogen).
Why?!
In years that followed, we researched heirloom sunflower that are full of pollen from Johnny's Seeds I called them in December to determine what seeds would be best, created my planting plan and reserved the seeds. You have to early your seeds early because they often sell out. We also created a wildflower seed mix that offer pollen and some nectar to the bees. Our issue with the hungry deer continued. They left the bees a waste-land of half eaten acres of sunflower, but the bees continued to thrive. Two hives did gangbusters and it was time to get a real education about the plant material on our farm to understand exactly where all this honey is coming from.
In short: Bees collect nectar and bring it to the hive where it becomes wax or honey. They use the honey for energy and pollen for protein and feeding their brood. Bees consume six to eight pounds of nectar to produce a pound of wax. Beeswax is essential to the bee colony. It's secreted from a gland in the same way that we humans sweat, as the wax secretes, the bees "pick it off" of each other and use it to construct the comb where bees raise brood and where they store pollen and surplus honey for the winter.
If you’re new to this blog, we’re on the Chester River, a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. In my research, I’ve tried to learn what plants and trees produce the most pollen and nectar. In this process, I had the distinct pleasure of spending a few hours with Consulting Ecologist Jeffrey Wolinski who traveled a couple of hours to visit with us. We walked the farm and learned about the various plants and trees that are indigenous to this area, also learned about a few invasive plants. I came out of our meeting with a much better understanding of what we have here on our farm that nourishes the bees and what I need to do to plan for their future.
One of Jeff's observations made me feel good. He said, "you may be the only apiary in the country doing this." It validated all that I've been trying to do with the farm and how we are planting. It certainly has not been easy.
First We Planned.
I knew that I had no interest in growing corn. Corn seeds are often genetically modified to resist herbicides and insecticides. There’s quite a bit of debate over this and I’m not a scientist and I’m not smart enough to understand this completely. The only thing I know is that I want to be a naturalist, so we need to focus on real old-fashioned non-GMO crops.
This plan makes us an undesirable farm to work to most of the farmers in our area. Often times farmers will work on contract and plant your land, and harvest your crops in order to earn their living. By planting undesirable crops, with unpredictable outcomes (non-gmo, no spray, no til), well, it makes it difficult to get help on this, and in this our fifth year, we've actually purchased our own tractor so that we can do our own mowing and planting from this point forward.
We researched deer resistant plant material that’s good for the bees and not genetically modified. In more recent years, we ruled out soy, even though the soy seeds we used were not genetically modified. We changed gears and decided to plant seeds that would produce plants high in nectar that would eventually naturalize so that we didn't have to plant every single year. I researched all that would do well on our farm and selected a mix of white, red and yellow clover, buckwheat, mustard and bee balm. We planted all of our fields that are not currently planted with wildflower mix. We now have over 40 acres of wildflowers and seed mix that we specifically farm for the bees.
Note: if you plan a mix like this, leave the mustard out. It overtook the field in year 2 and makes for not-so-great honey because it crystalizes quickly. I added it on advice from someone trying to help with diversity and he did not know that it's an invasive.
As a new farmer, I've been the recipient of great advice from my friend "Farmer Jack," who’s family has lived in this area, and has farmed this area for five generations. He taught me about a Cover Crop program in my area that provides farmers like me with attractive grants to plant cover crops on our fields in the fall, after summer crops are harvested. I can get up to $50.00 per acre for participating. For those of you interested in this program, you have to sign up between the middle of June and the middle of July, so mark your calendar. It's important to be mindful of the source of your seeds with some of these crops. Many of the more cost-effective crops are genetically modified. Ask questions. I have yet to participate in a program like this, but if you are on a budget and you want to help bees, check it out!
Jeff taught me to plant oat instead of winter wheat to reduce the amount of weeds in the spring. Oats are also a better alternative as wheat is genetically modified. When I asked what kind of oat to plant he replied, “I am not familiar with the exact variety, but I know some oat varieties are more cold tolerant than others. But I don’t think any oat is as cold hardy as winter wheat. I prefer oats to wheat as a cover crop for my meadow seedings since oats are less allelopathic towards the desirable species, but still seem to be allelopathic towards many of the annual weeds. Wheat tends to have a suppressive effect on everything in my opinion.” Then he suggested I speak with the local AG extension agent to see what works best in my region.
I skipped the ground cover and planted acres and acres of the clover mix.
Next, we must nourish the fields.
We’re sending out soil samples from four sections of each of two large fields to test for N/P/K. Nitrogen is the “N,” it’s what makes the plants green. Phosphate is the “P.” Phosphate nourishes the root system. Potassium is the “K.” Potash aka Potassium makes plants flower. We’ll also be testing ph of the soil. If any or all of N/P/K or ph are “off,” we’ll be fixing the soil before we plant next year. Probably right before we plant. We added lyme to our soil before planting the clover mix at the end of November.
Learning about plants, in Latin.
I learned about plant material, even learned a bit of Latin.
This is the hierarchy of plant groupings:
- Family
- Genus
- Species
Each group above includes one or more of those groups below. Usually, when making a species list, you don’t show the family, but sometimes grouping things by family, then genus, and species is useful so you can see the relationships between the various plants.
So, a family is a group of genera, and a genus is a group of species, that are all closely related to each other. Some families have many genera in them, some only have a few or even one if it is a unique group. Same with genera (the plural of genus) – some genera have many species and some only have a few or one. It all depends on the diversity of a particular group of plants. For instance, sweetgum is the only American species in its genus (I think there is a similar species in China), but oaks have a ton of species, many of which are closely related and often interbred.
When referring to plants and trees, the scientific names should be italicized, sometimes they are underlined when italics aren't available, but if they are in italics there is no need for underlining. When using sp. or spp. that should not be italicized.
Following is a plant chart that I put together to highlight the plant material high in nectar on our Maryland Eastern Shore farm.
Trees and Shrubs
|
Common name |
Latin name |
Begin Bloom Month |
End Bloom Month |
Monofloral honey |
Source for honey bees / pounds of honey per acre |
| American Holly | Ilex opaca | 4 | 6 | no | minor, important in southeastern US |
| Apple | Malus domestica | 4 | 5 | No, the nectar is mostly used for spring brood raising and not stored for surplus. | minor |
| Blackberry | Rubus spp. | 5 | 6 | yes | major in some areas |
| Black Cherry | Prunus serotina | 4 | 5 | no | minor |
| Sweet Cherry | Prunus avium | 4 | 5 | No | minor |
| Black Gum | Nyssa sylvatica | 5 | 6 | yes | major source of wild honey in many areas within its range |
| Black Locust | Robinia pseudoacacia | 5 | 6 | yes | major - 800 - 1200 pounds/; short bloom period of about 10 days |
| Blueberry | Vaccinium corymbosum | 5 | 6 | no. Honey amber and of good flavor. | minor in most areas. Strong colonies may store 50-90 pounds of surplus from it. |
| Crab Apple | Malus sylvestris;Malus coronaria | 3 | 6 | no | minor |
| Pear | Pyrus communis | 4 | 5 | no | minor |
| Persimmon | Diospyros virginiana | 5 | 6 | No | major |
| Red Maple | Acer rubrum | 2 | 4 | no | major but temperature usually too cold for bees to fly |
| Sumac | Rhus glabra | 6 | 7 | mixed with other honeys | major |
| Swamp Tupelo | Nyssa biflora | 3 | 5 | yes | major |
| Sweetgum | Liquidambar styraciflua | 3 | 5 | No | major |
| Willow | Salix sp. | 2 | 4 | no | major but outside temperatures are usually too cold for bees to fly. 100 - 150 pounds honey per acre; 1,500 pounds pollen |
| Willow Oak | Quercus phellos | 2 | 5 | No | minor |
Flowers, Crops, Herbs and Grasses
|
Common name |
Latin name |
Begin
Bloom Mo |
End
Bloom Mo |
Monofloral honey |
Source for honey bees |
| False Nettle | Boehmeria cylindrica | ||||
| Aster | Aster spp. | 8 | 10 | usually mixed with goldenrod | major |
| Blackeyed Susan | Rudbeckia hirta | 6 | 8 | ||
| Canada thistle | Cirsium arvense | light honey of good quality | |||
| Clover | Melilotus spp. and Trifoliumspp. | 5 | 8 | as clover honey | major - up to 500 pounds per acre in a good year |
| White Sweet Clover | Melilotus alba | 5 | 8 | yes | major up to 200 pounds per hive |
| Yellow Sweet Clover | Melilotus officinalis | 5 | 8 | yes | major up to 200 pounds per hive |
| Red Clover | Trifolium pratense | 6 | 7 | as clover honey | major |
| White Clover | Trifolium repens | 6 | 7 | as clover honey; The honey is white or nearly white; very mild flavored and does not granulate readily. see Monofloral honey | major |
| Dandelion | Taraxicum officinale | 4 | 5 | no Honey deep yellow will granulate quickly; mostly consumed by bees doing brood rearing | major |
| Dogbane | Apocynum cannabinum | 7 | 8 | No. All species are great for honeybees.Nectar is so abundant that it is possible to shake the blossom and actually see the nectar fall | major 120 - 250 pounds honey, depending on soil and if good fertilization Asclepias syriaca has the highest honey yield. |
| Goldenrod | Solidago spp. | 9 | 10 | can be; Honey golden color of deep amber; marked flavor; granulates quickly | major |
| Joe-Pye weed, | Eupatorium spp. | 8 | 9 | No | minor |
| Japanese Honeysuckle | Lonicera japonica | 6 | 8 | No | minor |
| Late Thoroughwort | Eupatorium serotinum | 8 | 10 | no | Average, popular with many kinds of insects |
| Lavender | Lavandula angustifolia | 6 | 9 | can be | minor |
| Soybean | Glycine soja | 7 | 10 | major | |
| St. Johns Wort | Hypericum spp. | 8 | 9 | no | minor |
| Sunflower | Helianthus annuus | 6 | 9 | can be | minor 30 - 100 pounds/acre |
| Thyme | Thymus pulegioides;Thymus serpyllum | 6 | 7 | no | minor - 50 - 150 pounds honey/acre |
| Trumpet Creeper | Campsis radicans | 6 | 9 | no | minor |
In our next steps with Jeff, we’re going to determine what plants, shrubs and trees, indigenous to our area and deer resistant produce the most nectar for the bees and we are going to develop a plan for planting next fall and spring.
Updated April 2016
Resources
Farming for Bees Guidelines for Providing Native Bee Habitat on Farms
Native Plants for Bee Forage
Plants Year-Round Forage
Plant lists by region
Bee Gardens Create a Habitat in Your Backyard
Search for wildflower lists by region
National Resources Conservation Service Nectar CorridorsIdentify pollinators
Nectar Sources for Honeybees Trees and shrubs Chart
How Bees Make Wax
