Increasingly, owners of suburban areas and cottages devote their free time to breeding their own apiaries. The reason for the surge in the development of beekeeping is a wide range of valuable qualities of products produced by bees, as well as increased interest in the production of environmentally friendly honey.
Honey bees for bees are the main gathering place for nectar. On the areas sown by them, insects collect record yields.
Beekeeping products have very useful properties, and this applies not only to honey. For the treatment of various diseases, apply:
- propolis;
- wax;
- royal jelly;
- pollen and other bee products.
The name of honey is closely related to the plant on which hard-working insects collect nectar (buckwheat, acacia, mint and others). If the bees collected it from several honey plants, the resulting product is called floral or mixed.
Arrangement of suburban areas: sowing flowering plants near apiaries, their characteristics
Some plant species are of particular interest to beekeepers. They are most productive at the time of flowering, and pollen is endowed with the most valuable properties that affect the quality of the finished product. When choosing honey plants for bees, important factors must be considered:
- flowering start time;
- flowering period;
- valuable plant qualities;
- the amount of honey collected per hectare of sowing;
- Features of growing crops (perennial plant or not).
Land near apiaries can be sown with honey plants, which at the time of flowering have the most valuable qualities. The list of the most popular herbs included:
- buckwheat;
- yarrow;
- peppermint;
- common oregano;
- clover;
- Melissa;
- sunflower and many others.
Let us consider in more detail the features of some plant crops.
Buckwheat
Buckwheat is included in the list of the most valuable herbaceous plants that are used by beekeepers to collect the highest quality honey. Her flowering period begins a month after sowing. Its duration is 28-35 days. Culture has taken root in almost all regions of the country, including those located in cold climatic zones. Buckwheat is a valuable plant for beekeepers.
Honey bees are especially attractive for bees, because they have a powerful odor that spreads far beyond the crops, thereby serving as a kind of reference point. Depending on weather conditions, the collection of nectar may be impaired. Under normal circumstances, yields range from 60 to 100 kg of first-class honey per hectare.
Buckwheat height ranges from 15 cm to half a meter (depending on grade). The plant is not capricious to weather conditions, therefore, it is well established in various climatic zones. Buckwheat flowers have white-pink, medium-sized inflorescences that exude a pleasant smell. The aroma attracts bees, forcing them to rush to these hot fields.
At the moment when flowering begins, many beekeepers prepare mobile apiaries for transporting beehives to places where there are crops. After the bee houses are installed, it is necessary to observe the behavior of insects. This will take several days. Despite the fact that buckwheat is an excellent honey plant, there are times when bees ignore its flowering crops, and this can be expensive for beekeepers. In such situations, you need to collect and transport hives to other areas as soon as possible.
Clover
The plant belongs to perennial herbs, has several varieties: red, pink and white. All three species are considered first-class honey plants and are used as animal feed. Clover has complex inflorescences; it attracts bees with its smell. The plant tolerates aridity and heat well. Under good weather conditions, the yield of honey at the time of flowering is more than 100 kg per hectare.
Red clover (photo above) is more demanding on the soil and the conditions in which it grows. It does not tolerate rainy weather, high humidity and shaded areas. White is not so capricious, he feels normal in cold, frosty periods. Lugovoi adapts well to almost any soil, but does not like moist and shaded places. Like the red species of clover, it is found in wild form almost throughout the country.
Clover, along with other herbs, is sown to increase the amount of honey during harvesting from the plots, after which it is used as animal feed. The inflorescence has the shape of a head, which has from 30 to 100 flowers. Branching of a plant improves in the second year. At the time of flowering, the head turns to the ground. Clover, photo of which is presented above, is one of the most used honey plants.
Lungwort
Belongs to perennial plants of the borage family. Lungwort is one of the herbs, the flowering period of which occurs in the first months of spring. This early honey plant grows in Eurasia, is found in Yakutia and Siberia.
When the honeyfish blooms, the corolla and its petals first have a red tint, but in the end the inflorescence acquires a blue color. This honey plant is one of the first to be processed by bees after hibernation. The plant is of great value in medicine. Honey obtained as a result of collecting nectar is extremely useful in its characteristics.
The plant has only 15 species, most of which grow in Europe. Due to the unusually attractive appearance and useful qualities that the medunica possesses, it is sown with pleasure in garden plots and flower beds. Regardless of the subspecies of the plant, the average honey collection is about 100 kg of product per hectare.
Narrow-leaved fireweed
Narrow-leaved fireweed plant is popularly known as Ivan tea. Very often it can be found in wastelands and forest burns. This is a perennial plant of the family of cypress. The stem is abundantly covered with lanceolate leaves and ends with inflorescences of lilac or purple hue. The beginning of flowering and honey harvest occurs in mid-June and lasts almost until the end of July. Ivan tea is considered extremely beneficial for the human body, as it has healing properties. Honey collected from the flowers of the narrow-leaved fireweed is unusually fragrant and tasty, but its healing features are still considered the main advantage.
The plant can be found almost throughout the country. Ivan tea is popular among the people and is used in folk medicine. Honey bees for fireweed type bees do not need special sowing. The plant has taken root well in all regions of the country, and it can be found almost everywhere: it has chosen meadows, fields, forest edges, roadside zones.
Origanum common
The period when common oregano blooms, lasts from July to mid-September. The plant has a lot of other names: mint, motherboard, origigan, bone-breaking grass. It has an unsurpassed aroma and is an excellent honey plant. Origanum common can be found throughout Russia, as well as in the Crimea, Ukraine and Moldova. The plant loves a lot of light, therefore it is most often found in meadows, near forests and in vast glades. Inflorescences are located at the very top of the stem. The color, color and smell resemble another plant - thyme, with the only difference being that oregano is erect, it is easy to notice among other herbs.
Honey from this plant is added to tinctures, beer, kvass and other products, as this herb is extremely useful. The time of honey collection falls on the first days of September, when the inflorescence is gaining strength. The plant is used for pharmaceutical purposes and in traditional medicine.
Goldenrod
The goldenrod grass is a representative of meadow honey plants, which are perennial plants. Inflorescences are single, not branched, collected in panicle baskets. The flower is yellow in color, has a complex shape.
The goldenrod blooms almost all summer and even in mid-September, the grass is easily detected by a kind of inflorescences. This is a good honey plant with a high percentage of sugar, which is the main factor in the collection. Goldenrod sprouts throughout the country, with the exception of regions bordering Central Asia. This representative of Asteraceae tolerates hot weather without stopping the flowering process.
Heather
Heather grass is a highly branched perennial plant that looks more like a bush. The height of the stems is from 30 cm, but sometimes it can reach a meter mark. The bush is densely covered with short, soft, wedge-shaped leaves. At the top of the heather there are bell-shaped inflorescences of both sexes. The melliferous flowering time captures most of the summer and early fall. This factor allows you to control the time of honey collection using mobile apiaries.
Heather refers to medicinal herbs, has healing properties. This quality is taken into account when selling collected honey, increasing the price of products. The nectar harvest season begins in mid-June. The product is different in color and taste. As a rule, heather honey is dark red in color, with a pleasant smell and a bit tart and bitter taste. The pumping feature is strong ductility, which complicates the process of driving. Heather honey does not crystallize well.
Yarrow - Autumn melliferous grass
Yarrow belongs to the category of ordinary honey plants, which can be found almost everywhere: in the steppe, forest, meadows, near roads, dumps. The stem has a single standing structure with a height of 20 cm to a meter. Honey collection begins in mid-summer and ends in late September. Having small inflorescences in the form of baskets, the yarrow is especially well perceived by all bee breeds. The special value of the honey plant is late flowering. When the collection of nectar from other herbs ends, and the bees become less and less land, this plant blooms. Beekeepers attribute the yarrow to autumn honey plants.
Peppermint
This type of plant belongs to late summer honey plants. Peppermint is a perennial spicy herb. Useful essential oils are obtained from its leaves. The height of the plant can reach 90 cm. Mint has small flowers of lilac color, which are collected in peculiar spikelets-clusters. The plant exudes a pleasant smell that attracts bees. Flowering begins in July and can last until the month of August. From peppermint, a fragrant and very tasty amber-colored honey is obtained.
Donnik
The bushy plant reaches one and a half meters in height. It is located in ravines, at the edge of roads, in meadows. Sweet clover thickets have a spicy, suffocating odor. The plant is on the list of the most melliferous herbs with a high percentage of collection of a valuable product. Melilot has the ability to produce nectar in all weather conditions. The plant is different in color: the most common variety is with white inflorescences, but you can find grass with yellow flowers.
Melilot honey is most often white. The fragrance vaguely resembles vanilla. The collected products do not crystallize for a long time, retaining the smell of flowers.
Sowing a clover free areas of land does not make sense. This plant is considered one of the most archenemy enemies of vegetable growers and gardeners, since, in fact, it is a weed grass. At the same time, the clover has the most important trace elements necessary to strengthen the honeycomb and build up the strength of the bee family.
Mordovia
The amount of nectar during the flowering period of the mordovia covers all the previously listed numbers. 1000 kg are collected from 1 ha (sometimes this indicator grows to one and a half tons) of a product of the most valuable quality. The plant is known by many names, but most often it is called tatarnik or shoot.
It can be seen anywhere. Two-meter thickets with blue inflorescences grow in all kinds of places: wastelands, landfills, slopes of ravines, forest edges, steppes. A sugar concentration of more than 60% is the main factor attracting insects. In one hour, one plant can “serve” up to 180 shaggy toilers.
The spherical muzzle is the only one of its kind that has high characteristics. Before buying seeds, it is important not to confuse it with other types of subgroups: Russian muzzle and tall.
Common bruise
Despite the modest appearance, the plant entered the top ten strongest honey plants. Like linden, a bruise produces a large amount of nectar during the flowering season. High productivity during harvesting is a major factor. Many beekeepers sow land with this plant, since the taste and characteristics of honey are excellent.
At the time of collecting nectar from 1 ha of crops, at least 800 kg of first-class products are collected. Since the bruise is a perennial grass, it is beneficial for them to sow areas near suburban and country zones. Most often, the plant is found in open areas. The extraordinarily beautiful carpets can only be compared with the blueness of the sky.
The listed plants are only part of the list of honey plants, to which you can add a very large number of shrubs, trees and grasses. During the flowering period, they are of interest to beekeepers. The list of trees can include acacia, linden, apple and other fruit. Shrubs can be easily attributed to hawthorn, elderberry, amorphous and rosemary.