Nectar/Pollen Flows for Honey Production

Topic: Honey Production/Nectar/Pollen Flows for Honey Production

Strong hives of bees gather honey crops -- Weak hives maintain themselves.

Bees can not get a honey crop if there are no nectar/pollen sources available to support the number of bees placed in a location.

Some honey crops sell for more than other honey crops because it can be identified as from a particular nectar source.

Tupelo , Sourwood, Kazoo and others are in great demand and seldom enter the commercial packers inventory.

Honey crops vary from year to year depending on a number of factors

Weather -- moisture -- temperatures -- amount of sunshine
Farming practices and demand for crops being grown
Varieties and cultivars of plants grown -- soybeans for example (Some produce honey and some don't)
Conditions beyond the control of the beekeeper such as pesticide uses by farmers
Others... population of bees in hive, swarming,........

The commercial beekeeper should have in his/her library the following books:

Honey Plants of North America, by John H. Lovell. This book was originally published in 1926 by the A.I. Root company and is back in print. The Reissued printing is available from the A.I. Root Company.
American Honey Plants, by Frank C. Pellett. This book went thru many editions and is available in the used book market. To find a copy use a search engine such as Google to locate a copy.
Insect Pollination of Cultivated Crops Plants, by S.E. McGregor. This was published by the Agricultural Research Service as Agriculture Handbook No. 496 in July 1976. It is harder to find but a search of used books may turn up a copy.

This disk also contains information about honey plants. You may check it -- the information is general but a study is helpful for the commercial beekeeper. Honey Plants

A commercial beekeeper intending to gather a honey crop with his bees needs to know what plants are going to produce the nectar for that honey crop. The beekeeper needs to identify the potential acres available to the bees to forage for this crop. How long can this crop be expected to be in bloom is another issue to deal with as the honey producers considers the crop potential.

The overall the number one honey crop in the United States is produced from clover. However, there are many types of clover grown in the United States.

A review of the honey crop reports for 2003 will give you an idea of the honey crops sold by domestic producers. Figures provided by USDA National Honey Report by major producing states by packers, handlers, and other users. Keep in mind that the information contained does not report all honey produced within each state. Some states are omitted because large quantities of honey produced were not reported. Such examples would include many states east of the Mississippi River which are not considered major honey producing states but honey is produced in them never the less. Some crops from the states listed below are not reported because they never reach the packer as a pure identifiable honey source in large quantities. Beekeepers who produce and sell their own honey are not reported in the figures below. Several good examples include Georgia which produces fine crops of clover, raspberry, sourwood, tulip poplar, cotton, gallberry, Tupelo, etc.; California which produces fine crops of star thistle, safflower, sunflower, eucalyptus, manzanita, avocado etc.; or Michigan which produces fine crops of knapweed, blueberry, raspberry, fireweed, milkweed, etc.

A honey producer must seek out and find the available sources in the area he/she intends to keep bees. To many commercial beekeepers, honey is honey regardless of where it comes from. They sell honey by the barrel and do not separate the various floral sources.

Arkansas

Soybean, Chinese Tallow,

California

Alfalfa, cotton, orange, sage, mixed flowers, knapweed, buckwheat,

Colorado

Alfalfa

Florida

Brazilian pepper, gallberry, orange blossom, saw palmetto, wildflower, Tupelo

Georgia

Mixed flower

Idaho

Mint, alfalfa, clover

Illinois

clover

Iowa

Mint, mixed flowers,

Louisiana

Chinese Tallow

Michigan

Mixed flowers, clover,

Minnesota

Clover

Montana

Alfalfa, blue curl, clover, Sunflower

New York

Mixed flowers,

North Dakota

Clover, mixed flowers, alfalfa,

Oregon

Mixed flowers, Alfalfa, clover, berry,

South Dakota

Alfalfa, clover

Texas

Chinese Tallow, mixed flowers,

Utah

Clover

Washington

Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Mint, Peppermint, mixed flowers, Raspberry, knapweed, blackberry

Wisconsin

Clover, Buckwheat, wildflower,

Wyoming

Clover, sage