Northern American Nectar Sources For Honey Bees
The nectar source in a given area depends on the type of vegetation present and the length of their bloom period. What type of vegetation will grow in an area depends on soil texture, soil pH, soil drainage, daily maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation, extreme minimum winter temperature, and growing degree days. The plants listed below are plants that grow in USDA Hardiness zone 5. A good predictor for when a plant will bloom and produce nectar is a calculation of the growing degree days. Hopkins' Bioclimatic Law states that in North America east of the Rockies, a 130 m (400-foot) increase in elevation, a 4° change in latitude north (444.48 km), or a 10° change in longitude east (two thirdth of a time zone) will cause any given biological event to occur four days later in the spring or four days earlier in the fall. In botany, the term phenology refers to the timing of flower emergence, sequence of bloom, fruiting, and leaf drop in autumn.
The classification in major or minor nectar source is very dependent on the agricultural use of the land. Agricultural crops like canola and alfalfa may be a major or minor source depending on local plantings. Generally, the more diverse a forage area is, the better for a stationary apiary. Urban, suburban and areas not under cultivation provide more consistent year-round nectar forage than areas that are heavily cultivated with a few agricultural crops. The nectar sources from large cultivated fields of blooming apples, cherries, canola, melons, sun flowers, clover etc. are of benefit to a bee keeper who is willing to travel with his hives throughout the season.
Honeydew sources are not included in this listing.
Read more about Northern American Nectar Sources For Honey Bees: Trees and Shrubs, Flowers, Crops, Herbs and Grasses, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words northern, american, nectar, sources, honey and/or bees:
“Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegaean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“For it does not follow because many books are written by persons born in America that there exists an American literature. Books which imitate or represent the thoughts and life of Europe do not constitute an American literature. Before such can exist, an original idea must animate this nation and fresh currents of life must call into life fresh thoughts along its shores.”
—Margaret Fuller (1810–1850)
“The nectar and ambrosia, are withheld;
And in the midst of spoils and slaves, we thieves
And pirates of the universe, shut out
Daily to a more thin and outward rind,
Turn pale and starve. Therefore, to our sick eyes,
The stunted trees look sick, the summer short,
Clouds shade the sun, which will not tan our hay,
And nothing thrives to reach its natural term;”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The sources of poetry are in the spirit seeking completeness.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)
“When one is hungry, everything is as sweet as honey, but when one is overfull, even honey is not sweet.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Imagine spending four billion years stocking the oceans with seafood, filling the ground with fossil fuels, and drilling the bees in honey production—only to produce a race of bed-wetters!”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)