# Clover Seed?



## NeilV (Nov 18, 2006)

I don't think that planting clover just for honey is economical, at least if you figure in the lost opportunity for other use of the land. 

Types of clover that would probaby be the best include yellow and white sweet clover and ball clover (which looks sort of like white dutch clover but different). Finding the ball clover seed could be hard, and it will be expensive, but it is supposedly a great nectar plant. Bees also like white dutch clover. 

I tried to plant some white dutch clover in my yard, and what I bought was actually Alsike clover seed. FWIW, Alsike clover is too tall for lawns, and the bees did not really work it much either (even when I let it grow). 

Do not plant red clover for bees. The flowers are generally too long for honeybees to work. Crimson clover is not the same as red clover. It is an early blooming variety that bees will work.


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## dragonfly (Jun 18, 2002)

The best I have seen in this area is White Dutch as far as the bees consistently working it, but I can't get it to grow on my property. The yellow sweet clover is the one that is most successful in my soil and local weather conditions. The bees don't work it as readily from what I've seen.


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## brooksbeefarm (Apr 13, 2008)

Dutch clover is one of our main honey flows here in SW Mo. it starts in June and this year i still had some till last week (frost). The aster is still in bloom and the bees are all over it. I've heard some old time beekeepers say frost makes the aster produce nectar better? Jack


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## sagittarius (Feb 17, 2004)

BDJ said:


> Is there one type of clover that is better than the others for honey production? What are good yet economic sources for clover seed? Thanks, BDJ


Oregon is a major producer of various types of clover seed. Aside from perennial northern white clovers like Ladino or dutch white, an annual crimson clover has a higher bee attraction for the month it blooms.


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