# Anise Hyssop & Bee Culture



## Black Creek

the article in Bee Culture titled Herbal Remedies mentions Anise Hyssop and says that "It is estimated that two and a half acres of anise hyssop are sufficient forage for 250 hives of bees." Is that possible? 2.5acres = 250 HIVES of bees ? thats 100 hives per acre. 


is this just a misprint or should i be plowing my yard and planting hyssop? i'm guessing it should read that you can get 1 colony to produce 100lbs on one acre. but i'm hoping i'm wrong !


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## dragonfly

That seems pretty hard to believe, but I can't say that with they are wrong with any certainty. It's just a hunch on my part.


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## BeeAware

I have seen other articles and sources that say 1 acre of anise hyssop (which is not hyssop at all) can support 100 hives! I have about 12 of these in my bee yard and the bees love them. I grow a lot of these for beekeepers each year and they always come back for more.


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## danno

I read that also and wondered if it was a miss print


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## mwjohnson

I have heard the 1:100 hive rule too.
I have a little. A bed about 3 x5 ft.
It is a anual here that self sows... and if it likes where it is it will come up year after year.
I had to try planting it in a few different spots before it was happy, but it seems to have took. 
Would be nice to have a field of the stuff though, eh.


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## summer1052

Anise can be fairly fragrant stuff! Does this make good honey? Or is it just for the bees?

Summer


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## Nate Ellis

ABC XYZ its listed as a stunning honey producer but generally inefficient to use due to the number of plants needed. The nice thing Ive noticed is that if the weather stays good they stay in flower for a long time and mature plants get pretty large with lots of flowers. The bees cant stay away from them. The leaves are also really good to eat and you can make tea with the flowers and leaves.


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## Black Creek

*bulk seed?*

i have a couple of them growing in my garden, but if i wanted to plant an acre just for fun.... where could i get the seed? i'm guessing i'd need about 2-3lbs of seed. where can i buy bulk hyssop seed?


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## Walliebee

Try here:

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/product.aspx?category=205&subcategory=208&item=933

It's $349.00 per pound. Of course, one pound is 960,000 seeds!


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## Black Creek

OUCH!! thats a bit more than i expected


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## panubee

*Save Seed*

You could always save seed if you have it growing already.

I bought a packet this year. I want to put in a small bed to save seed from myself.

Mike


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## JBJ

How many seeds per acre are recommended?


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## Walliebee

Seeding rate:

Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) 2.5 kg/ha or about 2.5 lb/acre 


Other plants that attract honeybees:

Anise (Pimpinella anisum) 10 to 17 kg/ha or about 10 to 15 lbs/acre 

Catnip 12 kg/ha or about 12 lb/acre 

Painted Sage (salvia horminum) 3 kg/ha or about 3 lb/acre 

Fuller's Teasel 1kg/ha or about 1 lb /acre 

Mignonette (Reseda odorata) 7 to 10 kg/ha or about 7 to 10 lb/acre 

Motherwort 1kg/ha or about 1 lb/acre

Seeding rate source:
RICHTERS HERBS
357 Highway 47
Goodwood, ON L0C 1A0 Canada
Tel. +1.905.640.6677 Fax. +1.905.640.6641

It would be best to start anise hyssop in plug flats and transplant, but that is very time consuming for large plantings.


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## Black Creek

"You could always save seed if you have it growing already."

-I've tried in the past to harvest seeds and start flats of them, but they never grew well. I just learned that you are not supposed to cover the seeds, so last night i planted a flat of them with OUT covering them. I always sprinkled soil over them before. 
I found the easiest way to harvest seeds is to let the plants stand until they turn brown/tan and then just break off the flower spikes into a bag. let them dry really well and then crush all of it into little bits. the seeds are tiny but heavy so you can winnow them off. put it all in a big wide bowl and blow the chaff and dead flowers off the top. compressed air works pretty good if you are careful.


"Seeding rate:
Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) 2.5 kg/ha or about 2.5 lb/acre "

-looks like i made a good guestimate !!


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## Tillie

I had three anise hyssop plants in my garden last year and expect self-reseeding this year. The bees made the plants bend over during the height of their bloom - as well as at least three other varieties of bee. I bought it because of the recommendation of Cindi on Beemaster.

It was just a little, but you could taste the anise in the honey - a tiny licorice after taste. My honey laced with the anise hyssop, won a blue ribbon in the black jar contest of the Metro Atlanta beekeepers - so somebody else liked it too!!

If nothing else, you'll love watching the bees on the anise hyssop.

Linda T in Atlanta


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## Bizzybee

I have a yard outside of Sparta, GA that I was working last spring. I was sampling burr comb honey along the way and was getting that taste from the honey. It was very interesting but excellent. I've often wondered where the honey was coming from? The only thing I could see blooming at the time was Confederate Jasmine. I don't think the bees work the Jasmine as it is poisonous and have no idea if there is Anise around or when it blooms. If it's there, it has been for a very long time. No one is planting it anywhere close to where the bees are located. They are isolated pretty well from other properties.


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## LtlWilli

I've read the same about Carolina Jessamine vine. It is a gorgeous yellow cascade on the west side of the house....I rarely see bees in it... It is also said that, for as good as they smell, do not sniff too close, as their pollen will reek havoc on your sinuses.
Rick ~ LtlWilli


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## wayacoyote

When people say that any number of colonies (be that 1 or 100) can work a field of any flower (be that sunflower or anise), does that mean that they can make a suplus AND overwinter on what they harvest? I never thought about it before, but it seems amazing that a few acres of anything could support (not to mention make a surplus) for even one beehive.


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## Matt NY

A few years ago my wife planted a packet of seeds that didn't amount to much. I don't recall seeing a single plant, but at least one must have grown because the next year we had quite a few. She transplanted a couple and they did great. The year after that I cultivated some that had seeded from the transplant. These made a fine little plot that the bees used during the dearth times. Last year I dug these up and split them, I needed an ax! I made a nice 30 x 90 bed. I made the mistake of lightly tilling the old bed and none came up. I later learned that they need light to germinate.

The taste of my honey was great. A nice after taste of licorice. Even with a lot more plants last season the taste was not strong.

I plan to transplant again this year. I'm going to focus on borders though so as not to devote large cultivated plots, they don't need this and may do better without it.

I'm going to set a few along some roads here, just beyond where the town mowers cut!

The real beauty of these are that they provide nectar during the periods of nectar dearth. I believe that the Frank Pellet quote uses the term support, that an acre will support so many colonies per acre. I read this to mean that they will keep them going through the lean times.

Spend a buck and get a pack of seeds. In a couple years, with very little work, you will have a nice insurance policy for your girls.


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