# Anyone planting Buckwheat for bees,,and honey??



## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Planted six acres last year, the bees loved it..........go for it!


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## jtow (Mar 30, 2011)

Better like the taste!


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## wheeler88 (Mar 6, 2011)

Some info on buckwheat:

Buckwheat nectar flow is favored by adequate moisture combined with clear, still days and cool nights. Under these conditions, an acre of buckwheat may support a hive of bees and yield up to 150 pounds of honey in a season. Reports are that it is not uncommon for a strong colony to glean 10 pounds of honey per day while foraging buckwheat. Although buckwheat is one of the most dependable and highest yielding honey plants, it normally yields nectar only during the morning and bees are unable to complete a full day of nectar collection. As a result, bees working buckwheat may not be very amiable to the beekeeper should he visit his hives in the afternoon.

Buckwheat may fill a special need for the beekeeper since the honey flow comes late in the season when other nectar is scarce. Thus, it may be possible to obtain a crop of buckwheat honey in an area where an earlier flow has been harvested from other sources. The variety Tokyo is reported to produce a lighter colored honey than most buckwheats.


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## Scrapfe (Jul 25, 2008)

wheeler88 said:


> Some info on buckwheat:...


If you like to shoot or would like to start shooting morning doves and have a good place, you can rent or lease out shooting rights by the season or by the day. Buckwheat seed makes a great attractor for a dove shoot. You can also integrate Sunflowers with buckwheat and both you and your bees can get twice the BANG for your buck...wheat  

I don't know what the going rate for a day of good dove shooting is anymore, but I suspect it's about 20-30 dollars a day per gun. That works out to 40-100 dollars per week per gunner shooting only 2 or 3 days each week. With common sense 36 gunners can safely shoot a 20 acre field. Without common sense 640 acres is not big enough for 1 shooter.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/habitat/landowners/infosheets/attracting-mourning-doves.asp


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## Ozone (May 24, 2011)

How certain are you about the 'nectar in morning'? I was pleased with my buckwheat's flowers, and now wait to see how it produces.


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## Michael B (Feb 6, 2010)

jtow said:


> Better like the taste!


You got it!

I am not a fan of buckwheat.....to much like molasses. I completely am sold out of my 2011 honey crop and I bought a pound from a local farmers market of native honey close to me.........I can tell that there is some buckwheat nectar in this honey. Good but not great.

Like what was stated.....you better like the taste.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

yield up to 150 pounds of honey in a season.

OR 23 acres can yield ZERO. Your results may vary.

Crazy Roland


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## lazy shooter (Jun 3, 2011)

I have an 800 acre place with about 85 acres of fields, but I decided not to plant for bees. I am new to bees, and installed my first three packages last April. But there were large numbers of bees here over the past several years, so if the feral bees can make it so can my Italians. If they don't, I will try another variety of bee. It's complicated enough without having to plant for bees. That's just my two cents.


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## twintrades (Jul 17, 2011)

Yea but its fun to see your bees working YOUR crop. At least it was for me last yr ! And my kid and i would walk out in the field and see all the differnt bees working it. Really cool to see. Also there was yellow jackest and they were to busy to get mad at us. 

As a side subject i took some really cool pics of my kid in it. The flowers were as tall as she was ! The deer were allover it also so it served a triple purpose bees,green manure and a food plot crop.


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## Ozone (May 24, 2011)

Mine was in deer country, and I never saw a track. I found that hard to believe, (about mine.)


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## lazy shooter (Jun 3, 2011)

Ozone said:


> Mine was in deer country, and I never saw a track. I found that hard to believe, (about mine.)


Are you telling me the deer didn't come eat the young plants? If deer won't eat buckwheat, it must be a terrible plant for foraging. The deer stand in my fields and eat oats that are one inch tall and 1/16-inch thick. Same with winter wheat.


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## Ozone (May 24, 2011)

Oats, wheat, and buckwheat must be different. However it may be due to other available forage.

A friend of mine had video of deer stepping in a dish of regular corn, to get to 'apple corn'. This would indicate that the deer exercise forage preferences.

They did not touch my buckwheat all summer. I planted every two weeks, so there would be all sizes of plants at all times.


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