# Bees On Broccoli



## Liz Corbett

It's highly doubtful that any broccoli farmer lets his broccoli go to flower. The value is in the head before it is flowering. You'll have to do a test yourself to see what broccoli honey tastes like. It may be the pollen the bees are going for too, not the nectar.


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## notaclue

>What would broccoli honey taste like? <


Ummmmm...cauliflower?...Grapes?


Sounds like an experiment waiting to happen...


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## luvin honey

Liz Corbett said:


> It's highly doubtful that any broccoli farmer lets his broccoli go to flower. The value is in the head before it is flowering. You'll have to do a test yourself to see what broccoli honey tastes like. It may be the pollen the bees are going for too, not the nectar.


No, but what about seed companies for which it must go to seed? Wouldn't that be interesting?

I've had bees on my pak choy, broccoli and arugula that went to seed and was wondering the same thing


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## garprob

exactly what I was thinking!


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## chillardbee

We have a lot of broccoli feilds out here wich are harvested around september. It seems that as the farmers harvest they are selective and a lot remains out in the feild and the smaller shoot still continue to grow, even on the harvested plants, and will eventually bloom.
Broccoli is hand harvested and the plants after harvesting remain in the feilds until mid spring. they generally start to bloom around late october or earlier and never seems to end until the feild is plowed under in spring.
beeks lucky enough to have a winter yard near these feilds know the benefit of the nectar and pollen it produces in late fall and late winter/early spring.
if the feilds are not plowed first thing in the spring and left through april (wich happens too often) the surplus honey from these plants have to be extracted right away or the honey will crystalize in the comb, wich has happened to me more than a couple of times.


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## SlickMick

Bees, even our little native bees just love Broccoli if my half dozen that have gone to seed are any indication. The plants produce such a profusion of these pretty little yellow flowers (every little knob on the head becomes a flower) that the bees find such an attraction. I dont know if they produce nectar but there are plenty of the girls flying around with their pollen baskets full.. even the native bees

Mick


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## BoBn

The nectar would probably be similar to any of the other mustards, such as Canola or Yellow Rocket.


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## Jdannemann

I have had honey from broccoli only once ever and it was delicious! Unfortunately, it came from a local farmer in Lousisiana and I have not been able to locate it for sale. I stumbled on this thread mainly because I like to brew mead and thought about brewing my next batch using broccoli honey. If anybody knows how/where I can find the stuff, please let me know!


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## ronlc

garprob said:


> We let one of the broccoli plants in the garden go to seed so we can harvest our own seeds to plant next year. I had not seen any bees on the flowers at all until this morning there were five or six bees working the flowers on the one plant. I know they will not get enough nectar from the one plant to make any noticeable difference. Do any of you live near broccoli fields and get any kind of a honey crop from them? What would broccoli honey taste like?





garprob said:


> We let one of the broccoli plants in the garden go to seed so we can harvest our own seeds to plant next year. I had not seen any bees on the flowers at all until this morning there were five or six bees working the flowers on the one plant. I know they will not get enough nectar from the one plant to make any noticeable difference. Do any of you live near broccoli fields and get any kind of a honey crop from them? What would broccoli honey taste like?


Came across this old post with interest as I have no plant in my area, north central wi, that attracts more honeybees and is worked longer than my post harvest garden broccoli. honeybees continue to work it after they give up on the native purple aster in my prairie acreage which is the last native plant available. These broccoli plants are over five feet tall and have an amazing amount of blooms from the side shoots. I would plant an acre of it next year if I can find bulk seed at reasonable cost.


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## JWChesnut

I provide bees to pollinate hybrid broccoli seed crops. These are planted in alternate or 3:1 rows with a seed-sterile pollen line and a seed production line. The honey is like most "mustard" nectar: crystallizes instantly, even in the comb. Nothing much to recommend the honey, but nectar is abundant.

Aphids are an issue in broccoli, and I have picked and chosen among seed production contracts depending on the willingness of the growers to work around the aphid (systemic) insecticide issue.


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## Cloverdale

I let my broccoli go to seed also, I thought they gathered pollen from it.


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