# Is it true



## Diamond Hunter (Jan 17, 2016)

A fellow beekeeper told me unless you have acres and acres,buckwheat and purple tansy would make no difference in the amount of honey I get. I'm planting 1 acre of this seperate,into 2 seperate plots.Will it make honey ,I have 5 hives.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Sure it will help make honey. Two or three hives per acre or so will get a good flow off it while it's in bloom. Of course they fly for a mile or two around in the area, but a solid planted acre of forage can never be a bad thing.

But, whether or not you get enough honey off of it to pay for purchasing the seed is another matter entirely, I am not able to comment on that aspect of it.


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## whiskers (Aug 28, 2011)

Buckwheat is also said to be a good cover crop/soil conditioner/green manure. You can grind the seeds and make nice pancakes or feed the seeds to your critters. You can even make hay out of it, hard to get it dry though. And if you can get the bees to pay attention it's great honey.
Bill


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## frogpondwarrior (Aug 2, 2016)

Second that but it never gets to really mature as I till it in for the green manure. my garden is only about 60 by 40. However, my bees don't touch it anyway. Seems it's always greener on the other side of the fence but my taste buds are not complaining. 
I don't suspect you will cover your cost with direct honey revenue if my bees are any indication.


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## tech.35058 (Jul 29, 2013)

A one or two acre plot is minuscule compared to the total range of the hive. It is nice to have something out there blooming in the dearth, tho. Be sure to plant the correct variety ... "mancan" works, but I don't think it is the only one. Good luck! CE


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

1 acre won't really affect 5 hives. They will put up some stores but I wouldn't expect a honey crop off of it.


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## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

any good nectar producing planting you can provide ( purple tansy and buckwheat are good ones) will add to the nectar your bees collect if they are strong enough to take advantage of it.
more forage is good, plant away.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Anything you plant that makes nectar and pollen will help the bees. But they will forage the 8,000 acres around them, so it's doubtful you can plant enough to make a crop on 1 acre.


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## johno (Dec 4, 2011)

What did that arborist say, 1 acre of clover can produce 200lbs of honey and 1 acre of trees can produce 1200lbs of honey. Food for thought.
Johno


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## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

johno said:


> What did that arborist say, 1 acre of clover can produce 200lbs of honey and 1 acre of trees can produce 1200lbs of honey. Food for thought.
> Johno


Just be sure to plant those nectar producing trees about 10 years before you get the bees.


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## Diamond Hunter (Jan 17, 2016)

OK,what are the very best trees to plant for honey production ?


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## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

Diamond Hunter said:


> OK,what are the very best trees to plant for honey production ?


Linden/bass trees and, here, tallow trees are productive.


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## BradC (Apr 4, 2015)

Diamond Hunter said:


> OK,what are the very best trees to plant for honey production ?


have a look around your area at the flowering trees this year. Red maple is about done I think. if you have tulip poplar, its supposed to be a fast grower and really good nectar source. It is in my area. I see you are in Tennesee if near mountains I hear sourwood is a good source if you can get it. Sadly, I am too far south for sourwood.


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## Diamond Hunter (Jan 17, 2016)

BradC said:


> have a look around your area at the flowering trees this year. Red maple is about done I think. if you have tulip poplar, its supposed to be a fast grower and really good nectar source. It is in my area. I see you are in Tennesee if near mountains I hear sourwood is a good source if you can get it. Sadly, I am too far south for sourwood.


My farm and area is loaded with tulip poplar.And I mean big ones.Would it also be helpful to move several hives closer to the larger collection of poplars?Does anyne know how long a newly planted poplar takes to produce blooms?


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## BradC (Apr 4, 2015)

It could take the poplars a few years to bloom. How far away are these stands of trees? If they are within 2-3 miles, do not worry. The bees will find them.


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## MonkeyMcBean (Mar 1, 2017)

BradC said:


> have a look around your area at the flowering trees this year. Red maple is about done I think.


I'm so envious of all you southerners right now. We still have snow on the ground and 50 degree days are really warm and nice. Not a thing even has buds...


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## Dan the bee guy (Jun 18, 2015)

MonkeyMcBean said:


> I'm so envious of all you southerners right now. We still have snow on the ground and 50 degree days are really warm and nice. Not a thing even has buds...


I know what you feeling we still have a month to go but I don't have hive beetles.


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## BradC (Apr 4, 2015)

The only thing I see right now as an issue is that EVERYTHING is a month early. I even saw a few poplar buds beginning to open today in my area...This could mean a longer summer dearth...And if we had very little rain like last year not much fall flow. 

I sure wish we had a large goldenrod flow. Would love to taste it.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>It could take the poplars a few years to bloom.

I planted some 15 years ago and they are not blooming yet...


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## capitalbeesupply (Jul 28, 2013)

We plant about 40-50 acres of buckwheat each year specifically for bee forage. While the bees forage in it heavily as we time the bloom to hit in our dearth period (end of July, beginning of August typically) we don't harvest surplus buckwheat honey from hives. The buckwheat seed we typically plant typically runs about $45 for 50lbs and as I recall offhand we seed at 50-55 lbs per acre.

Rich
Capital Bee Supply
Columbus, WI


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## Diamond Hunter (Jan 17, 2016)

Capital,are u saying that buckwheat doesn't produce surplus honey or that you use it to just feed bees? So you spend $2500 per year planting buckwheat and don't harvest the honey?Or you just let that keep your bees strong?Please explain I'm a little dense.


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## MonkeyMcBean (Mar 1, 2017)

My assumption is that capital does not harvest the honey that the bees make from the buckwheat. Buckwheat honey is a bit different than normal honey. Does it fetch less money? anyway, he'd have to harvest separately and seems like it might be a hassle. 

I bet he just leaves it for the bees to use. better than feeding sugar.


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## capitalbeesupply (Jul 28, 2013)

Diamond Hunter said:


> Capital,are u saying that buckwheat doesn't produce surplus honey or that you use it to just feed bees? So you spend $2500 per year planting buckwheat and don't harvest the honey?Or you just let that keep your bees strong?Please explain I'm a little dense.


We use it just to feed bees. We harvest typically end of July, so we use the buckwheat to infill the dearth which hits late July, early August to hives keep going and for helping get hives up to weight in preparation for winter.


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