# Annual honey plants for rice levys



## ErnieW50 (May 2, 2009)

I have a farmer who is wanting to plant something for honey bees on his rice levies.
He will have about 5 miles of levies to plant.
What would be a good annual nectar plant?
He is in SE Missouri.
Would this be a good thing to encourage farmers to do?


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## Beetrucker74 (Oct 10, 2010)

I would say a mix of clovers would do nice. And would give forage to deer and turkey as well.


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## ErnieW50 (May 2, 2009)

Anything planted would have to be an annual plant the farmers take out the levies every fall harvest the rice then plow the levies and fields under.
Are there any annual clovers that produce a lot of nectar?


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## markmaster (Jan 21, 2010)

Crimson clover (not the taller red), maybe the white ladino?


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Hubam is an annual sweet clover. The name is a combination of the name of the man who discovered the variety, HD Hughes, and Alabama, where it was discovered.


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## Radical Bee (Feb 25, 2009)

Posting this as i do from an area that has tens of thousands of acres of rice a few miles drive in any direction i bring you only sad news. To wit; your rice farmer friend is the most clueless rice farmer in the history of the world and no doubt Darwins theory is stalking him as we read.

1. The farmer is going to plant rice on his levies, for him to do otherwise would be for him to court lower grade outs and land use inefficiencies. He has a special implement for seeding his levies.

2. Periodically throughout the growing season he is going to apply any number of broad leaf herbicides, (by air, groundrig, in the irrigation water), Who sole purpose is to kill everything growing in the field that doesn't look like rice. He is going to own a special implement for levy application of those hard to get places that need a second covering.

3. Any non-rice seed or plant part that gets into his sample will lower the grade and thus the price he will get from the dryer. Making you, your bees, and those nectar plants most unwelcome.

4. Next year he will probably rotate into beans or milo and even should there be levies pulled anew they will be in a different location.

5. In an average year he will probably be thru combining the field and levies no later than mid-Sept, if not late Aug. Just in case he missed your seedlings he will shortly after that burn the field to prevent straw born diseases from carrying over in the soil.


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