Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: greenbtree on May 06, 2012, 10:23:59 pm
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I let a neighbor plant about 5 acres of my property in deer feed. It contains a lot of turnips. I guess turnip is a biennial but if conditions are right it will bloom the first year. Are turnip flowers a nectar source?
JC
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They are but I wouldn't count on them blooming this year. I rather doubt they do. If there are enough you will get a fairly light honey that sugars fast next summer if they don't freeze hard enough in the ground to kill the roots
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Turnips are like rape, mustard, collards, and all greens. Early bloom, lots of pollen. Great for building up hives here. Early flowers never make it into a honey super for me. They make spring brood.
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AllenF, is right. Biennial or not my cole crops bolt as soon as it warms up. I plant collards, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, turnips (several varieties), mustard (several varieties), rape and kale every fall as I love winter greens and try to have aomething in the garden year round. When it bolts and goes to bloom I let the bees have it as long as they want it and then hit it with the mower and turn it in when I break ground for spring.
I figure I'm getting a triple whammy. Pollen when the bees really need it plus whatever nectar is there, added organic matter for the soil and mustard turned in has anti nematode properties.
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>Are turnip flowers a nectar source?
Yes. Usually the bees will be all over them.
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I plant turnips every fall and the ones that don't get picked usually get to come back the second year, when they flower, so that I can save some seed. My bees love them. They bloom early and if you've got a big field of them, it would probably be a great build-up source.
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My bees must have had something they liked better. I had mustard, turnips, and collards planted within 20 feet of my hives, never saw a honey bee on any of the blooms. Did see bumble bees on them.
Joe