Clover and its benefits as a honey plant

Clover honey plant, found in the northern and middle climatic zones of Europe. Depending on the species, it is a perennial or annual herb of the legume family. It grows mainly on non-chernozem soils, where the species is widespread, with the exception of dry regions.

The content of the article

  • 1 Significance for agriculture
    • 1.1 White
    • 1.2 Pink
    • 1.3 Mountain
    • 1.4 Red
    • 1.5 Persian
  • 2 Honey productivity
  • 3 Useful Properties

Significance for agriculture

Clover is cultivated as a honey plant, which gives a good flow of nectar and pollen. It is also used as a forage plant for livestock.

Not all colonies perform equally well on this grass. Beekeepers use training, which begins two weeks before the clover blooms. This technique allows you to almost double the collection of nectar and pollen, regardless of the breed of bees.

For some breeds, the structure of the mouth apparatus and the depth of the clover flowers do not allow them to participate in the collection of nectar! And this should also be taken into account. Families that completely refuse to collect are taken out to pollinate other crops.

Types of clover that are important for apiaries:

  • white (creeping);
  • pink or hybrid;
  • mountain (whitehead);
  • red or meadow:
  • Persian.

Other, less common, varieties provide only a supporting honey harvest. it clover spike, chestnut, Caucasian, strawberry, medium, field, crimson, Alexandrian.

White

white

White clover as a honey plant is of great importance for the collection of commercial honey, as it is distributed throughout the European part of our continent. Grows well on loam, moist non-chernozem soils.

In the steppes, where droughts often occur, the white clover honey plant is not cultivated!

The plant has a long flowering period – from the beginning to almost the end of summer. For apiaries, this perennial variety is valuable for the opportunity to increase bee colonies for wintering.

The flowers are white on high peduncles, collected in heads. Leaves on long petioles, grouped in three pieces. Roots well on loose soils.

Pink

pink

It is a hybrid perennial variety that grows everywhere except in dry steppe zones. Pink clover winters well and is resistant to adverse factors in any climate.

A bushy herb with an erect stem, large trifoliate leaves and a characteristic inflorescence – whitish on the inside, pink on the outside.

Vigorous flowering takes an average of thirty days. Throughout this period, new inflorescences constantly bloom from the bottom up, and the lower flowers wither.

The flowering period is from early June to September. The main value of the variety is the availability of nectar to any breed of bees. Despite the long flowering, pink clover does not release nectar from late inflorescences.

It is cultivated in mixed plantings together with red clover, which opens up the possibility of honey harvesting 10-12 days ahead of schedule.

Mountain

whitehead

Mountain clover or whitehead grows in the middle zone of the European continent. This herb tolerates dry climates well. Most often it can be found at inconveniences – the slopes of ravines, ravines.

The whitehead looks like a herbaceous bush up to 50-60 centimeters high, collected from several straight stems. There are few leaves on the grass – several leaves on each stem. They differ in a characteristic trifoliate structure and elongated petioles.

Flowers are collected in large dense inflorescences of 70-250 pieces. They dissolve gradually from the bottom up. One head produces nectar within two weeks, and the whole plant blooms for up to 20-30 days. The flowering period is from early June to early July.

Inflorescences always open closer to noon – it is during this period that you can see bees near them, actively collecting pollen and nectar.

Red

red

The red clover honey plant is a perennial herb cultivated as livestock feed.

It happens:

  • one-cut variety, blooming from the second year to the end of June;
  • and two-cut, blooming from the first year.

The herb is branched, with lilac flower heads on each stem. The leaves are triple, growing on long petioles. It takes seven days for an individual head to bloom, and the whole grass blooms for 30-35 days. In favorable wet weather, flowering can last longer than the specified period.

This plant is in dire need of pollination by bees, since during self-pollination it produces few testes. To obtain a good harvest of seeds, one bee colony should work per square meter of crops!

Bee colonies are taken to the fields shortly before the blossoming of the inflorescences. Collecting pollen is available to all breeds, but only bees can get nectar:

  • Caucasian – 18 kilograms per colony;
  • krainsky – 9 kilograms per colony;
  • Italian – 8 kilograms per colony;
  • and the Central Russian breed – 2 kilograms per bee family.

Moreover, Central Russian bees can reach the nectar exclusively in warm weather, when its level rises in the flower tube.

Persian

peaches

The Persian variety (shabdar) is cultivated in the North Caucasus. Distributed in Kazakhstan, Ukraine. This annual herb reaches a height of 80-90 centimeters, has hollow stems, triple leaves of a dirty green color. The flowers are slightly flattened lilac.

Blooms in late May and releases nectar for 1,5 months. After mowing, it re-throws inflorescences after 20-25 days.

Honey productivity

The amount of honey collected depends on the type of plant and the bee breed used for honey collection:

  • white clover honey plant, which gives 100 kilograms of nectar per hectare;
  • red clover honey plant, from which long-probed bees bring from 120 to 240 kilograms of honey (other breeds no more than 25-30 kg per family!);
  • one-year Persian shabdar gives from 150 to 300 kilograms of honey, in Ukraine – up to 200 kg;
  • the pink hybrid variety provides up to 100-130 kilograms per hectare;
  • white-headed (mountain) – about 100 kilograms.

For the period of honey collection, all hives must be provided with pollen traps, since clover gives a lot of high-quality pollen. Its color depends on the variety. The white variety has brown pollen, and the red chocolate shade.

медосбор

Commercial honey is very light, almost colorless, characterized by high transparency. It tastes very sweet (the sugar content in nectar is from 28 to 48 percent or more), with a delicate herbal aroma. After crystallization, a light solid mass is formed, consisting of fine-grained particles.

Clover honey is one of the best light varieties and highly valued on the market.

Useful Properties

The product contains up to 35 percent glucose, 40 percent levulose, has a low diastase number – less than 10 Gotha units.

Main area of ​​application in traditional medicine:

  • treatment of diseases of the stomach and intestines;
  • replenishment of vitamin and mineral reserves in the body;
  • increased lactation in women (the plant has a lactogenic effect).

It is used for cosmetic procedures, wound healing, strengthening the immune system and healing the whole body as a whole.

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Anna Evans

Author ✓ Farmer

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