Siderata and honey plants rolled into one – what to plant near the apiary

Siderata honey plants are special plants that provide not only nectar for apiaries, but also serve as an environmentally friendly green fertilizer for fields and household plots.

Planting or sowing such plants is doubly useful. It can be both annuals and perennials that do not require special care.

The content of the article

  • 1 Benefits of “green fertilizers”
  • 2 Basic principles of agricultural technology
  • 3 Plant overview

Benefits of “green fertilizers”

Siderata can be well-developed representatives of the plant world: with powerful rhizomes, an abundance of green mass and a fairly short growing season, on the roots of which special bacteria live.

Leading in this:

  • cereals such as oats, rye, barley;
  • representatives of the legume family – lupine, clover, vetch, sweet clover, alfalfa, peas;
  • cabbage from the cruciferous family – oil radish, white mustard;
  • and hydrophiles (the most prominent representative in beekeeping is phacelia).

The benefits of the listed types are as follows:

  • they can be used in the composting process to speed it up and improve the quality of the resulting fertilizer;
  • plant to suppress weeds;
  • use to enrich the soil with nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and improve its structure (the soil becomes looser, acidity is lost).

Well, beekeepers get a good feed base for their apiaries. Some of the listed melliferous plants provide worthy bribes of marketable honey.

Basic principles of agricultural technology

landing

The benefits of green manure are so obvious that only one reasonable conclusion suggests itself – they need to be sown at the first opportunity in any suitable place, which was temporarily freed from the owners of garden and agricultural crops.

Sowing is carried out both in spring and late autumn. Everything will depend on the type of melliferous plant and the characteristics of its vegetation.

Approximate dates of disembarkation:

  1. In spring, cold-resistant and early maturing annual species can be sown into the ground: oats, peas (its fodder variety), mustard. In this case, the “green fertilizer” is mowed 14-28 days before planting the main crops.
  2. In autumn, green manure crops are sown approximately 21-35 days before the onset of stable cold weather. At the same time, they work to retain snow (there is no need to plow the field).
  3. Also, sowing can be performed on several dates from spring to about mid-summer at intervals of two to three weeks. Such agrotechnology is ideal for near-reserve territories – uninterrupted bribes will be provided to bees.

Plant overview

vetch

Vika – is an annual from the legume family. There are two varieties: winter (furry) and spring (sowing). Both varieties can be cultivated in the European part of our continent (mainly in the forest and forest-steppe zones), as well as in the north of the Caucasus. They bloom in summer – in June, July, providing a supporting collection of nectar. When mixed with other crops, bribes increase. For such crops, oats or rye are often used.

Read: Vika as a honey plant

peas

Peas – cold-resistant forage grass from the legume family. Grows everywhere, except in the driest areas. An annual that tolerates planting well mixed with phacelia or oats. Blooms in early June. Most often, two varieties are planted: garden and sowing, which is divided into several varieties (there are tall, medium-sized, semi-dwarf and dwarf forms – respectively, the plant height ranges from 50 to 300 cm).

Read: Peas as a honey plant

sweet clover

Donnik – unpretentious biennial, extremely drought-resistant and insensitive to frost. It has a high yield of nectar, but it gives honey only once every two years. For apiaries, two varieties are of value: white and yellow (differ in color of flowers). This is a summer melliferous plant – it blooms in mid-June for about 25-30 days. High-quality commercial honey is obtained from it.

Read: Melilot as a honey plant

clover

Clover – perennial, widespread everywhere, with the exception of dry steppes. It is cultivated mainly in the non-chernozem zone. Can be used in mixed crops with other clover varieties. There are the following varieties: hybrid with pink inflorescences, meadow (red flowers), creeping (white flowers). For beekeepers, the most interesting is the last variety, which is a good summer honey plant.

Read: Clover as a honey plant

lupine

Lupine – annual or perennial forage grass from the legume family, growing mainly in Ukraine. There are three varieties: narrow-leaved, white and yellow. The plant is valued as a pollen – during the flowering period, up to 80% of the pollen brought to the hives is collected from it. It throws out inflorescences from mid-summer and blooms until autumn (an average of 1,5 months).

Read: Lupine as a honey plant

alfalfa

alfalfa (Medicago sativa) – the main melliferous plant in the southern regions of the European part and the Caucasus. Dissolves inflorescences in the first year after sowing in the first half of summer. Abundant flowering is observed in the second or third season. Gives nectar within 30-35 days. There are three types of honey plants: yellow (sickle), variable (hybrid), sowing (blue). In culture, the last variety is most common.

Read: Alfalfa as a honey plant

radish

Oilseed radish – an annual of the cabbage family, growing well on poor soils and in areas with a cool climate. Its closest wild relative is a field variety with light yellow flowers. Blooms all summer, sometimes releasing nectar even in autumn. The roots of the plant are edible. The pumped out honey has good taste.

Read: Radish as a honey plant

mustard

Mustard white – herbaceous annual from the cabbage family. A valuable oilseed crop of the middle lane, blooming in June and July. Differs in good nectar productivity. Its field (wild) variety provides an early summer bribe. It grows along roads and on wastelands.

Read: Mustard as a honey plant

phacelia

Phacelia – an annual nectar plant, unpretentious in cultivation (not picky about the care and quality of the soil). Usually sown in two or three terms. Dissolves inflorescences 40-45 days after planting in the ground. Feels good in mixed crops with beans and cereals – the release of nectar from each hectare is noticeably increased.

Read: Phacelia as a honey plant

You can, in fact, place green manure in any place convenient for the beekeeper: directly in the beds (after harvesting early crops), in the aisles, between trees in the garden – the site will be decorated and weed control, in any free place – in this case it will be ensured optimal honey collection (the larger the plot, the better for the apiary).

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Anna Evans

Author ✓ Farmer

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