1 acre field for bees

[Rob55]

Hi all, I have a 1 acre grass paddock beside my house that I just top with a flail mower to keep tidy but am now wondering about putting in a crop that would provide nectar for honey production. Ideas in my head range from a dedicated crop like Borage or Sunflowers, to a complete wild flower meadow. Something that will look nice, but predominantly something with maximum nectar yield.

We grew OSR this year for the first time (elsewhere) and I was amazed at the crop of honey I've taken off it so far, I did an extraction at the weekend and got 12kg of honey after only 2 weeks foraging.

Anyway, if you had a field available for the bees, what would you do with it? And how many hives could 1 acre of land feasibly support? I am only on one hive at the moment but aiming to get up to about 4 in total.

TIA.

 

[enrico]

A mixture of borage and phacelia. And/ or sycamore and lime trees. As many hives as you want really as they are not going to just forage in the field. It depends on other forage available.

 

[Wilco]

Good hedgerows plus wildflowers. Longer forage although probably less of it. Better for many other species besides bees as well.

Single forage sources generally have relatively short flowering periods.

 

[Newbeeneil]

If you want it as a wild flower meadow you need to remove the hay after topping. If you leave it it will fertilise the soil which is what you don’t need in a flower meadow.

 

[Rob55]

We live in the middle of a golf course, so there’s heaps of trees and hedgerows, plenty of gorse (whins) but probably not a lot in the way of wild flowers.

A meadow would be lovely, but the seed is extortionate and it’s a fair bit of work to keep the grass from out competing the flowers.

I just wondered whether a single crop might have yielded more honey even if it is short lived. I was mighty impressed with the rape. It also worked well as the honey was in the supers before the bees took any notions to prepare to swarm.

 

[Murox]

Hmm, nice idea. I’m more of a tree and shrub advocate really. You do realise that creating a wild flower meadow from scratch (seed) is probably a three to four year process. Paddock pasture grasses are mainly non-natives and are highly competitive, often spreading by underground roots or rhizomes. Left to compete with a germinating wildflower mix, the grasses will always win; which is why completely killing existing grasses and other perennial weeds with herbicides before preparation and planting is usually advocated.

 

[E&MBees]

A forum member, @elainemary has created a beautiful wildflower meadow. She has posted various photos etc and charted it’s progress. Perhaps ask her for some advice.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Paddock pasture grasses are mainly non-natives and are highly competitive, often spreading by underground roots or rhizomes. Left to compete with a germinating wildflower mix, the grasses will always win; which is why completely killing existing grasses and other perennial weeds with herbicides before preparation and planting is usually advocated.

The main reason that grasses out compete native wildflowers is that the soil is too rich so grasses thrive at the expense of slower growing native wildflowers, so the first thing to do (unless you want to spray and kill the grasses, plough and reseed at enormous expense) is sow some yellow rattle, that will suck up a lot of the nutrients and pave the way for a native wildflower meadow, but it's a long term investment in your time as it takes years.
As for the cut grass, leave it dry so you can shake out the seeds in it then pile it in a corner to rot and benefit other wildlife.
We managed to get a grant last year to buy the town council a tractor and 'cut and collect' mower so that at the end of the year we can cut the wildflower meadows we are cultivating, and at the same time collect the seeds - we can then either redistribute to other areas we are working on, or even sell/share with other councils with pollinator plans.
Sowing just a paltry acre of nectar rich crops is going to be of minimal benefit in increasing a honey crop for your bees, although it will be of benefit to all pollinators - there is no guarantee that your bees will go near it, and probably forage elsewhere, also your bees won't be the only insects foraging it. A wildflower meadow/ perrenial pollinator planting is a much better long term plan.

 

[Dr. Abe]

It will be interesting to see how my 3 acres of clovers increase my honey yields. I have 1.75 acres Dutch White, .25 acres Alsike, and 1 acre Yellow, and a little Hubam clover. I live in the country with all kinds a wild flowers, shrubs, swamps, and trees within a 1 mile radius so I am not counting on the clover but I am experimenting with it.

To make it clear, I am not recommending you to plant clover. That is just what I am trying. A variety of flowers would be better for your situation in my opinion.

 

[Nick Lang]

I agree with JBM above.....consider the paddock you have as a long term project.... it's gonna take at least three years before you've drained the nutrients from the soil, then another few to establish the flowers. The most important thing with creating a wildflower meadow is to make sure you just top it once at the end of each season otherwise the grass will compete. Once you've drained the soil you can overseed the whole paddock with a wildflower mix, when the meadow starts to become established it will seed it'self.

 

[Peter Vanstone]

A friend direct drilled part of a sloping meadow,in 2021 l keep bees in it,seed collected from semi moorland,the yellow rattle was magnificent,but no scarce flowers orchids etc yet.three years before up the top a bit flatter land he spread a big bail from same source,it was ok but nothing like the direct drilling.before they left the field a deer came out from the wood and started eating the bail hay.

 

[Skinfaxi]

I am no expert in meadows only experienced natural ones in the Alps.But
Ask the questions
When do you want a crop.
What is your soil like.this will say what is best to grow. Maybe a piet oudolf style prairy planting.
Must it be native to that area plants only or just anything.
Not everywhere is natural or practicle for meadows.
What is your budget. What tools do you have. Access for machines.
Best meadows take machines to prep soil and sow. And then time and management every year.
Meadow seeds are expensive. The last meadow i worked on was a few hectars and £170 a kg for native high weald meadow seeds. So almost £2000 for seeds.
Maybe prep a smaller meadow area so you can see what works and the rest area for honey crops. You can then use the meadow seeds tou produce to for resowing for increase or density
Happy day

 

[Lincbee]

We’ve also been considering planting an acre or two of borage. Would anyone recommend somewhere to buy borage seeds? Normal google searches are just coming up small packets!

 

[Rob55]

We farm a reasonable acreage so no issue with machinery.

I was thinking a single crop like borage or OSR or sunflowers might have been a lot handier than trying to manage a wild flower meadow to be honest. Just wondered what would be the biggest nectar producer as my main motivator would be honey and second motivator would be something that looks nice from the road.

 

[Pembroke]

There's loads of information on our local meadows group website:

https://carmarthenshiremeadows.com/
Perhaps there's a similar group in your area?

 

[Dr. Abe]

We farm a reasonable acreage so no issue with machinery.

I was thinking a single crop like borage or OSR or sunflowers might have been a lot handier than trying to manage a wild flower meadow to be honest. Just wondered what would be the biggest nectar producer as my main motivator would be honey and second motivator would be something that looks nice from the road.

Well, from my research 1 acre of Dutch White clover can yield 200lb of cured honey. It works best if it is mowed occasionally to keep it from going to seed and to keep weeds down. It will flower for 2-3 months in my area if it is mowed and gets plenty of rain.

I may have unusual ideas for what looks good from the road, but a field of deep green clover looks good all summer and winter and when it is flowering it has a solid white hue. It will survive for years because it spreads out and roots in and is a perennial.

I don't think Dutch clover produces the most honey of all plants but is is a good nectar and pollen producer. Also makes very light honey. Seed costs around $60 per acre here in the U.S. and I just disked the field, broad seeded the clover, and harrowed lightly to work the seeds in and now I have a valuable, green carpeted field.

Again this is just my opinion and may not be best for you but it is reasonably cheep, easy and productive.

 

[blackcloud]

We grow blue cornflower which looks spectacular in large amounts,also borage but that looks bloody dreadful as does phacelia.
Poppy looks great and gives some repreive for bumble bees.You may get a knock on the door from the drugs squad though.
Yellow Rattle is good for thinning out grass growth as a precursor to a wildflower project
If you go that way be aware its years of painstaking effort before it will look anything like the pictures on the seed websites.
Ready selected seed mixes are a Jack of all trades and generally inefficient for the asking price.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I was thinking a single crop like borage or OSR or sunflowers might have been a lot handier than trying to manage a wild flower meadow to be honest. Just wondered what would be the biggest nectar producer as my main motivator

with only an acre to play with you really are wasting your time and I'd be surprised that even if you planted the whole of it with Borage, or even OSR it would have any significant impact on your yield

 

[emmac79]

We’ve also been considering planting an acre or two of borage. Would anyone recommend somewhere to buy borage seeds? Normal google searches are just coming up small packets!

I bought a packet of borage seeds and planted them last year. Then I saved the seeds. This year I can't move for bloody borage. It's popping up everywhere and even in my polytunnel (I've been moving soil around). I must have about fifty borage plants without even trying. I love it and the bees do too.

Another surprise for me last year was leaving rocket to go to seed (by accident) and seeing it abosultely CRAWLING with honey bees. Given how easy it is to grow I'll be doing a couple of beds of rocket around my hives.

I also have a one acre field but I think going for trees is more of my longer term approach.

 

[Ian123]

We’ve also been considering planting an acre or two of borage. Would anyone recommend somewhere to buy borage seeds? Normal google searches are just coming up small packets!

https://www.hmseeds.co.uk/product-page/borage-seed-acre-pack
Obviously a nice flower meadow would be good for all insects, but I’d say if you have the opportunity to plant up such an area for your bees and you have the ability or opportunity I’d say go for it!!!! You can always start on the wildflowers next year.