Field Beans

[snoop]

Bees are just finishing OSR which I intend to take off Friday afternoon after work , there are still some yellow flowers on one side of the field.
They are right next to a field of beans just starting to flower ( white flower dark center )

What type of honey do they get from the beans

 

[enrico]

Good honey, never used it myself but farmers used to pay beekeepers to put their hives on them. Definitely brings in nectar.

 

[AMAE]

Great Thanks...was going to ask the same myself as a neighbouring field is planted with Field Bean for the 1st time.....a good 15 acres!

 

[Hebeegeebee]

There are some near me - for the first time.

 

[colin]

Hi, beans can produce a lot of a medium coloured honey if the weather is good and it is very good quality.Many years ago we extracted over half a ton of field bean honey from 12 hives.

 

[AMAE]

So I take it good conditions for field beans are not what we are experiencing now!.......Mild 15 degrees but wet wet wet...

 

[gavin]

.... however, a honey crop from beans is far from a certainty.

 

[Woeski]

Planted field beans as a green manure for over wintering.
Only had bumbles on them. And the biggest bumbles at that.
Fun watching them as they don't put their tongues back in between flowers.
Tongue almost as long as the bumble.

 

[Finman]

I have had hives on bean fields and pea fields, Practically they get nothing from it. Even bumblebees avoid them. This has discussed many times.

Waste of hives.

So, beans are self pollinating. Farmers pay for nothing - if they pay.

.

 

[bobandbec]

I've never managed a crop from field beans although I have acres of them in adjacent fields. Been told honey bees can't reach the nectar.

Peter