This is about a half acre field of clovers. Do my bees like this stuff or should I mow it?(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190529/6f8c2804bb2ad677225e5d69bac76bc3.jpg)
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Has it bloomed yet?
Quote from: Nock on May 28, 2019, 10:48:23 PM
Has it bloomed yet?
Haven?t seen any flowers.
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There are hundreds of types of clover but these 3 are common.
Honey bees love White Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens). It's perennial (will come back each year) and expands through stems. It has a bloom period into September, so it's nice forage when not much else is happening.
Pink clover (also called red clover, or Trifolium pratense) has a longer tube to where nectar is, and honey bees can't access the nectar. https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/abstracts/42/1/AJ0420010001?access=0&view=pdf
But bumble bees and butterflies like it.
Crimson Clover (Italian clover or Trifolium incarnatum) has a short tube in an elongated corolla, and honey bees can access this nectar. It blooms in spring. It's a taller plant, growing to 1 ft. It's annual, so if you want it back next year, you must let it go to seed before mowing the seed heads. If you mow in between, it will rebloom a bit, but mowing must be done right before dark or you will mow your bees. ;-)
I think your field is beautiful. If it were at my home, I would not mow, except for a path. Mowing dries out soil, invites invasive weeds, and inhibits good critters that keep a biosystem.
Perhaps you might enjoy cutting a path though it, so you can meander in your meadow.
Looks like ladino to me. It should flower soon. Most clovers like to be mowed. I would let it bloom then mow it. And it will bloom again.
Quote from: FloridaGardener on May 28, 2019, 11:30:46 PM
There are hundreds of types of clover but these 3 are common.
Honey bees love White Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens). It's perennial (will come back each year) and expands through stems. It has a bloom period into September, so it's nice forage when not much else is happening.
Pink clover (also called red clover, or Trifolium pratense) has a longer tube to where nectar is, and honey bees can't access the nectar. https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/abstracts/42/1/AJ0420010001?access=0&view=pdf
But bumble bees and butterflies like it.
Crimson Clover (Italian clover or Trifolium incarnatum) has a short tube in an elongated corolla, and honey bees can access this nectar. It blooms in spring. It's a taller plant, growing to 1 ft. It's annual, so if you want it back next year, you must let it go to seed before mowing the seed heads. If you mow in between, it will rebloom a bit, but mowing must be done right before dark or you will mow your bees. ;-)
I think your field is beautiful. If it were at my home, I would not mow, except for a path. Mowing dries out soil, invites invasive weeds, and inhibits good critters that keep a biosystem.
Perhaps you might enjoy cutting a path though it, so you can meander in your meadow.
Great info there, FG. That path through the meadow idea is neat.
Pollenpants,
I have white clover covering most of my yard. The bees love it. We let it grow thick and tall up until a week ago. Now it is covered with flowers again and the yard is buzzing.
Take a picture when they start blooming and post it.
Jim Altmiller
Quote from: sawdstmakr on May 29, 2019, 09:11:24 AM
Pollenpants,
I have white clover covering most of my yard. The bees love it. We let it grow thick and tall up until a week ago. Now it is covered with flowers again and the yard is buzzing.
Take a picture when they start blooming and post it.
Jim Altmiller
Will do! I think I?m going to cut a path so I can observe the bees easier when it has flowered.
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Quote from: sawdstmakr on May 29, 2019, 09:11:24 AM
Pollenpants,
I have white clover covering most of my yard. The bees love it. We let it grow thick and tall up until a week ago. Now it is covered with flowers again and the yard is buzzing.
Take a picture when they start blooming and post it.
Jim Altmiller
A lot of other stuff in the mix, but the clovers have bloomed and I can see bees buzzing around. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190619/06a4a4077be7327a87ba14f77494b736.jpg)
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Looks like ladino clover. A great nectar source.
Pollenpants, are you a botanist? Not many folks know the scientific names of various clovers; good, detailed info. Thanks.
Van
Quote from: sawdstmakr on May 29, 2019, 09:11:24 AM
Pollenpants,
I have white clover covering most of my yard. The bees love it. We let it grow thick and tall up until a week ago. Now it is covered with flowers again and the yard is buzzing.
Take a picture when they start blooming and post it.
Jim Altmiller
Same here Jim, the clover is really holding the bloom this year so far.
Phillip