Clover field

[pollenpants]

This is about a half acre field of clovers. Do my bees like this stuff or should I mow it?


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[Nock]

Has it bloomed yet?

[pollenpants]

Has it bloomed yet?

Haven?t seen any flowers.


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[FloridaGardener]

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.

[Nock]

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.

[The15thMember]

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.

[BeeMaster2]

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

[pollenpants]

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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[pollenpants]

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.


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[Michael Bush]

Looks like ladino clover.  A great nectar source.

[van from Arkansas]

Pollenpants, are you a botanist?  Not many folks know the scientific names of various clovers; good, detailed info.  Thanks.
Van

[Ben Framed]

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