Honey trees and shrubs

To ensure an uninterrupted bribe, beekeepers transport apiaries to forests and park areas. Black maple is used as a honey plant and other flowering shrubs. There are good honey plants among the trees. Each climate zone has its own. In the pine and birch forests there are undergrowths of heather and honeysuckle. In the south of Our Country, elderberry and derderevo grow.

What affects the taste of honey

The taste depends on the source of the nectar. According to its origin, honey is:

• monofloral – collected from plants of the same species;
• polyfloral (mixed);
• padev.

Polyfloral varieties of honey are obtained by collecting nectar from plants of different species. Honeydew honey is produced from sweet dew and sugary secretions of aphids.

The taste is affected by the time of collection, the most intense is obtained at the beginning of flowering (from the first pitching). The presence of bee bread, propolis in the composition affects the taste. They give the product a bitter taste. The sour taste indicates that the honey did not have time to ripen, it was pumped out before the bees sealed the honeycomb with wax.

What is useful nectar

Nectar is a sugary liquid secreted by the flower glands. In some stone fruit crops (apricot, cherry), the nectary is not in the flower, but on the petiole of the leaf. Flowering nectaries play an important role in beekeeping.

The nectar spreads the fragrance, attracting bees to shrubs and trees. They, collecting it, transfer pollen from flower to flower. Pollination occurs, resulting in the formation of fruits and seeds. Nectar promotes seed reproduction of plants.

For bees, nectar is food. It consists of 3 types of sugars:

• fruity (fructose);
• grape (glucose);
• cane (sucrose).

The energy obtained from sugars is used by the bees for flight activities, processing of nectar, and feeding the brood. The composition of the nectar includes trace elements, vitamins and even substances with antibacterial properties. They turn into honey, endowing it with healing properties.

What conditions affect the honey production of trees and shrubs

The same honey plant can produce nectar with different concentrations of sugars. Its quality and quantity are influenced by external conditions:

• air temperature and humidity;
• illumination;
• rain;
• wind.

For example, with a dry wind, nectar ceases to be produced in linden, and in other melliferous trees, the flowers shrink, which makes collection difficult. Heavy rains slow down flowering. Flowers of trees (shrubs) growing on the edge of the forest produce more nectar. They get more sunlight.

Flowers begin to release nectar when the air warms up to 10 ° C. The output increases as the temperature rises. When the temperature drops below 10 °C, the bribes decrease. Air humidity affects the concentration of sugars and the viscosity of nectar. Optimal ratios are observed at 60-80%. With increased humidity, the secret becomes liquid, the percentage of sugars decreases.

Classification of honey trees and shrubs

All honey trees are divided into groups. When classifying, the following parameters are used:

• climatic zone of the apiary;
• the nature of the bribe;
• a place where a bush (tree) grows.

The quality of the bribe

A bribe is the collection of nectar by bees. He can be strong or weak. Its quality depends on the strength of the family, the weather and the flowering of honey plants. All honey plants are divided by the nature of the bribe into 3 groups:

• nectar and pollen;
• pollens;
• nectarifers.

Shrubs and trees that do not produce nectar are called pollen plants, their flowers are inconspicuous and serve to collect pollen. Plants (trees, shrubs) nectarifers produce only nectar, nectar-pollinators produce both.

By place of growth

All trees and shrubs that produce nectar are classified according to their place of growth. The group of forest honey plants is very diverse. Its composition depends on the type of forest (coniferous, mixed, deciduous).

The best bribes are taken in deciduous forests during flowering:

• hazel;
• elms;
• and you;
• alder;
• lindens;
• oaks;
• maple.

Many flowering honey bushes grow in deciduous forests:

• buckthorn;
• viburnum;
• forest raspberry;
• dogwood.

Mixed forests give abundant bribes if maple, linden, and willow grow in them. On the edges and in the undergrowth of mixed forests, berry bushes grow, which are good honey plants: bird cherry, mountain ash, viburnum.

The group of garden honey plants is represented by fruit trees, berry and ornamental shrubs:

• all types of currants;
• raspberry varietal;
• cherry;
• cherries;
• pear;
• Apple tree;
• plum;
• apricot;
• peach.

The productivity of 1 hectare of a flowering orchard can range from 10 to 50 kg.

By regions

In each region of Our Country, beekeepers plan honey collection for the period of flowering of the main honey plants. Part of honey plants in each region is represented by trees and shrubs.

The best honey trees

Flowering trees growing near the apiary provide bee colonies with pollen and nectar. In the spring, from the buds of birch, poplar, alder and other trees, bees collect a sticky substance – propolis. It plays an important role in the life of the bee colony. It is a building material, antibacterial and antiviral agent.

Black-necked

Tatar maple (black maple) is found in Altai, in the Trans-Urals, in Western Siberia, in the European part of Our Country. Chernoklen blooms for 2 weeks, the maximum bribe falls on the 5-7th day. The structure of the flower makes the nectar available. The productivity of this honey plant is 11 t/ha.

The nectar of the black maple tree contains a lot of fructose, so the marketable yield is higher than from linden. Maple honey does not crystallize for a long time. It is light, with a light, saturated with different shades of aroma. The taste is not cloying, very pleasant.

Linden – honey queen

Western Siberia, Western Europe, the Caucasus are the regions where linden grows. The best honey plants are considered varieties:

• Amur;
• Manchurian;
• hearty;
• large and small-leaved;
• felt.

The productivity of 1 ha of linden plantations is 0,6-1 t of nectar. The flowering of trees occurs in the middle lane in July, a decade depends on the variety. In the southern regions, linden blossoms in June. The duration of flowering of a tree is affected by soil moisture.

With normal rainfall, it lasts about 20 days. Under adverse weather conditions, the tree blooms for no more than 7 days. One bee family can collect up to 10 kg of nectar per day. Linden honey is pleasant to the taste, light, fragrant. It crystallizes, becomes a solid, homogeneous mass. It is considered the most healing.

Acacia

Yellow acacia grows in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Altai, Kemerovo, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk regions. In these regions, it is important as a honey plant. From this shrub, bee colonies take the main bribe. Flowering early. It falls at the end of May – beginning of June, lasts 10 days.

Up to 1 kg of honey is obtained from 50 ha. Its characteristics:

• yellow color;
• the consistency is liquid, viscous;
• the taste is pleasant, there is no bitterness;
• does not crystallize for a long time.

In the southern regions (Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Rostov Regions) varieties of white acacia grow. The productivity of this plant is 800 kg/ha. The maximum bribe is taken in the first week of flowering. It lasts 14-21 days.

Chestnut

In nature, there are two types of chestnut: sowing and horse. Both types of tree are honey plants. The quality of honey collected from horse chestnut growing in Transcaucasia and Crimea is low. Honey is dark brown, smells weak, can be bitter.

A better product is obtained by collecting nectar from a subspecies common in southern Europe. This type of honey is liquid, colorless. It crystallizes quickly and can be bitter. Sowing or real chestnut grows in the forests of southern Europe.

The flowering of the tree lasts 3 weeks. Bees collect pollen from male flowers and nectar from female flowers. The daily productivity of a bee colony taking bribes from one chestnut tree is 6 kg. Honey is obtained with a pleasant taste, fragrant, dark brown. Crystallizes in 2-3 weeks.

Sophora

Japanese Sophora is a deciduous honey plant. Naturally found in China, Japan. Decorative forms of shrubs are grown in Central Asia, the Caucasus, in the southern regions of Ukraine.

Sophora is a good honey plant. The flowering of the tree occurs in July-August. It is long in time, guarantees a good bribe. The nectar productivity of Sophora is 200-300 kg/ha.

The best honey plants

Honey bushes growing near a stationary apiary improve the honey-bearing base of the apiary. With their help, beekeepers increase the productivity of bee colonies, provide uninterrupted bribes during the warm season.

Hyssop how honey

Hyssop is grown as a honey plant. Bees collect pollen and nectar during flowering shrubs. The productivity of a 2-year-old plantation is 277 kg per 1 ha. It grows over the years. By the 4th year of life, the honey plant is 789 kg / ha.

The honey productivity of a shrub depends on the varieties of hyssop:

• with pink flowers – 121 kg / ha;
• with white flowers – 116 kg/ha;
• with blue flowers – 60 kg / ha.

Heather

Heather is an evergreen perennial. A shrub grows in the forest area of ​​Polissya, the Carpathians. Honey plant blooms in the 1st-2nd decade of August, provides bee colonies with a bribe almost until October. Up to 1 kg of honey is collected from 200 hectare of heather thickets. A strong bee family in favorable years produces 20-30 kg of honey during the flowering of the shrub.

Honey is viscous, so it is difficult to pump it out. It is dark red, tart, moderately fragrant, crystallizes slowly.

They stuck like a honey bee

The beekeeper will not consider sea buckthorn as a honey plant. Controversy does not subside about the honey productivity of this shrub. Most experts attribute sea buckthorn to pollen plants. In spring, bees collect pollen from the bush. She goes to the development of the bee colony.

Conclusion

Creating an uninterrupted bribe is the main task of the beekeeper, black maple as a honey plant, other shrubs and trees allow this to be done. The beekeeper has been forming a honey base for more than one year, observing local plants (shrubs, trees), and compiling a flowering calendar.