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Phacelia honey plant is one of the favorite plants in the diet of bees. Delicate lilac buds with long erect petals, similar to thorns, attract hard-working insects. In addition to the fact that phacelia is an excellent honey plant for bees, it is also a popular fodder crop.
Description honey bee
Phacelia is an annual plant from the Borage family. Some of its species may also be biblical. Grass grows up to 0.5 m or more. This is a bush branched melliferous culture, the stem is straight. Leaves are green, toothed. The flowers are small, pale blue or lilac. The stamens are long, extending beyond the flower calyx, similar to thorns.
This honey plant tolerates frosts and temperature changes well. But its sharp decrease leads to a decrease in the formation of nectar.
What types exist
More than 80 species of phacelia are known. Some of them are grown as fodder crops, fertilizers, honey plants. There are also decorative types.
The most popular types of honey phacelia:
- Phacelia pimply – an ornamental honey plant, densely dotted with beautiful small flowers. Its thick, sweet aroma is especially appreciated.
- Phacelia twisted – a half-meter plant with small (5 mm in diameter) flowers. They form a rounding in the form of a wave at the ends of the stems. This species blooms from early June to late September. It is used as an ornamental and honey plant.
- Phacelia bell-shaped – low culture, no more than a quarter of a meter long. The flowers are medium in size, about 3 cm, the petals are collected in the form of bells. Their color is intense purple, blue. This type of phacelia is used as an ornamental plant and as a honey plant.
Benefits of growing phacelia as a honey plant
Phacelia is a honey plant that actively attracts bees with its aroma. It has high honey and nectar productivity. The grass takes root well even on dry soils. A long flowering period, from early June to late September, allows you to get the maximum amount of honey per season.
Application in agriculture
Phacelia melliferous is a good fodder crop. It contains substances that promote rapid weight gain in cattle. Also honey grass is a good prophylactic of various diseases in animals.
Phacelia is sown in fields to fertilize the soil. Its long branched root helps to loosen the soil, saturating it with oxygen. As soon as the honey plant crops cover the ground with a thick carpet, they are mowed down and left on the field. Mowed grass releases nitrogen and other organic compounds. The following spring, fertile soil is obtained for growing organic vegetables. Honey phacelia helps to reduce the acidity of the soil, changing it to neutral.
Honey productivity
If you plant honey phacelia near the apiary, you can increase the productivity of bees by 5 times. Insects willingly fly to the bright, fragrant honey plant buds. Phacelia flowers bloom for the bees, luring them with a strong scent. With a good harvest from 1 hectare of land sown with honey crops, you can collect up to 1000 kg of honey per season.
Under adverse weather conditions, beekeepers receive from 150 kg of sweet delicacy per 1 ha. Even if there are other honey crops nearby, bees will prefer phacelia. Honey from it is obtained not cloying, fragrant, with a slight sourness. The product is no less useful than honey from linden, acacia or buckwheat.
Nectar productivity
This factor depends on climatic conditions and on the environment in which crops the honey phacelia grows. In the first half of summer, the nectar productivity of the honey plant is the highest, it ranges from 250 kg per 1 ha of crops.
In the second half of the summer season and in September, this figure drops to 180 kg per 1 ha of field land. In regions with long warm summers, nectar productivity reaches 0,5 tons per 1 ha. One flower of honey phacelia produces up to 5 mg of nectar.
Growing honey herb phacelia
Phacelia is an unpretentious plant; it can be sown in the southern regions from early spring to late autumn. Regardless of the climatic conditions of the region, it is best to plant phacelia in mid-May.
What soil is suitable for growing phacelia
Phacelia grows on any soil, but fertile soils are suitable for good and lush flowering. Before the start of sowing, the soil should not be dug up, it is only slightly loosened. Phacelia melliferous does not tolerate rocky, kaolin-saturated soil. For sowing, choose ventilated, well-lit areas.
Honey grass seeds are very small and germinate practically on the soil surface, their laying depth is not more than 2 cm. Organic fertilizers are applied to the soil a month before planting. After it is well moisturized.
Which type to prefer
Many varieties of phacelia are excellent honey plants. In central Our Country, in Altai, in the Kemerovo region, in the southern regions of the country, beekeepers prefer to cultivate tansy-leaved, bell-shaped, twisted phacelia. These species tolerate the vagaries of the weather well, while their nectar productivity does not change.
When to sow phacelia honey plant
As a fertilizer, a honey crop is sown several times a year: in late autumn, early spring, and summer. From the moment of sowing until the grass blooms, it takes about 45 days. Therefore, it is possible to sow a crop as a honey plant in late April or early May. The air temperature should not fall below + 7 °C.
Care instructions
Phacelia melliferous is an unpretentious culture that does not require special care. It grows well and blooms under the sun, in bad weather the formation of nectar slows down. The plant does not like excessive moisture. If the summer is rainy, the soil must be loosened regularly. If the soil is fed with organic additives before planting, the growth of the honey plant will accelerate, its buds will be larger, and the flowering time will be longer.
Collection and preparation of seeds
Seeds are collected from phacelia planted in early spring. The stage of growth and flowering must pass in a timely manner and in full. As soon as the honey plant fades, seed pods filled with high-quality seed material ripen in place of the buds. Seeds obtained from a honey crop of spring sowing are larger and of higher quality than later ones. They remain viable for 3 years.
How to determine the maturity of the seed box:
- Changing the color of the spikelet to a darker one.
- The seed pod turned brown by more than half.
- With a light touch to it, the seeds begin to crumble.
It is important not to miss this moment, otherwise the honey grass will begin to lose seeds, self-seeding will turn out. If you collect the seed boxes earlier, they will have to be dried and peeled on their own. With early collection, the seeds quickly deteriorate, turn out to be defective, they have poor germination.
The collection of mature spikelets of honey plant is carried out with gloves, since a dry plant can injure the skin of the hands. Seed boxes are cut with secateurs or scissors, placed in cardboard boxes. Seed harvesting is carried out in dry sunny weather. Damp, they quickly deteriorate.
After harvesting, the seeds of honey grass are dried, spread out on paper in one layer. The seeds should be in the shade, in a well-ventilated area. Drafts should be excluded: the seeds of the honey plant will simply scatter.
Dried seed pods are put into canvas bags and threshed with sticks. After the contents are sifted through a large sieve or fanned. The husk will separate and the seeds will fall onto the bedding. They must be collected in cloth bags, left in storage in a cool, dry place.
Useful properties of phacelium honey
Beekeeping products from phacelia are not inferior in quality to linden honey. Harvested at the end of summer, the product from honey grass is distinguished by good taste and delicate floral aroma. Its color is light yellow, transparent, with time it may acquire a greenish, blue or whitish tint. Immediately after collection, the consistency of honey is viscous, thick, with time it crystallizes.
The calorie content of the sweet product is 304 kcal per 100 g. It contains sucrose and fructose, enzymes, and water-soluble vitamins.
A sweet product is recommended for use by people during difficult physical and mental stress, recovery from diseases and operations.
Phacelia honey has the following qualities:
- painkillers;
- soothing;
- wound healing;
- soothing;
- restorative;
- antipyretic.
It is used for gastritis with low acidity, for diseases of the ENT organs, including tuberculosis. Phacelia honey is indicated for dysbacteriosis, liver diseases, and cholelithiasis.
Phacelia honey will strengthen the immune system, supply the body with the necessary trace elements: manganese, zinc, potassium, iron, calcium.
With regular intake of phacelium honey with warm water on an empty stomach, you can increase the acidity of the stomach, hemoglobin in the blood, immunity, and normalize sleep. If you start using honey 1-2 months before the start of the cold season, you can prepare the body, strengthen it and protect yourself from most harmful viruses.
Conclusion
Phacelia honey plant is a favorite plant of modern beekeepers. It develops under any weather conditions in the neighborhood with various flower stalks. The bees enjoy feasting on its fragrant blue flowers filled with spicy nectar. Honey obtained from phacelia has healing and strengthening properties, it is used during colds to strengthen the immune system.
