It’s time to get ready! The nectar flow is about two weeks out before the main flow starts and that would be Central Minnesota. Currently right now we have the tail end of the dandelion and what’s left of the fruit trees. Yellow Sweet Clover is starting to really take off but unfortunately, we do not pull that much nectar from it in Minnesota. I have had reports of black locust blooming which is also a very good nectar flow. White Dutch clover is also a very good source of nectar and it also re-blooms every time that it is cut. I personally planted about 10% white Dutch clover in my grass in the front and back yards. 10% White clover was a standard in the 40s for every bag of grass seed planted. It pulls nitrogen from the air and puts it into the soil which will make your grass extremely green which is a natural fertilizer. But one of the main seed companies inadvertently invented a clover killer/ broadleaf weed killer. Then clover was deemed a weed and needed to be expelled from your yard. Being that every single yard in the United States had white Dutch clover it was a perfect opportunity for this company to deem it as a weed and make billions off of it. In my opinion what a joke! (Enough of my ranting) The Basswood pods have dropped but the flowers are still a good two weeks from opening. White sweet clover is starting to get about knee-high or a little bit past, which that also has a good 2 to 3 weeks for that. So make sure you are prepared for the nectar flow. Which means two honey supers on at a time. Additionally, always placing two at a time as well with the newest supers closest to the queen excluder. Also if you’d like to try any type of comb honey, the main Nectar flow is when you would want to put those on. If you have questions about those you can email us or stop in to the store and I can explain the different methods. Hopefully it is a great nectar flow and good luck everybody!
Yellow Sweet Clover