Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Turnip  (Read 2568 times)

Offline greenbtree

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 598
  • Gender: Female
Turnip
« on: May 06, 2012, 10:23:59 pm »
I let a neighbor plant about 5 acres of my property in deer feed.  It contains a lot of turnips.  I guess turnip is a biennial but if conditions are right it will bloom the first year.  Are turnip flowers a nectar source? 

JC
"Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken, or life about to end.  No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend, like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!"

Offline Vance G

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1170
Re: Turnip
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2012, 10:33:28 pm »
They are but I wouldn't count on them blooming this year.  I rather doubt they do.  If there are enough you will get a fairly light honey that sugars fast next summer if they don't freeze hard enough in the ground to kill the roots

Offline AllenF

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 8192
  • Gender: Male
Re: Turnip
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2012, 11:07:52 pm »
Turnips are like rape, mustard, collards, and all greens.   Early bloom, lots of pollen.  Great for building up hives here.  Early flowers never make it into a honey super for me.  They make spring brood. 

Offline David McLeod

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 702
  • Gender: Male
  • Georgia's Full Service Wildlife Solution
    • Georgia Wildlife Services, Inc
Re: Turnip
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2012, 12:16:11 am »
AllenF, is right. Biennial or not my cole crops bolt as soon as it warms up. I plant collards, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, turnips (several varieties), mustard (several varieties), rape and kale every fall as I love winter greens and try to have aomething in the garden year round. When it bolts and goes to bloom I let the bees have it as long as they want it and then hit it with the mower and turn it in when I break ground for spring.
I figure I'm getting a triple whammy. Pollen when the bees really need it plus whatever nectar is there, added organic matter for the soil and mustard turned in has anti nematode properties.
Georgia Wildlife Services,Inc
Georgia's Full Service Wildlife Solution
Atlanta (678) 572-8269 Macon (478) 227-4497
www.atlantawildliferemoval.net
georgiawildlifeservices@gmail.com

Online Michael Bush

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 19832
  • Gender: Male
    • bushfarms.com
Re: Turnip
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2012, 02:06:20 am »
>Are turnip flowers a nectar source? 

Yes.  Usually the bees will be all over them.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

Offline AndrewT

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 100
  • Gender: Male
Re: Turnip
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2012, 05:11:59 pm »
I plant turnips every fall and the ones that don't get picked usually get to come back the second year, when they flower, so that I can save some seed.  My bees love them.  They bloom early and if you've got a big field of them, it would probably be a great build-up source.
Give a man a fish and he will have dinner.  Teach a man to fish and he will be late for dinner.

Offline Joe D

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2246
  • Gender: Male
Re: Turnip
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2012, 08:24:16 pm »

My bees must have had something they liked better.  I had mustard, turnips, and collards planted within 20 feet of my hives, never saw a honey bee on any of the blooms.  Did see bumble bees on them.

Joe