Northern Nectar Sources for Honey Bees
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A honey bee drinking nectar from a flower.

The nectar source in a given area depends on the type of vegetation present and the length of their bloom period. What type of vegetation will grow in an area depends on soil texture, soil pH, soil drainage, daily maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation, extreme minimum winter temperature, and growing degree days. The plants listed below are plants that would grow in USDA Hardiness zone 5. A good predictor for when a plant will bloom and produce nectar is a calculation of the growing degree days. Hopkins' Bioclimatic Law states that in North America east of the Rockies, a 130 m (400-foot) increase in elevation, a 4° change in latitude north (444.48 km), or a 10° change in longitude east (two thirdth of a time zone) will cause any given biological event to occur four days later in the spring or four days earlier in the fall. In botany, the term phenology refers to the timing of flower emergence, sequence of bloom, fruiting, and leaf drop in autumn.

The classification in major or minor nectar source is very dependent on the agricultural use of the land. Agricultural crops like canola and alfalfa may be a major or minor source depending on local plantings. Honeydew sources are not included in this listing.

Spring

Trees and shrubs

Flowers and annual crop plants

Source: Spring flowers Master beekeeper program, Cornell University Dyce Laboratory (web accessed Nov 2006)

Summer

Trees and shrubs

See also: Honeydew source

Flowers and annual crop plants

Source: Summer flowers Master beekeeper program, Cornell University Dyce Laboratory (web accessed Nov 2006)

Fall

Trees and shrubs

Flowers and annual crop plants

Source: Fall flowers Master beekeeper program, Cornell University Dyce Laboratory (web accessed Nov 2006)

See also

• Forage (honeybee)
• List of honey plants
• Honeydew source
• Nectar source
• Pollen source

References

• Tew, James Some Ohio Nectar and Pollen Producing Plants Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet, 2000,

• Tew, James; Beekeeping Consultant for Auburn University, Associate Professor, Entomology,Nectar and Pollen Producing Plants of Alabama A Guide for Beekeepers, Ohio State University, 1998, accessed Mar 2006

• Major Honey Plants In Virginia and Their Bloom Times

• Michigan Bee Plants

• Delaplane, Keith Bee Conservation in the Southeast The University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences Cooperative Extension; Service Bulletin 1164; February 1998 (web accessed Nov 2006)