Sunflower honey plant

Sunflower honey plant which is widely grown as an oilseed crop in the southern regions of Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan. Sunflower is the main oil crop not only in Russia, but also in the world. In agriculture, several varieties of honey sunflower are grown. In addition, there are several dozen decorative sunflower forms, which are also good honey plants and pollen plants. The value of sunflower as a honey plant for beekeeping is extremely high. Due to the fact that sunflower occupies vast areas, in some regions it is the basis of honey collection. However, sunflower honey collection has its own characteristics, which the beekeeper should know. Therefore, in this article we will consider what a sunflower is like a honey plant, what is the honey productivity of sunflower, and also consider the features of honey collection from a sunflower, find out what kind of sunflower honey and there will be a lot of other information useful for a beekeeper, read to the end it will be interesting.

Content

•  Description of honey plant sunflower
•  Sunflower flower
•  Sunflower as honey plant for beekeeping
•  Sunflower as pollen
•  Importance of honey plant sunflower of different species for beekeeping
•  Sunflower honey collection
•  Features of honey collection from sunflowers
•  Sunflower honey plant honey productivity
•  Pollination of sunflower
•  Regions where sunflowers are grown as a honey plant
•  Sunflower honey

Description of the honey plant sunflower

Sunflower honey plant (Helianthus annuus L.) or simply sunflower honey plant, also known as dormice honey plant, is an annual oilseed crop that belongs to the Compositae family.
The sunflower has a powerful root system that can penetrate 2-4 meters deep and spread to the sides by a meter, so the sunflower dries out the soil quite a lot.
The sunflower has an upright woody stem, with a loose core that does not branch. In height, sunflower reaches from 0.7 to 4 meters and the height depends on the sunflower variety. Oilseed varieties, as a rule, reach a height of 1.5 - 2.5 m, and sunflower varieties can grow up to 2-4 m.
Sunflower leaves are large, oval-heart-shaped, with a pointed end, densely pubescent, with serrated edges, sitting on long petioles. The number of leaves depends on the variety.

 

Sunflower flower

The sunflower inflorescence is an apical basket, which has the shape of a convex or concave flat disk, which is surrounded by an involucre, which consists of several rows of leaflets. The diameter of the basket depends on the variety of sunflower, in oilseed varieties the basket is smaller and can reach 25 cm, in the gnaw varieties of sunflower the basket is larger and can reach 45 cm in diameter. Reed flowers are orange-yellow, large, sterile, sometimes may have underdeveloped pistils. It is these flowers that attract insects, including honey bees, for pollination. Tubular flowers are bisexual and are located on almost the entire receptacle; in one basket there can be from 500 to 3000 tubular flowers.
Each tubular flower contains a pistil with an inferior nested ovary and a style, as well as a corolla with fused petals and 5 cloves, the corollas of tubular flowers range from light yellow to dark orange.
During the flowering of sunflower, the flowers open alternately, gradually moving from the periphery to the center of the basket. Each flower lives for two days; anthers function on the first day, stigmas on the second. The nectary is located around the column. The flowers have 5 stamens, which have free filaments, and the anthers are fused. The nectary in a sunflower flower is a very small disc up to 0.8 mm in diameter and 0.4 mm high, which is hidden in the corolla tube. The nectar gland surrounds the base of the neck of the pistil. With a short tube, nectar is available to the bees.

Sunflower honey plant is a cross-pollinated plant. It has been experimentally established that sunflower pollen combines into large clumps that are not carried by the wind, under the weight of sunflower pollen clumps fall on the leaves and disintegrate only when the pollen dries up, during this period it can be carried by the wind, but when sunflower pollen dries up, it loses its ability to fertilization. For this reason, part of the sunflower flowers remain unfertilized, which leads to the so-called empty grain. This feature of sunflower pollination makes it necessary, for a good harvest, to apply the method of bee pollination. Some farmers, in order to overcome difficulties with sunflower pollination, use hybrids that are prone to self-pollination.
Sunflower as honey plant for beekeeping
Sunflower honey plant for beekeeping is a very important crop, let's consider how sunflower is useful for beekeeping.

 

 

Sunflower as pollen

Bees willingly visit sunflower flowers to collect nectar and pollen. Wherein the body of the bee is abundantly covered with pollen. What does a sunflower bee look like? Bee pollen from sunflower has a golden color. The mass of pollen emitted by sunflower is estimated at 35-65 kg per 1 ha. Due to the high content of protein (about 30%), macro- and microelements, sunflower pollen is considered very useful for bees.
It should be noted that American researchers indicate that sunflower pollen helps to reduce the infection of bumblebees and bees with various viruses and parasites. Regarding honey bees, sunflower pollen is said to help reduce Varroa destructor mites and Nosema spores. Each doubling of sunflower acreage in the apiary area led to a decrease in parasitic invasion of bee colonies by 28%. Scientists themselves admit that they do not understand the mechanism for reducing the number of mites in bee colonies. However, beekeepers in Ukraine, Moldova, and the southern regions of Russia, where honey collection from sunflower is typical, do not notice a decrease in mites after honey collection from sunflowers. It is likely that the decrease in mites in the colony occurs for two main reasons - bees flood the nest with honey, reducing the number of brood and forcing many mites to move to adult bees. As you know, often in the heat, many flying bees die in the honey collection from sunflower, staining their wings in sticky glue, and ticks die with them. Also, when collecting pollen from sunflower, bees are literally showered with it, which includes a mechanism for cleaning bees, the same as sprinkling bees with powdered sugar or coniferous flour, only with the difference that the tick crumbles in the field, on sunflower flowers. But it is unlikely that many ticks die in this way.

The value of the honey plant sunflower of different species for beekeeping

For beekeeping, all types of sunflower honey plants are interesting, such as oilseeds, gnats, mezheumki and others.
It should also be said that silage varieties of sunflower are used in agriculture, which are sown both in pure form and in mixtures with other forage grasses, such as legumes. Silage varieties of sunflower are characterized by the fact that they have a large number of branching stems, have a large number of leaves and baskets. Silage sunflower varieties are honey plants, but as a rule, they are cut either at the beginning of flowering or in the full flowering phase, and therefore the silage sunflower as a honey plant is not of interest for beekeeping. If mowing for silage is carried out in the phase of full sunflower flowering, mowing is carried out either in the morning or in the evening, when there is no summer for the bees, in order to avoid their death.
In urban conditions, sunflower honey plant for beekeeping is valuable if sunflower is grown as an ornamental plant, in flower beds in parks. Numerous small baskets of ornamental sunflowers are very beautiful and produce a lot of pollen and nectar.

 

Sunflower honey collection

When does a sunflower bloom like a honey plant? Sunflower blooms in July - early August. As already mentioned, one sunflower flower blooms for 2 days. Flowering of one basket lasts 8-10 days.
How many days does a sunflower bloom for honey collection? How many sunflowers bloom for bee honey collection depends on the variety and hybrid. As a rule, old varieties of sunflower bloom for a long time, up to 30 days, while 75% of plants fade within 14 days, while modern hybrids bloom more amicably, so the flowering period of hybrid sunflower is about 14 days.
For a beekeeper, it is ideal if sunflowers are planted with different varieties, which ensures different periods of flowering, and, accordingly, a long honey collection from sunflowers.

Features of honey collection from a sunflower

What are the features of honey collection from sunflowers? Among the features of honey collection from sunflowers, the following points can be distinguished. The beekeeper must be prepared for the fact that bee colonies sag on honey collection from sunflowers. This can happen for several reasons.
Firstly, if the beekeeper leaves too little space in the nest, all free cells are filled with honey for sowing the queen and bees.
The second reason why families sag on sunflower honey is that sunflower flowers secrete a sticky substance. The drier and hotter, the more sticky substance secrete sunflower flowers. Bees collect nectar on sunflower flowers, stain their wings with a sticky substance and die. Therefore, the beekeeper must be aware of this dangerous feature of honey collection from sunflowers. It is good when the sunflower is irrigated, in this case, it releases nectar well and at the same time releases little sticky substance, which contributes to a good honey collection from sunflower.
The beekeeper should also establish contact with the farmer, farmers can treat sunflower crops for cutworm or broomrape and pesticides can be dangerous for bees. Therefore, it is better to coordinate with them the parking lot of the apiary and stipulate a warning to beekeepers in case of processing.

 

Sunflower honey plant honey productivity

 

How much honey does a sunflower give? The content of sugars in sunflower nectar reaches 35-38%, in In some cases (under Polish conditions) the sugar content in nectar reached 60%. Sunflower honey productivity averages 40-50 kg/ha. The control hive on a honey collection from a sunflower can become heavier by 4-5 kg per day. The greatest release of sunflower nectar falls on 10-14 hours of the day. However, we must remember that sunflower honey productivity depends on many factors, for example, on the variety and hybrid. Often beekeepers complain that hybrid sunflower crops don't attract bees or why sunflowers don't produce nectar. It should be noted that sunflower honey productivity is also influenced by factors such as weather, especially air and soil humidity, as well as the length of the flower tube.
Many new cultivars and hybrids have a long flower tube that prevents the bees from reaching the nectar in the flowers. At the same time, it was noted that at the edges of the basket in flowers, the length of the flower tube is less than in the flowers located in the center of the basket. The bees willingly visit the outer flowers, but when they finish flowering, the bees are no longer so willing to fly to the sunflower, despite the fact that it is in bloom and begin to look for some flowering weeds. Therefore, this factor very seriously regulates the honey productivity of sunflower.
Sunflower is a plant that is accustomed to hot weather, however, when there is intense heat and drought, the release of nectar decreases or stops altogether, which reduces the honey production of sunflower. In general, it should be noted that sunflower consumes most of the moisture from the soil during flowering and in case of its lack, the so-called “capture” of flowers occurs, which causes empty grains in the center of the baskets, which sharply reduces the yield and honey collection from the sunflower. During drought, by the beginning of flowering, a large number of flowers in the basket, primarily in the center, do not bloom at all.

Sunflower pollination

Sunflower responds well to bee cross-pollination. With proper pollination and the density of bee colonies on pollination, the yield of commercial sunflower increases by 40-50%. Therefore, some farmers willingly pay for bee pollination of commercial sunflower and, without fail, for pollination of hybridization sites.
Beekeepers distinguish two types of sunflower pollination. Pollination of commercial sunflower and pollination of sunflower hybridization sites. Pollination of sunflower, both commercial and hybridization sites, has its own characteristics, which makes this work unlike pollination by bees of other crops and is discussed in detail in the book - How to conduct paid pollination of gardens and crops by honey bees.
Features of pollination of commercial sunflower
Features of pollination by bees of sunflower hybridization areas

Regions where sunflowers are grown as a honey plant

Honey plant sunflower is widely grown not only in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, but also in Bulgaria, Serbia, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania. In all these countries, sunflower as a honey plant is considered a good plant. In Ukraine, it is known as the honey plant, which is one of the main honey plants that provides the largest amount of honey in the country.
In Russia, sunflower in 2019 occupied an area of 8.6 million hectares. In the North Caucasus, Kuban, in a number of regions of the Chernozem zone, the Lower Volga region, Siberia, the Urals, it is the most important honey crop, providing the main honey collection, as well as replenishing pollen stocks in the nests of bee colonies.

Sunflower honey

Sunflower honey (honey brand of Ukraine, sonyashnikovy honey) is golden yellow in color, sweet in taste, has a weak aroma and a pleasant, somewhat tart taste. crystallizes very quickly. Read more about the properties of sunflower honey in the article Sunflower honey.