Lemon balm as a honey plant
Honey plant lemon balm, Latin name Lemon balm officinalis L. Honey plant lemon balm is a good spicy and essential oil plant with medicinal properties. Lemon balm, honey plant and pollen plant, as well as lemon balm for bees, can provide many other benefits.
Content
- Honey plant lemon balm description
- Features of lemon balm as a honey plant
- Honey productivity of lemon balm
- Lemon balm honey plant for bees
- Growing lemon balm as a honey plant in an apiary
Honey plant lemon balm description
Lemon balm honey plant is a perennial herbaceous rhizomatous soft-pubescent essential oil plant of the Lamiaceae family, 45-90 cm high, with a pleasant lemon smell that attracts bees. Among the essential oil and spicy plants, lemon balm as a honey plant is not the only plant - coriander, Mentha, oregano, lofant, lavender, anise, snakehead, thyme.
Stems are tetrahedral, branched. Lemon balm leaves are opposite, ovate, crenate-serrate, pubescent. Lemon balm flowers are irregular, two-lipped, white. The calyx is bell-shaped. There are four stamens, a pistil with a four-parted upper ovary and a long style. The fruit consists of four small ovoid nuts enclosed in a calyx. Lemon balm grows as a honey plant among bushes, along forest edges, and in weedy places.
Lemon balm is cultivated on plantations of medicinal and essential oil plants.
Features of lemon balm as a honey plant
Is lemon balm a honey plant or not? The question is quite strange, bees willingly visit lemon balm flowers to collect nectar and pollen.
When does lemon balm bloom as a honey plant? Lemon balm blossoms begin in July and last until the end of August, so lemon balm is a honey plant in the second half of summer.
How long does lemon balm bloom as a honey plant? Lemon balm honey plant blooms within 30-40 days.
Honey productivity of lemon balm
How much honey can bees collect from lemon balm from 1 hectare? Lemon balm flowers produce nectar very well. The honey productivity of lemon balm is high and amounts to 130 - 200 kg of honey per 1 hectare.
Lemon balm honey plant for bees
Lemon balm as a honey plant is an excellent plant, but in beekeeping the role of lemon balm is not limited to collecting nectar; lemon balm is widely used in apiaries. Lemon balm calms bees so beekeepers use lemon balm in the following ways:
- They rub their hands with lemon balm before inspecting the bees.
- Lemon balm is used to impart a general scent to bees when uniting families.
- Rub traps for catching swarms with lemon balm to make them more attractive to bees; it is convenient to rub swarms and empty hives with it during the period when swarms emerge.
Growing lemon balm as a honey plant in an apiary
Considering the benefits of lemon balm for bees in the apiary, a beekeeper can grow lemon balm in his apiary.
Lemon balm honey plant is a perennial plant that can grow in one place for 8 years. Lemon balm can be propagated by seeds, layering, dividing bushes, rhizomes, and seedlings. Lemon balm prefers light loamy soils, moderately moist and fertile; the place should be protected from cold winds and well lit by the sun. For the winter, it is advisable to at least lightly cover the lemon balm rhizomes with leaves, since in severe frosts the lemon balm can freeze.
When propagating lemon balm by seeds, it is necessary to select an area free of weeds. Nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are first applied, in a dose of 15-20 grams of each type per 1 m2. Sowing of lemon balm is carried out in a wide-row manner, with row spacing of 60 cm, the seeds are planted to a depth of 0.5-1 cm. The seeding rate per 1 square meter is approximately 1 g of seeds. Shoots appear in 2-2.5 weeks, after which the crops are thinned. The distance between plants in a row is 20-30 cm.
In subsequent years of lemon balm cultivation, fertilizing is carried out with mineral fertilizers.
In the first year of cultivation, lemon balm forms a rosette of leaves; lemon balm begins to bloom in the second year. If you propagate lemon balm by dividing bushes or rhizomes, it begins to bloom in the first year of cultivation.
The flowering period of lemon balm is extended, so its seeds ripen unevenly. Therefore, to avoid seed shedding, the stems are cut in calm weather.
