# white clover



## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I left some of my field unmowed last week since the clover was blooming. I thought the bees would love it. There doesn't seem to be anything else around blooming - or at least, not much. Do bees not like white clover? The hives are about 100 ft from the clover. 

Is there something else I can plant as a ground cover that the bees will appreciate more?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Our bees work the dickens out of white sweet clover as well as the white dutch clover. We got 5 inches of rain last Tuesday which washed the nectar out for a few days, once it was about to come back we got more rain and another inch Saturday. Looks like the bees are in the sweet clover some today but mostly the wild dog woods and bass wood trees.

 Al


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

so maybe it was the riain? I hope so. I plants white sweet clover in my orchard - or was it the dutch?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Sweet white clover is the tall stuff. the dutch is the stuff that grows low and blooms looks like the red crimson only smaller.

 Al


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Callieslamb said:


> so maybe it was the riain? I hope so. I plants white sweet clover in my orchard - or was it the dutch?


The clover that blooms in people lawns is Dutch clover: The 3 foot tall clover is sweet clover.

Bees like them both. Still, bees will choose a FAVORITE nectar sometimes over a NEAR BY nectar! 

The GOOD thing is, the bees have found something good or they would not be neglecting the clover!


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## Michael Bush (Oct 26, 2008)

It always seems like the dutch clover is ignored for a while and then the bees go after it. I'm not sure if the nectar gets richer as the flower gets older or what. But right now there is so much blooming here that they are ignoring the dutch clover.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

two years ago my bees were 20 feet from chokecherry and 50 feet from a apple , plum and pear .. not a honey bee on any ,,, last year they were covered with honey bees , the bees were in the same place and I didn't move the trees .
the girls do what they want ,, not what you think they should do :bdh:


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## Queen Bee (Apr 7, 2004)

My girls LOVE the clover.. They visit even the old stems looking for it. I try to stagger my mowing so that there is always a nice patch. We have tons of it around and it's one of their favorite things. I have, also found, that 'time of day' determines where/what they work--much of the time.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I think, from what is being said here, that the clover in my close pasture is the low-growing, dutch clover. What I planted in my orchard is the sweet clover, but I am mowing it too low.... I still haven't seen any bees out anywhere. I see them all over the hive going in and out. Gobs of them....but nothing in the pasture or garden. One hive has their first honey super filled and mostly capped. The other hive is working on it still. I added a super to the first and will wait another week for the other one. Obviously, they are finding something.


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## Durandal (Aug 19, 2007)

We are getting massive dutch clover blooms. Heat waves, with high humidity, follwed by short dry spells...repeat = good foraging.

That and simply millions and millions of other diverse wildflowers.

I amd four weeks into parenthood with about a 1000# of honey in supers trying to figure out when to get to them.


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## glazed (Aug 19, 2006)

Would this white dutch clover grow as a ground cover in a partially shaded flower bed?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Yes it will in many areas. Hereit will takeover the flower bed if not kept in check.

 Al


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