Honey clover 1kg (Melilotus albus L)

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White sweet clover is cultivated not only as a fodder and green-manure crop, but also as a valuable nectar plant. It is a winter-hardy, disease- and pest-resistant, drought-tolerant biennial herb that grows up to 2.5 m tall. Its tiny white flowers are very fragrant and arranged in 4–15 cm long racemes in the leaf axils.

Importance for beekeeping
In the second year after sowing, white sweet clover flowers for an average of 40–50 days, from early July until the second ten-day period of August, and produces abundant nectar, so bees visit the flowers throughout the day. The flowers open from 7:00 to 15:00 and each flower lasts two days, while a raceme lasts 7–14 days. Since the nectaries are at the base of the ovary, bees can easily reach the nectar. The plant produces abundant nectar on sunny, warm days (26–27 °C). In favourable weather, a strong bee colony can collect up to 10 kg of nectar a day, while in cool, rainy summers bees visit the clover flowers less often. White sweet clover can yield 200–400 kg of honey per hectare. The honey has a pleasant aroma and flavour and is colourless or light yellow, sometimes with a greenish tint. When it crystallises, it turns white and has a fine-grained texture. White sweet clover honey can be used as winter feed for bees. The pollen is pale yellow.

Cultivation
The best preceding crops for white sweet clover are winter cereals and row crops. It grows in various soils, including slightly acidic, neutral or limed clay, gravel and sandy soils; a soil pH above 6 is preferred. Acidic and excessively wet soils are unsuitable. White sweet clover grows and develops better in neutral or slightly alkaline soils, overwinters exceptionally well there, and root nodule development and activity are also promoted. Its strong root system takes nutrients from deeper soil layers. For good yields, fertilise the plants with potassium and phosphorus mineral fertilisers, applying 40–60 kg/ha of P2O5 and 60–90 kg/ha of K2O.

The hard seed coat of white sweet clover inhibits germination. To ensure that seeds germinate in the year of sowing, mechanically scarify the coat with special scarifiers or rub the seeds with coarse gravel. Prepared this way, the seeds swell sooner in the soil and germinate more evenly. To encourage nodule bacteria to develop on the clover roots, seeds can be treated with alfalfa–sweet clover Nitragin. After treatment, do not leave the seeds in sunlight; sow them into moist soil on the same day because the seeds use a lot of water as they germinate.

Biennial nectar plants are usually grown under a cover crop, sown at the same time. White mustard, phacelia or buckwheat can be used as cover crops for sweet clover; these flower and produce nectar in the first year. This way, one round of soil preparation and sowing can provide a nectar flow from the same area for two years. Remember that white sweet clover is a short-day plant and does not tolerate shading by a cover crop well. Sow the cover crop less densely, at about 20% of its normal seeding rate. Sweet clover can be sown without a cover crop in summer, but this is worthwhile only in years with abundant rainfall. For conventional row sowing (15 cm between rows), use 12–20 kg of seed per hectare; for wide rows (45 cm), sow 6–10 kg/ha. For broadcast sowing, use 20–24 kg/ha. Do not sow later than the end of June, because the clover will not develop a strong root system by autumn and may overwinter poorly. To ensure even emergence in 5–10 days, roll the soil after sowing to provide the moisture needed for germination. Sow the seeds 2–3 cm deep; they germinate at 2–3 °C. Seedlings are usually not harmed by frost. In autumn of the sowing year, after the cover crop is harvested, sweet clover regrows well and produces up to 10–15 t/ha of green mass. Mow the cover crop as high as possible so as not to damage the lower part of the stems, from which new shoots grow. Sweet clover crops mown too early and too low overwinter poorly. In the spring of the second year, shoots regrow from the root crown. In the second-year spring, sweet clover stands can be fertilised with phosphorus- and potassium-containing fertilisers, applying 40–60 kg/ha of P2O5 and 60–90 kg/ha of K2O as a top dressing.

Sweet clover seed is harvested in the second year from the first growth, but it ripens unevenly. For seed production, mow when half the seeds have ripened, most inflorescences have turned brown and the seeds in the lower inflorescences have become hard. Harvest with a combine. The average seed yield is 500–600 kg/ha, but in some years it can reach 1,500 kg/ha. White sweet clover seeds retain good germination for about five years, although germination decreases by approximately 5% each year. Remove the harvested sweet clover stems and chaff from the field to prevent contamination. White sweet clover can also be used as green manure: mow it at the end of flowering and incorporate the green mass into the soil to improve soil structure and fertility.

Weight: 1 kg

Harvested in: Druviena parish, Gulbene Municipality, Latvia

Packed in: Baļļas, Turlava parish, Kuldīga Municipality, Latvia