Brian Fredericksen wrote:

> Yes that is correct information, no nectar for honeybees. In very dry 
> seasons sometimes red clover can become stunted and the flower is 
> short enough for honeybees to reach the nectar. 

Mowing also seems to work. The second flowering appears to yield a shorter flower. I have a lot of 
red clover that we mow and the bees visit it. The problem is, they visit it short or long, so I am 
not sure if they are getting nectar or just pollen. Flowers are not necessarily uniform, so there 
may be some they can get nectar from, even in the first flowering group.

Honey bees are used to commercially pollinate red clover. So it may be more in the area of hard but 
not impossible, like blueberries here in Maine. If that is all that is available, they will keep 
trying. Also, there are a bunch of different varieties of red clover, so we may be right or wrong 
depending on the variety.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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