South African
Bee Forage Calendars

– Stay Ahead of the nectar flow windows –

“Beekeepers need to know when to best move their hives to take advantage of a particular forage source depending on whether they wish to focus on honey production or strengthening their colonies”– Dr. Tlou Masehela

About the Bee Forage Calendars

The South African Bee Forage Calendar gives a visual layout of the seasonal bee forage opportunities in each of the 9 South African provinces over a 12 month period.

It highlights the main forage blooming periods and the traditional ways in which beekeepers are using the forage. For example, some forage are more valuable when only used as a source of honey production, whereas others are ideal for trapping swarms and strengthening colonies before entering into agricultural pollination service or after completing it.

How to develop your Forage Strategy

Download the Forage calendar for the Province(s) in which you operate your beekeeping activities.

Identify the dominant bee forage opportunities and how your fellow beekeepers in your region use the forage for their bees. Then depending on the main activities of your own beekeeping operation and the beekeeping sites that you can manage to secure just before the nectar flow windows opens up – draw up your own Forage Strategy for the year.

Mastering Forage Identification

Beeplants of South Africa and Gums & Bees are two sources of reference that will assist you in the identification of plants of value to honey bees. The former will go as far as indicating the nectar and pollen value of the plant species.

With this type of guidance, you should be able to plan a forage strategy that will optimize your beekeeping potential.

At best, engaging with bees through the the Bee plants Book are best described by the author himself:

“Therefore this book remains in-complete. It merely represents a stage on a long but pleasurable road of examining, discovering and enjoy-ing a wondrous creation. For any person with a love for the outdoors, there remain life-long opportunities to study plant and bee interactions – much waits to be discovered” – M.F. Johannsmeier