Okra
Okra flowers continuously through summer and mainly offers pollen; its extrafloral nectaries are also visited. A minor mid-summer support plant, not a honey crop.
- Nectar
- Low
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 1-2 m
- Life cycle
- Annual
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Okra is a secondary plant for beekeeping, but a useful one in mid-summer. Its large, pale yellow flowers with a maroon blotch at the base attract bees mainly for pollen; there is little nectar inside the flower. The extrafloral nectaries around the buds and fruit stalks, however, draw ants as well as bees.
Flowering
It starts flowering about two months after sowing and keeps producing new flowers from June to September for as long as harvesting continues. Each flower stays open for a single day, mostly in the morning; bee visits drop off towards midday.
Honey and pollen
No commercial monofloral okra honey is known; its contribution goes into mixed summer honey. The pollen grains are large and spiny, and in hot, dry summer weeks they give a small but steady boost to the colonies' pollen balance.
Note for the beekeeper
Okra can self-pollinate, yet bee visits can still improve fruit set. Spraying against aphids and caterpillars is common in okra fields; if your apiary is nearby, talk to the grower and ask for treatments to be moved to the evening.