Garden strawberry
Bee visits help strawberries grow large and well-shaped; the flowers give moderate nectar and pollen but are not especially attractive to bees.
- Nectar
- Medium
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 0.15-0.3 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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Although the garden strawberry is self-fertile, a well-shaped fruit requires all of the hundreds of pistils on the receptacle to be pollinated. Where pollination fails, the fruit does not swell and stays misshapen; bee visits therefore clearly increase the share of marketable fruit. The white flowers offer moderate amounts of nectar and pollen, but bees may neglect strawberries if more attractive flowers are nearby.
Flowering
In the open field it flowers from April to June; day-neutral cultivars flower all summer, and under cover in winter and spring.
Honey and pollen
No strawberry honey is produced; its contribution is pollen and some nectar for mixed spring honey.
Note for the beekeeper
Remember that honey bee colonies may be short-lived in greenhouses and that hives need to be supported with water and supplementary feed. In the open, bring the hives in at the start of flowering and agree with the grower that spraying is done outside bee flight hours.