Radish
Radish grown for seed or fodder; its white-violet flowers give good nectar, and oilseed radish sown as a cover crop provides late autumn forage.
- Nectar
- Good
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 0.5-1.2 m
- Life cycle
- Annual
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Because radish is harvested as a vegetable at the leaf and root stage, it is useful to bees only in seed production fields and in oil radish (Raphanus sativus var. oleiformis) sown as a catch crop. Its white, pink or pale purple-veined flowers give good nectar; its pollen contribution is moderate.
Flowering
In seed fields it flowers for 4-5 weeks from April to June; oil radish sown in late summer flowers in September-October and may continue until the first frosts.
Honey and pollen
A separate radish honey is not common commercially; like other crucifer honeys it gives a light-coloured, fast-crystallising honey. Fresh honey may have a slightly sharp smell.
Note for the beekeeper
Seed radish production depends on cross-pollination; seed companies may rent beehives. Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum), common on the Mediterranean coast, is a similar spring source.