March 12, 2020
Spotted lanternflies are expanding their range and might be coming to an apiary near you.
The spotted Lanternfly (SLF), Lycorma delicatula, is an introduced plant hopper that is rapidly expanding its range in Pennsylvania and beyond. In an effort to stop the spread of this damaging pest, the PA Department of Agriculture (PDA) has established quarantine zones for any area found to harbor the SLF. As of March 5, 2020, there are 26 Counties under quarantine in PA (see map). This is a large expansion of the quarantine zone! Read more
February 18, 2019
Purdue ankle biting honey bees: What’s the buzz?
The beekeeping industry is facing serious challenges to maintain the necessary number of colonies to supply the demands for crop pollination. One of the major problems that honey bees have comes from the ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor, which transmit lethal honey bee viruses. Currently, most managed honey bee colonies cannot survive the winter without varroa treatment, and even with intensive management regimes, beekeepers are losing on average 50% of their colonies in Pennsylvania. Photo 1.
December 11, 2018
COMB
2018 COMB Stakeholder Meeting On November 30th 2018, 33 beekeepers and researchers met at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Boalsburg, PA to discuss results of the first year of the COMB project, and next steps for beekeeping management decisions for year two of the project. The day was filled with updates about how the project went in its first bee season. In summary, the packages were installed in late April 2018 in all four regions of
September 11, 2018
Tracking the Health of Feral Bees in PA, 2018
Since 2016 the López-Uribe lab has been leading a citizen science project that aims to map and characterize the health status of feral bees across Pennsylvania (check out our website: Tracking the Health of Feral Bees in PA). We had reports of 17 known feral locations by the end of 2017. Since then the project has grown substantially. In early 2018, a total of 56 feral locations were reported. The colony locations range throughout the
September 11, 2018
COMB Project, September 2018
In late April, we established 288 honey bee colonies in three regions of Pennsylvania and one region in West Virginia for the COMB (Conventional and Organic Management of Bees) project. In each region, we are working with two certified organic farmers who allowed us to place three apiaries, each holding 12 colonies. In each apiary, four colonies are managed using each of the three management systems: conventional, organic, and chemical free (Figure 1). For establishment and
June 20, 2018
National Pollinator Week
National Pollinator Week, #pollinatorweek Orange soldier beetle collecting nectar from Virgin’s Bower vines in central Pennsylvania “Shoo fly”, we often think; but think again, that fly might be an important pollinator for some of your favorite foods, including mangoes, kiwi, coffee and canola. Insects are the most common of all pollinators, pollinating roughly 90% of all flowering plants. The most common pollinators include bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, flies and beetles. Bees by far receive the