Monthly Meet Up (Bloom Tracking) with Guest Speaker Christina Neumann

Date: Monday February 19th
Time: 7pm – 9pm
Location: Penn State Center Pittsburgh
1435 Bedford Ave, Suite (Level) A
Pittsburgh PA 15219

Enjoy a great pot luck supper, socialize with fellow beekeepers, and then participate in this educational discussion topic. Bring a hot dish, salad, or dessert to share. Plates, utensils, and soft drinks are provided. No alcoholic beverages are allowed at this location. There is a large free parking lot at this facility with plenty of parking right outside the front door. Take the elevator or stairs to level A.

GUEST SPEAKER:
Christina Joy Neumann RA LEED AP
Owner + Beekeeper, Apoidea Apiary LLC
www.apoidea-apiary.com

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
Monitoring seasonal bloom progress for key plant species is a necessary skill to being a prepared beekeeper. While there are many native and cultivated bee-beneficial plants, you don’t have to be a trained horticulturalist to get to know a handful of bloomers that are very important. During this talk, we’ll review how to accurately observe and record the stages of ten major honey bee blooms of Western PA and have an open discussion about how the timing correlates with seasonal management. Just as many scout bees from a single hive monitor bloom timing by surveying the landscape, we’ll talk about ways we can collaborate similarly as a beekeeping community to collect our own observations and to help each other with species identification.

TOPICS WILL INCLUDE:
– Record Keeping Options
date, time, location, sun exposure
bloom stage
active foraging
smart phone for record keeping very effective
other ecological correlation – migratory bird calls, stream life, etc.
hive monitoring equipment – Arnia, Brood Minder, etc.

– Early Spring Blooms (Maple., 1st Dandie, Chokecherry/Black Cherry)
Seasonal Management Correlation
– Late Spring/ Early Summer Blooms (Berries, Basswood, Sweet Clover, Mints)
Seasonal Management Correlation
– Fall Blooms (Knotweed, Goldenrod, Aster)
Seasonal Management Correlation

– Species ID resources
Audubon Guides
Discoverlife
iNaturalist
Phipps

Google Image

– Citizen Scientist Projects
Project Bud Burst – Audubon training in March
Sentinel Project
Scale Hives

– Easy Ways to Stay Locally Connected
Instagram – hashtags #BeeBloomPgh