Notes from 6/9/2014 Meeting
30 members attended. New members: Maureen Marron, David Seale, Hannah Valentine
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| Jim Kessler talks about the importance of native plants in our environment |
Speaker Jim Kessler: “Design
and Plant a Native Pollinator Garden”. This talk emphasized native
plants that are pollinated by insects. Jim gave a handout listing such
plants, pointing out the need to design plantscapes to supply pollen and
nectar continuously from spring through fall. Many of the plants on
his list, though good for other insects, are not much visited by
honeybees. Some honeybee plants on his list were Anise Hyssop, Calico
Aster, Mountain Mint, New Jersey Tea, Hoary Vervain, and Hazelnut (for
pollen, not nectar). Many others he listed are not specifically
mentioned in Lovell’s “Honey Plants of North America”, but have
relatives (same genus, different species) that are: Butterfly and Rose
Milkweed, Silky Aster, various sedges (pollen only), Foxglove
Beardtongue, Wild Leek, Short’s Aster, Stiff Goldenrod, Serviceberry,
Red-Osier Dogwood, and Nannyberry (a type of haw). Jim recommended
several books on his subject, including a new one by Heather Holm,
“Pollinators of Native Plants”, which has nice color photos you can use
to identify particular plants. An outfit that sells the plants is Ion
Exchange, 1878 Old Mission Rd., Harpers Ferry, Iowa 52146, 319-535-7231. Their website is www.ionxchange.com, which also has photos of the plants to help identification.
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| ECIBA secretary Dave Campbell gives a slide presentation on queen rearing |
Slide show: “Queens for pennies”, taken from Randy Oliver’s website www.ScientificBeekeeping.com, following up on Oliver’s article in the March 2014 issue of American Bee Journal.
The slides are aimed at beekeepers who have developed varroa-resistant
strains of bees: Randy exhorts us to spread these genetics for the good
of the profession. Setting up a factory to turn out large numbers of
queens is impractical for such beekeepers, but using his instructions
one may graft and raise 10 or 12 new queens introduce into splits in the
spring. Important points are the time-table (the steps must be done a
specific number of days in order), details on manipulating a Chinese
grafting tool and tricks to use with it, and that the brood box and its
grafted queens must be kept warm and moist at all times.
Bee booth: Thanks to Cara Keller for her presentation at Hills bank barnyard days, 5/23/2014.
Johnson County Fair: We
still need volunteers to man our beekeepers tent at the Johnson County
Fair, July 21-24. There are 3 shifts each day: 1st Shift = 10:00 a.m.
to 1:30p.m., 2nd Shift = 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., 3rd Shift = 4:30 p.m.
to 8:00 p.m. Volunteers so far: Monday, 1st Shift—Dave Irvin for set
up; 2nd—Paul Millice; 3rd–Darlene Clausen; Tuesday, 1st Shift—Floyd and
Pat Otdoerfer, 2nd—Charlie Hoehnle, 3rd—open; Wednesday, 1st—Dave
Campbell, 2nd—Bob Wolff, 3rd—Larry and Arlene Spina; Thursday, 1st—open,
2nd—Matt and Patty Stewart, 3rd—Dave Irvin for tear down. Contact Dave
Campbell (319-545-7143) or Dave Irvin (319-331-6590) if you can cover
one of the empty shifts. You may sell honey and beeswax during your
shift. All members are welcome to help out at the booth any time.
Iowa State fair: Iowa
State Fair will be August 7-17, 2014, in Des Moines. There are 24
Apiary categories and $1500 in prizes. Cash prizes in most categories
are awarded through 6th place, so it hasn’t been hard to win
something. Indian Creek Nature Center (319-362-0664) plans to provide
transport for entries; drop them off at ICNC on the Tuesday before fair
opens (August 5th), and they will go up on Wednesday. Contest
categories and entry forms can be downloaded from www.iowastatefair.org.
Because you never know what apiary products you will actually have
available at fair time, the absolute deadline for submitting entry forms
is very late, August 1st. Apply early, and they will mail your
stickers (for fairness, no identification is allowed on any entries
except for these official entry stickers). If late, though, you will
have to go personally to pick up your entry stickers.
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| A good crowd was in attendance for the June meeting |
==Dave Campbell, ECIBA Secretary
