Somerset County Newsletter August 2011

August 4th, 2011

What! School starts next month? Well hopefully your garden is producing well and you have lots of room in the root cellar, or wherever you store your bountiful harvest. It’s time to stock up on canning jars and freezer bags to fill up with good things to eat for the next few months and more. It’s also time for the Agricultural Fairs in the area to begin. The Fairs are one of Maine’s great traditions that also just happen to mark the beginning of the end to an all too short summer! Be sure and visit as many of our state’s great agricultural fairs this season that you can. They all have something entertaining and interesting to offer to kids of all ages! While you’re at the fair, don’t forget to stop by and  support your local 4-H clubs displays and exhibits!

Gardening Items to do in August

• It’s not too late to take that soil test that you forgot to do earlier in the season. Now is a great time to get your garden ready for next season by amending the soil this fall. Let the University of Maine Cooperative Extension help you by testing your existing soil and making useful recommendations for spring of 2012. For more information please see Umaine Soil Testing.

• Plant a fall cover crop in those spaces no longer producing vegetables. Cover crops are a great way to protect your soil from our unpredictable winters here in Maine and restore valuable nutrients that may have been depleted during the growing season. For information on cover crops, please see the information supplied by Oregon State University Extension Service, or read our article “Cover Crops for Season’s End” in the July issue of Maine Home Garden News.

• Continue with garden maintenance, along with scouting for insects and disease, is an on going project in every garden this month. One insect to be on the lookout for in August would be the Tomato hornworm Grow Maine Grow:

Interesting items of note

• Just in case you’ve been away for awhile and haven’t noticed the changes our seasons have been going through, Maine Climate News has some climate highlights to share with you about the subject. Please see Maine Climate News for more information. 

• Be on the lookout for Giant Hog-weed (Heracleum Mantegassianum). An invasive perennial and a public health hazard: Contact with sap followed by sun exposure can cause painful blistering. Grows in moist soil, especially in ditches and ravines in both sun and shade. For more information please see the maine.gov’s website about Giant Hogweed.

Scientist Visits Somerset Beekeepers

By Sam (antha) Burns, UMaine Master Gardener & Somerset Beekeepers President

Frank has been keeping bees since he was twelve years old. Now he is a Professor of Insect Ecology and Insect Pest Management at the University of Maine at Orono. As an entomologist Frank has been uniquely poised to help bees and beekeepers, researching how honeybees, along with native bee-species, are being affected by pesticides and the environment they live in. At our July meeting, the Somerset Beekeepers had the privilege of hosting Frank, who talked with us about his research.

The Department of Agriculture has funded $4 million dollars to the study that involves 7 states, including Maine, Minnesota, California, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Scientists like Drummond are starting bee colonies and looking at the rate of collapse in stationary apiaries across the U.S. Each site hosts 30 colonies started from packages; the breed of bee is changed each year, with Italians used in the ’09 experiment, and Carniolans this year. The colonies are then managed, without treatments, to see how they survive and how they die. A monthly sampling of the colonies is conducted to assess colony strength of the brood and workers, status of the Queen, and all symptoms of pests and pathogens are recorded. Also, a collection of workers is made for assessment by dissection, looking for Nosema infestation, tracheal mite infestation, and molecular determination of virus infections. They look for the Deformed Wing Virus, Black Queen Cell Virus, Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), and the Sacbrood Virus.

“We are looking for a good Queen, one that lays lots of eggs, and we are looking for symptoms of disease. We are also collecting bees to identify viruses and mites,” said Frank.

Scientists are not only looking at the pests and diseases ailing the colonies, but are also working to discover how pesticides are affecting bees. By taking a sampling of pollen for analysis, researchers have discovered up to 98 different pesticides in the grains collected. The synergy of pesticides reduces egg lying, and weakens the bees’ immune systems.

After 4 years of research, scientists still don’t know for sure what is causing colony collapse. What the data has shown is that Nosema infection, Varroa infestation, and IAPV are all significant causal factors in colony loss. Researchers have discovered that colonies with higher levels of Varroa tended to die during the winter; that IAPV killed colonies over the winter, and that small colonies with Nosema often died in the fall. It was found that patterns of colony loss differed significantly across sites, for example Nosema was more detrimental in the north, while Varroa played a larger role in the south.

Analysis has shown that mites allow secondary pathogens to take hold, and has identified 18 different viruses ailing bees, with Deformed Wing Virus being the most predominant.

Frank also studies native bee populations. He tested bees on crops sprayed with imidacloprid and couldn’t seem to kill honeybees, but bumble bees died. In Maine, 80 percent of our bumble bees have the Deformed Wing and Black Queen Cell viruses, and 4 species of native bee have been lost forever just next door in New Hampshire.

We don’t yet have a CCD in the state, but we do have a higher rate of Nosema infections, and while Maine is farther ahead of many other farming states in reducing pesticide use on crops, it is still a problem affecting bees and pollinators across the board.

Drummond says, “No one knows how all these chemicals—even though found in low, acceptable levels individually—affect people, water, and bees when combined.”

 At our meeting we discussed how beekeepers working with scientists like Drummond would prove beneficial to the study. In the last issue of The Bee-Line was an article about the Bee Informed Partnership, which is a citizen science project funded by the USDA. Beekeepers across the country can aid scientists in their efforts to learn more about bees and best beekeeping practices. Personally, I intend to participate and do my part to protect pollinators.

For more information please see the Bee Informed Project.

 Up Coming Area Events

• Somerset County Beekeepers to meet August 22

The next meeting of the Somerset Beekeepers will be on Monday August 22, at 6:00 p.m. at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Somerset County office, located on 7 County Drive in Skowhegan. It will be a workshop on Honey Extraction & Winter Preparations for Colonies. Presentations will be given by Matt Scott, founding member of MSBA, former EAS Director, and past MSBA President. This meeting is free and open to the interested public.

• Skowhegan State Fair:

The Skowhegan State Fair will run from August 11- 20. Don’t forget to support your local 4-H Clubs by visiting their great exhibits in the 4-H Hall and casting your vote for your favorite display or project. Please go to Skowhegan State Fair for more information.

• Maine Farm Days:

Augusta 24 – 25, the event will be at Misty Meadows Farm on the Hill Road in Clinton, ME. The event will run from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, you can visit their website at Maine Farm Days.

• Pond Construction and Maintenance Workshop:

Will be held at the University o f Maine Cooperative Extension Somerset County Office, on 7 County Drive Skowhegan, ME. Monday, August 22 from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The workshop will cover instructions for constructing a new pond and care of existing ponds, information on permitting with DEP, water quality basics, and building ponds specific for trout. The cost for the workshop is $15.00. To reserve your place and for more information:

Contact: Kathy Hopkins
Telephone Number: 1-800-287-1495
E-Mail Address: khopkins@maine.edu
Sponsored by: University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Somerset County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Thank You!

To everyone who attended our work outing on Saturday July 23 here at the UMaine Extension Somerset County office: The amount of work you accomplished in four hours was fantastic. The front flag pole bed is totally weed-free now, the Mugo Pine is gone, weeding and placement of the mulch mats around the trial fruit trees out front is done, and some much needed pruning  was accomplished, along with the removal of the pile of brush out front. If you didn’t get a chance to help out on the 23rd, we still have plenty of projects here at the UMaine Extension Somerset County Office to do and we are going to try to have a fall cleanup as well.

After cleaning out the weeds, we were able to see that we actually did still have a few perennials and annuals that had survived the battle against all odds and all the weeds!

The fruit trees are now feeling a whole lot better now that they don’t have to compete with the grass and weeds. In the foreground you can see where the brush pile had been. In the fall we will replant the grass.

Just a reminder to keep your Master Gardener Volunteer Hours coming into the UMaine Extension Somerset County Office. Keep up the great work with all your projects.

 

Posted in Somerset County Master Gardener Volunteers Newsletter