Bee College - August 16-17, 2013

Greetings Beekeepers and friends!


Have you heard about South Florida Bee College? Our popular beekeeping extension event is expanding! We are hosting this 2-day educational event, filled with food, fun, and plenty of hands-on learning experiences at the Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center in Davie Fl (Broward County)( http://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/). There will be live hives, beekeeping gear, and multiple classes to choose from that throughout the day.

Our speaking line-up includes Dr. Malcolm Sanford (http://www.apisenterprises.com/) a UF emeritus professor and life-ling beekeeper, Dr. Ernesto Guzman (https://www.uoguelph.ca/ses/users/eguzman) Head of the Bee Research Centre at the University of Guelph , Ontario Canada, David Westervelt, the Chief of Apiary Inspection at FDACS, Keith Councell, the president of the Florida State Beekeepers Association (http://www.floridabeekeepers.org/), some of our talented and knowledgeable Florida State Bee Inspectors, and the staff at UF’s Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab!

There will be a 22-class Honey Show where you can enter your honey and products for awards, vendors selling bee equipment and lunch and dinner are included in registration. For the first time, we will be offering a Spanish-speaking track to serve the needs of the growing beekeeping community in South Florida. Many of our speakers are fluent in both languages and will be delivering classes for both.

The full schedule will be announced shortly, be sure to check http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/honeybee/extension/SFbee_college.shtml for details. Please see our registration page here: http://southfloridabeecollege.eventbrite.com/

Please feel free to pass on this information to whomever you wish! We hope that you decide to join us for this one of a kind event.

Thank you and have a great day!

Jeanette
Laboratory Manager/Extension Technician
Honey Bee Research and Extension Laboratory
Department of Entomology and Nematology
University of Florida
Bldg 970 Natural Area Drive
PO Box 110620
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620

Phone (352) 273-3932
Fax (352) 392 0190

Wind Spreads Pests

As we enter the tropical storm season, please be reminded that plant diseases and insects can be spread by wind. Check out this UF-IFAS EDIS publication by Dewdney and Graham that cites wind as a means of spreading the bacterium causing citrus canker disease (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/cg040)

If you think you have detected a new invasive species due to wind or rain, remember the following-

1. Your local county extension service is your first line of communication for questions regarding management and detection (http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/map/index.html )

2. Local Florida county offices have access to our UF-IFAS DDIS (Distance Diagnostic and Information System) for submitting digital images of concern or unknown specimens (http://ddis.ifas.ufl.edu/)

3. Local Florida county offices and the general public can also utilize the services of our statewide Insect Identification Lab (http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/InsectID/index.html)

4. UF-IFAS has extensive Plant Disease Clinic extension services (http://plantpath.ifas.ufl.edu/clinic/, please note that sample processing fees may apply)

Have more information on the spread of invasive species through hurricanes or wind that you would like to share this storm season? E-mail me at achodges@ufl.edu to post it on UF-IFAS Pest Alert!

This message is from Amanda Hodges, Ph.D., Associate Extension Scientist, Director, Doctor of Plant Medicine, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida, IFAS