Biology & Management of Blue Orchard & Alfalfa Leafcutting Bees — Steve Peterson

We've got a perfect program to present at the first blush of Spring! All you gardeners are no doubt interested in the pollination of your fruits and vegetables. Our speaker is very knowledgeable about the care and maintenance of two of our most widely used native bee pollinators. He says: "I'll go over the life cycle, host plants visited, nest construction of the two species. We'll discuss how to attract them to your home or garden by using nesting structures that are attractive to them. Also, I'll go over the common pests and diseases that one might encounter and how to keep your population healthy."

Steve Peterson, Ph.D operates Foothill Bee Ranch which is located near Foresthill, Placer County, California. "I have many years of experience managing blue orchard bees and alfalfa leafcutting bees in a diversity of crops such as almonds, cherries, plums, strawberries, alfalfa seed, carrot seed, onion seed and lettuce seed. Our bees are sourced from populations native to the Sierra foothills for use in California." But both species are found in Washington as well.

Scarabs' new Zoom Czar, Matt Neumann, has created a special link you can click to get to each month's Scarabs session, regardless if the specific meeting ID changes. You should get this link (or it will become visible) if you RSVP here (passcode is 816620; sorry if you didn't have it last month, editor had Covid and treasurer was out of town!). If you attend by phone, you'll need the old-fashioned numerical Zoom code, and anyone doing that should refer to their print newsletter (or, if not a subscribing member, contact us well ahead of time please!). Go to Zoom not long before the meeting starts, otherwise the link may not be active. And if anything about this new system misfires, tell us so we can trouble-shoot for next time!