LIHU‘E — The public is invited to participate in safe beekeeping events at Kaua‘i Community College starting Friday. Lauren Russert of the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture Hawai‘i Apiary Program will lead a presentation on small hive beetle and varroa mite
LIHU‘E — The public is invited to participate in safe beekeeping events at Kaua‘i Community College starting Friday.
Lauren Russert of the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture Hawai‘i Apiary Program will lead a presentation on small hive beetle and varroa mite detection Friday evening starting at 6:30 p.m. at the KCC ETRO Room 114 in the Electronic and Technology Building, states a release from the Kaua‘i Beekeepers Association.
Russert will also offer Kaua‘i beekeepers a status on House Bill 2100, a legislative act signed into law by Gov. Neil Abercrombie in June.
HB 2100 appropriates $30,000 to the University of Hawai‘i system for bee hive research done in conjunction with the HDOA on Big Island, Maui, O‘ahu and Kaua‘i.
Sharad Maharadtha, KCC instructor of Integrated Farming, leads the project on Kaua‘i and will focus on control methods of small hive beetles, or Aethina tumida, and look at comparative studies of types of in-hive beetle traps.
Additional information about the specific outcomes of the KCC-led research project is expected to be discussed during the Friday night program.
On Saturday, Russert will lead a two-hour demonstration at the KCC Bee Lab.
This presentation will focus on small hive beetle and varroa mite detection. Participants will meet at the KCC Bee Lab before venturing out for field work and hive inspection at KCC apiary.
Participants to the Saturday event are asked to bring water and appropriate clothing for working with bees.
Small hive beetles, originally fro sub-Saharan Africa, have been spreading into temperate and tropical areas since its initial finding in the Gulf Coast region of North America in 1996.
Hawai‘i’s small hive beetles were first detected in Hilo, Big Island, in 2010, and on Kaua‘i in May 2012. The Kaua‘i discovery of small hive beetle confirms the spread of the pest on all of the major Hawaiian Islands.
Local beekeepers are being sought to help gather data about the range and intensity of the small hive beetle population on Kaua‘i, and interested beekeepers can contact the KCC Apiary Program research intern Jin Wah Lau at terilau@hawaii.edu or KCC Apiary Program instructor Jimmy Trujillo at jtrujill@hawaii.edu, or calling 346-7725.
The KCC Apiary Program will be offering its final series of beekeeping courses for the year starting Oct. 27.
During the course, participants have the opportunity to learn how to get started in beekeeping, harvest honey and expand one’s apiary through the series of courses which will be held on Saturdays.
Visit www.info.kauai.hawaii.edu/training/ or call 245-8318 to register for the classes.
