20200930Trip To JWM Leafcutters Facility – Sampling The Contents of Our Habitat

During our visit to the JWM Leaf Cutter's facility in Nampa, Idaho, we used the "Nuclear Scientist" machine to remove and clean the cocoons from our successful leaf cutter bee propagation.

We had previously done a small sample of harvesting getting about a quart of cocoons from the almost full, 'small' 8 by 13 habitat.

JWM Leaf Cutter's uses a statistical sampling method to ensure the quantity and quality of the leaf cutter cocoons they sell. You can see a detailed description of the process at their website and in the linked pdf document here. Scott Earnest, Director of Operations for JWM Leafcutters in the USA, explained and demonstrated the process using cocoons that were concurrently being harvested. He had filled a "bucket of cocoons" from six boxes of harvested cocoons. This 'bucket' is then randomly reduced to a "baggie full" (30-40 grams) of cocoons. The remaining cocoons are returned to the box.

Boxes and Boxes of Refrigerated Leaf Cutter Cocoons at JWM Leaf Cutter's Facility in Idaho

Scott had taken a sample of the leaf cutter cocoons from the harvest of our habitat. He demonstrated the sampling process on what would be the 'baggie of cocoons' by dissecting the contents and placing the 'good' cocoons in a 10 by 10 matrix tray. The tray is actually a ceiling tile turned upside down. Another great, simple solution that Wayne came up with.