Checking on the Leaf Cutter Bees

Recently we augmented our research project by placing leaf cutter bees at two sites in Arizona; Site1a in Gilbert and Site3 in Payson.

Now that it's mid-September, we will check on the progress.

Site3a8 and Site3b5 in Payson show no significant activity:

Note that the weather in Payson has shown the expected decrease (below 90 deg F) now that summer is over. Here are the actual (Sep 1-13) and forecast (Sep 14-21) temperatures for Payson.

Actual and Forecast Payson Temperatures

Since the average temperature is below 90 deg F this allowed us to place the leaf cutter bee cocoons outside per the instructions from Crown Bees.

Leaf Cutter Bee Instructions From Crown Bees

When we checked on the bees we also placed the temperature and humidity data loggers that we had forgotten to do on the initial placement.

Two Temperature and Humidity Data Loggers at Site3b5

Temperature and Humidity Data Logger at Site3b5

Temperature and Humidity Data Logger at Site3a8

At the Gilbert site we have been checking the cocoons every other day per the instructions above. We have kept the bags inside since Gilbert temperatures are above 90 deg F.

Gilbert Temperatures for September 2019

Our results are:

20190909Site1a2f results:

bag 1: 2 live bees, no dead

bag 2: one dead, 'dead bee bag'

20190911Site1a2f results:

bag 1: 0 live bees, no dead

bag 2: one dead, 'dead bee bag'

20190913Site1a2f results:

bag 1: 0 live bees, no dead

bag 2: 0 live bees, 0 dead, 'dead bee bag'

Our initial placement and first two checks are recorded in video.