The Very Handy Manual: How to Catch and Identify Bees and Manage a Collection
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Flower TrapsAlex Surcică, has developed a modified bowl trap for squash bees that holds promise for capturing other crop and flower specific species. He writes: “I’m interested in monitoring bees in the Cucurbita fields with the bee bowl trap method. This summer I’ve used the 3.5-oonce blue, yellow, and white cups and had little or no success in trapping squash bees. It looks like the bee bowls cannot successfully compete with Cucurbita flowers in attracting bees. Therefore, I thought submerging flowers in cups with soapy water would yield better results. Because of the size of the flowers, I used the bottom end of a one-gallon milk jug. The results were great. In a field with a high squash bee population I got more than two dozen males and a couple of female squash bees in less than two hours (photo below). I would like to know if this method works for any of you that have Cucurbita-related projects. I’m also wondering if submerging the flowers in soapy water would work in monitoring bees for other crops. When trying this method, you should use the least amount of detergent, since high concentrations would cause flowers to lose their colors very fast.” 
Cucurbita Flower Trap Trap HoldersAlex Surcică has developed a nice adjustable trap design – “A screw (it can be seen in the upper left photo, although it is blurry) allows me to easily make the proper height adjustment for each cross along the rebar. Although it might not be pertinent for mass bee trapping, this system presents the following advantages: 1) allows one to put traps in places where the vegetation is dense and high, while still making the bowls visible to bees; 2) there is less chance for the bowls to be overturned by wind or wildlife; 3) saves some time in measuring and searching for the flat and visible spots where bowls can be placed; 4) requires a little less bending over; 5) the bowls can be placed as high as 3 feet above the ground – this is based on a 4-foot long rebar, with one foot being in the ground; 6) the traps are relatively cheap (less than $1 per 4-bowl trap holder); 7) are easy to install and take apart; and 8) can be used over several years (the bowls might need to be replaced).    
Bowl Trap Holder Similarly Zak Gezon has developed a trap for wetlands. – He writes: “I am catching bees in a seasonal marsh in Costa Rica. I had to come up with something similar to Alex’s to solve a slightly different problem. When I started sampling the marsh was bone dry, but before long the water level started to rise, so I made PVC platforms for the bee bowls, as you can see in the attached photos. The platform itself is made of fine mesh so that if a sudden rain overflows the bowls, anything caught up until that point will be caught in the mesh. When the marsh water level is really low (and therefore the platform is high above the water surface), the wind can whip the platforms a bit, which is a problem, so I have been thinking about drilling the T-joint all the way through so the platform would slide down the PVC pole, and adding a wing nut to the platform so that the height would be easily adjustable. I added Velcro® to the platform mesh and to the bottom of the bee bowls to ensure I don't lose any bowls due to wind. One problem I have had is that sometimes birds land on the platforms and slosh all the soapy water out. I don't have a solution to that problem yet, but I have only seen it happen twice and I don't think it has been a major issue. In any case, the platforms were pretty simple to make, are very easy to transport, are (hopefully) durable, and didn't cost an arm and a leg.”   
Bowl Trap Holder for Wetlands Download 3.4 Mb. Share with your friends:
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