What spotted lanternfly means for beekeepers with Dr. Robyn Underwood

November 7, 2022

This video focuses on spotted lanternfly, an invasive pest that has been found in Michigan, and its potential impact on honey bees and beekeepers. Pennsylvania has dealt with spotted lanternflies for years and can offer its experience to Michigan beekeepers on what they may be able to expect.

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Dr. Robyn Underwood is the Apiculture Extension Educator for PA and is based in the Lehigh County Extension Office. She has been learning about bees since her days as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware more than 25 years ago. For her PhD, she studied the use of formic acid for controlling varroa mites in colonies that were kept indoors for the winter in Manitoba, Canada. Since returning to PA in 2005, she has kept bees in various parts of the state and has been conducting research on the impacts of a beekeeper's management system on honey bee colony health, differences between queen lines, impacts of various feeds on overwintering survival, the effects of humidity on formic acid fumigation, and more. Robyn is passionate about beekeeping and considers herself to be a lifelong learner, constantly seeking knowledge about the colony's inner workings.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for securing funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for Michigan State University to implement strategies in the Michigan Managed Pollinator Protection Plan.

This work is supported by the Crop Protection and Pest Management Program [grant no 2021-70006-35450] from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

MSU Extension Pollinators & Pollination