Sven-Erik Spichiger's guest appearances

Sven-Erik Spichiger

Beekeeping Today Podcast

Jay Williams

Aaron Gross

Ross Conrad

Michael Smith

John Miller

Kim Eierman

Brian Peterson

Matthew Shepherd

David Peck

David Firth

Peter Nelson

Marla Spivak

Mike James

Christy Hemenway

Cedar Anderson

OwlTail

This is the third time we’ve talked with Sven-Erik Spichiger about the Asian Giant Hornet in the state of Washington, and this time he shares some history, enlightens us with the discoveries they’ve made so far, what they managed to accomplish this past season, and what they plan for next year. All this to keep this pest, or better, get rid of this pest, before it becomes established in the Pacific Northwest. The good folks in Washington have spent their third season searching for that newest pest – sometimes called The Murder Hornet – with some amount of success, and a lot of good experience and a host of new techniques for finding, capturing and measuring what this new pest is up to. The AGH was originally found in British Columbia in 2019. In 2020 Citizen Scientists, USDA, APHIS and Washington State Entomologists set up thousands of traps in the northern part of the state. They captured one nest. But they began to refine their equipment, condense the areas they were looking in, and get more people interested in helping them find more. In 2021 they again set thousands of traps and caught several, used better tracking tags for live captured hornets, and began looking at where they were living, and what they were eating. Alder trees are popular, but so are holes in the ground at the base of trees. The researchers observed the AGH favored the paper wasp nests of the PNW. The wasp nests are a great source of food, and figuring out how the AGH attacked, destroyed and then ate their wasp lunch was an interesting find. They also determined the WA State AGH was genetically related to AGH in Korea. In 2022, more citizen scientists will help out, and Washington researchers will worth with counterparts in Korea to study the native population of these creatures. This will provide better insight to the biology, diet, nesting habits and more, of the AGH of Washington State. Oops... sorry, we couldn't find the photo of Sven-Erik eating a larvae... dipped or otherwise. Listen today and FOLLOW today! Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:  Washington State Department of Agriculture Asian Giant Hornet site - https://agr.wa.gov/hornets   Honey Bee Obscura Podcast - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com   __ We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. BetterBee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode!  We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. ___ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com  Thank you for listening!  Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

This is the third time we’ve talked with Sven-Erik Spichiger about the Asian Giant Hornet in the state of Washington, and this time he shares some history, enlightens us with the discoveries they’ve made so far, what they managed to accomplish this past season, and what they plan for next year. All this to keep this pest, or better, get rid of this pest, before it becomes established in the Pacific Northwest. The good folks in Washington have spent their third season searching for that newest pest – sometimes called The Murder Hornet – with some amount of success, and a lot of good experience and a host of new techniques for finding, capturing and measuring what this new pest is up to. The AGH was originally found in British Columbia in 2019. In 2020 Citizen Scientists, USDA, APHIS and Washington State Entomologists set up thousands of traps in the northern part of the state. They captured one nest. But they began to refine their equipment, condense the areas they were looking in, and get more people interested in helping them find more. In 2021 they again set thousands of traps and caught several, used better tracking tags for live captured hornets, and began looking at where they were living, and what they were eating. Alder trees are popular, but so are holes in the ground at the base of trees. The researchers observed the AGH favored the paper wasp nests of the PNW. The wasp nests are a great source of food, and figuring out how the AGH attacked, destroyed and then ate their wasp lunch was an interesting find. They also determined the WA State AGH was genetically related to AGH in Korea. In 2022, more citizen scientists will help out, and Washington researchers will worth with counterparts in Korea to study the native population of these creatures. This will provide better insight to the biology, diet, nesting habits and more, of the AGH of Washington State. Oops... sorry, we couldn't find the photo of Sven-Erik eating a larvae... dipped or otherwise. Listen today and FOLLOW today! Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: <ul> <li>Washington State Department of Agriculture Asian Giant Hornet site - <a href="https://agr.wa.gov/hornets" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://agr.wa.gov/hornets</a></li> </ul> <ul> <li>Honey Bee Obscura Podcast - <a href="https://www.honeybeeobscura.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.honeybeeobscura.com</a></li> </ul> __ We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. BetterBee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at <a href="https://www.betterbee.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.betterbee.com</a> Thanks to <a href="https://www.strongmicrobials.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Strong Microbials</a> for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our <a href="https://beekeepingtodaypodcast.com/strong-microbial-with-drs-vera-and-slava-strogolova-s3-e12" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Season 3, Episode 12</a> episode and from their website: <a href="https://www.strongmicrobials.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.strongmicrobials.com</a> This episode is brought to you by <a href="http://globalpatties.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Global Patties</a>! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at <a href="http://globalpatties.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">http://globalpatties.com</a> and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode!  We want to also thank <a href="https://www.2millionblossoms.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">2 Million Blossoms</a> as a sponsor of the podcast. <a href="https://www.2millionblossoms.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">2 Million Blossoms</a> is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. ___ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: <a href="mailto:questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com" rel="noopener">questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com</a> Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at <a href="http://www.beeculture.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.beeculture.com</a> Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

2021 Asian Giant Hornet Update with Sven-Erik Spichiger (S4, E29)

In this episode, we have a return visit with Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Sven-Erik Spichiger, to see how our honey bees’ newest threat, The Giant Asian Hornet, did last season in the Pacific Northwest. The AGH was wildly sensationalized last year, picking up the moniker of “Murder Hornet”, which actually helped garner some attention to both this beast and the Department’s quest to locate nests and capture specimens. Over 900 traps were placed in very northern Washington by department officials, 325 by private land managers and park officials, and private citizen scientists in the state put up over 1200 traps to assist in the venture. The promotional efforts of the Department were very successful and with this many traps, they caught 31 individual specimens, 15 from government traps and 16 from public outreach. They did learn a lot about the traps and what to use for bait. Those that don’t kill a captured hornet were the best, so the specimen could be radio-tagged and followed, hopefully, back to its nest. This is where the USDA’s APHIS came in handy because they were able to supply additional tags for the program. They were able to capture, and tag one individual and follow it back to the nest, and eventually they found the nest it came from. Score 1 for the good guys. What they still don’t know is how far virgin queens go when looking to mate, what else do they eat here (besides honey bees), and are there any natural predators or any diseases here that can be used in the fight. It’s also unknown how hard a Washington winter can be on overwintering queens. As of the date of this episode, it’s early April when we talked, the Department needs an army of volunteers to trap queens to stop them from forming additional nests. To find out more, or to volunteer, touch base at https://agr.wa.gov/hornets and see if you can help. Tell Sven we sent you. He can use the help. Listen today! Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:  Washington State Department of Agriculture, Asian Giant Hornet Update page - https://agr.wa.gov/hornets WASDA Hornet Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/hornets   Honey Bee Obscura Podcast - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com     __ Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode!  We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. ___ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com  Thank you for listening!  Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong", Musicalman, "Epilogue" Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

In this episode, we have a return visit with Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Sven-Erik Spichiger, to see how our honey bees’ newest threat, The Giant Asian Hornet, did last season in the Pacific Northwest. The AGH was wildly sensationalized last year, picking up the moniker of “Murder Hornet”, which actually helped garner some attention to both this beast and the Department’s quest to locate nests and capture specimens. Over 900 traps were placed in very northern Washington by department officials, 325 by private land managers and park officials, and private citizen scientists in the state put up over 1200 traps to assist in the venture. The promotional efforts of the Department were very successful and with this many traps, they caught 31 individual specimens, 15 from government traps and 16 from public outreach. They did learn a lot about the traps and what to use for bait. Those that don’t kill a captured hornet were the best, so the specimen could be radio-tagged and followed, hopefully, back to its nest. This is where the USDA’s APHIS came in handy because they were able to supply additional tags for the program. They were able to capture, and tag one individual and follow it back to the nest, and eventually they found the nest it came from. Score 1 for the good guys. What they still don’t know is how far virgin queens go when looking to mate, what else do they eat here (besides honey bees), and are there any natural predators or any diseases here that can be used in the fight. It’s also unknown how hard a Washington winter can be on overwintering queens. As of the date of this episode, it’s early April when we talked, the Department needs an army of volunteers to trap queens to stop them from forming additional nests. To find out more, or to volunteer, touch base at <a href="https://agr.wa.gov/hornets" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://agr.wa.gov/hornets</a> and see if you can help. Tell Sven we sent you. He can use the help. Listen today! Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: <ul> <li>Washington State Department of Agriculture, Asian Giant Hornet Update page - <a href="https://agr.wa.gov/hornets" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://agr.wa.gov/hornets</a></li> <li>WASDA Hornet Facebook Page - <a href="https://wwwfacebook.com/groups/hornets" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/groups/hornets</a></li> </ul> <ul> <li>Honey Bee Obscura Podcast - <a href="https://www.honeybeeobscura.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.honeybeeobscura.com</a></li> </ul> __ Thanks to <a href="https://www.strongmicrobials.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Strong Microbials</a> for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our <a href="https://beekeepingtodaypodcast.com/strong-microbial-with-drs-vera-and-slava-strogolova-s3-e12" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Season 3, Episode 12</a> episode and from their website: <a href="https://www.strongmicrobials.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.strongmicrobials.com</a> This episode is brought to you by <a href="http://globalpatties.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Global Patties</a>! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at <a href="http://globalpatties.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">http://globalpatties.com</a> and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode!  We want to also thank <a href="https://www.2millionblossoms.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">2 Million Blossoms</a> as a sponsor of the podcast. <a href="https://www.2millionblossoms.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">2 Million Blossoms</a> is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. ___ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: <a href="mailto:questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com" rel="noopener">questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com</a> Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at <a href="http://www.beeculture.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.beeculture.com</a> Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong", Musicalman, "Epilogue" Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

2021 Asian Giant Hornet Update with Sven-Erik Spichiger  (S3, E45)

The world’s largest hornet, The Asian Giant Hornet was discovered in the State of Washington in the fall of 2019. Also known as the Japanese Hornet, the Yak-Killer Hornet or the Giant Sparrow Bee, this ground nesting giant is as big as your thumb, and just loves eating honey bees.  Honey bee larvae that is. It just kills all the honey bee adults in a hive to get to the larvae, leaving behind devastation beyond belief. Control is stopping the spread of queens in the fall, which means finding nests in the summer. Listen in as Sven-Erik Spichiger,  the Washington State Entomologist, and North America’s leading hornet hunter and expert fills us in on all the details. What to look for, when to look, how to trap them and more. Hope that getting rid of this pest happens in Washington this season, but be ready for them if not. Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode –  WSDA Asian Giant Hornet Website:  https://agr.wa.gov/departments/insects-pests-and-weeds/insects/hornets USDA Asian Giant Hornet Fact Sheet:  https://cms.agr.wa.gov/WSDAKentico/Documents/PP/PestProgram/Vespa_mandarinia_NPRG_10Feb2020-(002).pdf Washington State University Extension AGH Site: https://extension.wsu.edu/wam/asian-giant-hornet-found-locally-what-we-know/ The Hive Butler: https://www.thehivebutler.com    Newly Added Links   How to Identify Different Wasp Species:  https://entomologytoday.org/2020/05/11/big-beautiful-confusing-deciphering-true-hornets-vespa/    __ This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode!  We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. ___ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com  Thank you for listening!  Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

The world’s largest hornet, The Asian Giant Hornet was discovered in the State of Washington in the fall of 2019. Also known as the Japanese Hornet, the Yak-Killer Hornet or the Giant Sparrow Bee, this ground nesting giant is as big as your thumb, and just loves eating honey bees.  Honey bee larvae that is. It just kills all the honey bee adults in a hive to get to the larvae, leaving behind devastation beyond belief. Control is stopping the spread of queens in the fall, which means finding nests in the summer. Listen in as Sven-Erik Spichiger,  the Washington State Entomologist, and North America’s leading hornet hunter and expert fills us in on all the details. What to look for, when to look, how to trap them and more. Hope that getting rid of this pest happens in Washington this season, but be ready for them if not. Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode – <ul> <li>WSDA Asian Giant Hornet Website: <a href="https://agr.wa.gov/departments/insects-pests-and-weeds/insects/hornets" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> https://agr.wa.gov/departments/insects-pests-and-weeds/insects/hornets</a></li> <li>USDA Asian Giant Hornet Fact Sheet: <a href="https://cms.agr.wa.gov/WSDAKentico/Documents/PP/PestProgram/Vespa_mandarinia_NPRG_10Feb2020-(002).pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> https://cms.agr.wa.gov/WSDAKentico/Documents/PP/PestProgram/Vespa_mandarinia_NPRG_10Feb2020-(002).pdf</a></li> <li>Washington State University Extension AGH Site: <a href="https://extension.wsu.edu/wam/asian-giant-hornet-found-locally-what-we-know/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://extension.wsu.edu/wam/asian-giant-hornet-found-locally-what-we-know/</a></li> <li>The Hive Butler: <a href="https://www.thehivebutler.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.thehivebutler.com</a></li> </ul> Newly Added Links <ul> <li>How to Identify Different Wasp Species: <a href="https://entomologytoday.org/2020/05/11/big-beautiful-confusing-deciphering-true-hornets-vespa/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> https://entomologytoday.org/2020/05/11/big-beautiful-confusing-deciphering-true-hornets-vespa/</a></li> <li> </li> </ul> __ This episode is brought to you by <a href="http://globalpatties.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Global Patties</a>! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at <a href="http://globalpatties.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">http://globalpatties.com</a> and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode!  We want to also thank <a href="https://www.2millionblossoms.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">2 Million Blossoms</a> as a sponsor of the podcast. <a href="https://www.2millionblossoms.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">2 Million Blossoms</a> is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum. ___ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: <a href="mailto:questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com" rel="noopener">questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com</a> Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at <a href="http://www.beeculture.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.beeculture.com</a> Thank you for listening! Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"