This chilly Wednesday morning started off in P2 where we completed yet another round of flower phenology. It won’t be long until we are going over end flowering protocol. There are over 1,000 heads in P2 alone this year and we have our hands full trying to keep up with their flowering rate. It rained on and off all day long, but we’re cultivating grit, and the fieldwork must carry on!
John and I have been very grateful to have Jennifer Ison and the Wooster students around this week. Jennifer taught us a lot of helpful tricks today for pinning the bees that we’ve collected in the yellow pan traps. John will attest, however, that old eyes and shaky hands that come as we get older, don’t make pinning any easier.
In other bee news, today Jennifer and Miyauna attempted to attach a string to a bee so they could watch it fly and attempt to recapture it. The idea of putting a bee on a leash was enough to get us laughing, but in the end, the attempt failed. We’ll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.
Many of us ended the day in P8 where we continued our measuring of Echinacea seedlings. We have yet to find any more flowering plants out there, but we’re hopeful. The search for toothpicks and measuring of leaves went very well and the plants are looking great!
Until next time Flog, stay dry, and just know that we aren’t:) – Shea Issendorf
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