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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, April 21, 2021
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Crawlies with Cri: by Christy Solo
Weather
Watch
Cave Junction
Thursday, April 22
Mostly Sunny
High --74 Low -- 41
Friday, April 23
Mostly Cloudy
High -- 74 Low -- 43
Saturday, April 24
Showers
High -- 54 Low -- 40
Sunday, April 25
Rain
High -- 49 Low -- 38
Monday, April 26
Showers
High -- 54 Low -- 37
Tuesday, April 27
AM Showers
High -- 63 Low -- 42
Wednesday, April 28
Showers
High -- 68 Low -- 44
Following are the high & low temperatures,
and rainfall recorded at The End of the Road
in O’Brien by Cheryl Johnson:
Apr
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
High
63.6
63.1
71.2
65.1
67.9
72.9
76.3
Low
36.7
33.8
34.9
30.6
32.6
30.2
33.3
Rain
(Photo by Christy Solo for the Illinois Valley News)
Small carpenter bee (genus Ceratina)
Most people are familiar with
carpenter bees. Those big buzzers who
can be seen out and about this time of
year; but did you know carpenter bees
come in size XS too? Meet the small
carpenter bee (genus Ceratina).
“Small” is no understatement;
there are 24 species of Ceratina in
North America and all of them top out at
under one-quarter of an inch in length.
They’re so small it’s likely you’ve seen
them, but not noticed them. They all but
disappear in flowers like dandelions and
a group of them flying together is easily
mistaken for small flies or gnats.
Small carpenter bees are well
worth taking a closer look at, however.
These bitty metallic blue-green bees are
powerful little pollinators of flowers and
crops alike. They pollinate crops like
beans, sesame, cowpeas and apples.
They’re flower generalists, so will
visit a wide variety of flowers in your
yard.
With many bee species, only
queens overwinter so their numbers
aren’t very high for early spring
Apr Rain: 0.0”
YTD Rain: 47.33”
pollination. With small carpenter bees,
however, many adult females overwinter
so they emerge in significant numbers
ready to be crop and garden helpers.
Small carpenter bees are
technically solitary bees; they don’t
have communal nests. however,
several females may build nests close
together. There are a very few species
where females (generally mothers and
daughters) will share the same nest.
Small carpenter bees build their
nests in pithy burned or cut stems
(stems with soft/spongy centers and
hard exteriors, like blackberry). They
excavate the center of the stem with
their mandibles (bitey mouth parts) and
use the nest for sleeping, overwintering
and in spring for egg laying.
Female small carpenter bees
will excavate up to 11 inches down
into a stem, then lay an egg, tuck in
provisions, seal off the mini chamber
– rinse and repeat almost to the top of
the stem.
The female will then sleep in the
top chamber, guarding her young until
BY THE YARD:
they have all hatched.
The whole brood works together to
ensure they all survive as well. Because
the eggs at the bottom of the stem are
laid first, they’ll generally hatch first.
So, how do they get past their siblings?
The oldest bee chews apart the cell
cap above it, then packs it down at the
base of its own cell.
If the sibling above it is not
mature, the older bee carefully moves it
down to the newly created floor.
If the sibling above is mature, the
eldest goes past them and chews up the
cell cap above, then passes that material
to the younger bee (s) below. Then those
siblings pack the material at the bottom
of the nest and move and adjust any
remaining immature pupae.
The process is slow and
meticulous; it can take eight days for the
eldest to finally emerge from the nest.
Small carpenter bees can be found
throughout our area in a wide variety of
habitats. They’ll be on the wing through
at least September being sparkly and
helping crops and flowers grow.
BY THE BAG/TOTE:
DG & Sand
1 Yard Tote
Granite, River & Shale
Perlite (4CF)
Bark-O-Mulch
Perlite (60CF)
Pumice (2 sizes)
Peat Moss (3.8 CF)
Washed Steer Manure
Peat Moss (55 CF)
OMRI Compost
Premium Worm Castings
Compost’N Pumice
Compost Chicken & Pumice
BY THE BLOCK:
50/50 Mix (Chicken & Steer)
Coco Peat Blocks
Oregon Mix
BY THE PALLET:
Coco Peat (fluffed)
WSDA Composted Chicken Manure
Peat Moss
OMRI ROCK’N SOIL POTTING SOIL
Coco Peat Blocks
DOWN TO EARTH AMENDMENTS
OMRI 1 LOVE POTTING SOIL
CULVERTS - GARDEN, GREENHOUSE, HARVEST, IRRIGATION & LANDSCAPE SUPPLY - ROAD FABRIC
3/4 MINUS, DRAIN, DRIVEWAY & GRAVEL ROCK
272 N. Old Stage Road
Cave Junction, OR 97523
rocknsoil-oregon.com
@ROCKNSOILOREGON
rocknsoil@frontier.com
Locally Made and Family Owned - Be Green One Tote or Truck at a Time