We are just around the corner from the 2025 Great Florida Pollinator Census, and we need your help!
2024 was the first year Florida joined the Great Southeast Pollinator Census, a pollinator stewardship project launched by University of Georgia in 2017. In our inaugural year we recorded over 89,000 insects in 55 of 67 counties in Florida which is no small task, but wouldn’t it be great if at least one person in each county of the state took 15 minutes to observe pollinators?
How can you help?
Join the census yourself on August 22nd and 23rd and share information about the census with your friends and family in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Alabama to maximize this valuable citizen scientist project!
Additional resources and a few upcoming events!
Great Southeast Pollinator Census Great Florida Pollinator Census Facebook Group August 21st Gardening in the Panhandle LIVE! Great Southeast Pollinator Census – Bee a Citizen Scientist! Webinar August 22, 2025 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. CDT Pollinator Count at the UF/IFAS Extension Escambia County Demonstration Gardens, 3740 Stefani Rd, Cantonment, FL. Drop in during the times listed to join a 15-minute count, no registration required. For questions contact Beth Bolles at bbolles@ufl.edu August 22, 2025 9:00 – 9:30 a.m., 12-12:30 p.m., or 3:30 – 4:00 p.m. CDT, Count Pollinators with us at the UF/IFAS Extension Washington County Office, 1424 Jackson Avenue, Chipley, FL. Three designated times for guided pollinator counts, no registration required. For questions contact Julie McConnell at juliebmcconnell@ufl.edu August 22, 2025 9:00 a.m. – 12 p.m. EDT, Pollinator Census with UF/IFAS Extension Taylor County, 203 Forest Park Dr, Perry, FL. For questions contact Lisa Strange, lstrange@ufl.edu August 22nd & 23rd 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. EDT,The Great Southeast Pollinator Census in Brevard County, UF/IFAS Extension Brevard County Extension Office, 3695 Lake Dr, Cocoa, FL. Class and pollinator count, free but requires registration through Eventbrite. For questions contact Sally Scalera, sasc@ufl.edu Friday August 22nd ticket or Saturday August 23rd Ticket
Sunflower after the rain. Photo: J. McConnell, UF/IFAS
Summer showers are finally giving gardens relief, but in addition to happy flowers, mosquitoes are also benefitting from the rainfall. Mosquitoes are not only a nuisance, but they can also transmit diseases and parasites to people, pets, and livestock so managing them on your property is a matter of public health!
The knee-jerk reaction to mosquitoes is to try to kill the blood-sucking flying fiends, but targeting this life stage will not solve the mosquito problem. Instead, focus your efforts on breaking up the breeding cycle to reduce the population. Less ideal breeding sites equals less larvae (juvenile mosquitoes) and pupae which equals less biting adults!
A female black salt marsh mosquito emerges from submerged pupal skin. UF/IFAS File Photo
In addition to being more effective than targeting adults that can fly away or avoid insecticides, most of your breeding site reduction methods are free or low cost; the biggest investment is your time! Step one is to recognize potential breeding sites on your property. Most people recognize that a stack of tires, buckets full of water, or even that decorative bird bath are potential breeding sites but there are also less obvious ones. A covered grill that has an indention that holds a few tablespoons of water, boats or kayaks, children’s toys, gutters that have accumulated leaves or other debris, the saucer under your container plant, or the leaf axils of bromeliad plants are all potential breeding sites.
So, what do you do about this? When practical dump or drain out the water every 3-4 days and wipe down any vertical surfaces of containers where mosquito eggs could be laid. If you are unable to drain or dump, consider treating the water with Bti (Bacillus thuriengiensis israelensis) which is a targeted biological control that only affects mosquitoes, black flies, and fungus gnats. Bti is a naturally occurring bacteria that impacts the digestive system of a few select species in the order Diptera (flies). It is not toxic to people, pets, or wildlife and depending on the formulation can last several weeks before reapplication is necessary. Commonly sold as “mosquito dunks” or “mosquito bits” this insecticide is sold at garden centers and home improvement stores and is relatively inexpensive. As with any pesticide, follow all instructions on the label.
When I walk around the garden every day I take a little inventory of how things are growing, what is flowering, and am always on the lookout for new bugs I haven’t seen before. This past week I was pleasantly surprised by what at first I thought was a bee with a long mouthpart (proboscis), but soon realized it was not a bee at all!
This small, flying insect buzzed up to purple flowers on several plants in my garden. The body was covered in golden hairs with some black showing through giving it that distinctive bee look. The proboscis was so long in proportion to the rest of the insect that it reminded me of the beak on a hummingbird. Still thinking it was a bee of some kind I started trying to get a picture and that is when I saw the telltale antennae and eyes that clued me in that this was not a bee at all, but rather some type of fly.
So, what was this strange looking insect? It is a bee mimic commonly called a bee fly (Bombylius spp.). The bee fly not only looks like a bee, but it takes advantage of native bees to support its young. The female bee fly watches where a ground dwelling solitary bee makes her nest and as she forages for pollen to feed her young the bee fly drops an egg nearby. After hatching the bee fly larva makes its way into the real bee’s nesting chamber and eats the pollen provisions then eats the bee larva. Since solitary ground dwelling bees tend to aggregate in similar suitable locations, I can only guess that the bee fly’s clever disguise prevents it from drawing attention as a threat to the hardworking bee.
Some years it can be hard to tell that the season has shifted from winter to spring in Northwest Florida, but this year we are seeing ideal temperatures for summer vegetable gardens as we shift into April. Soil temperature is affected by ambient temperature and the last few weeks of warm weather has helped to make the ground more conducive to germination of warm season seeds and support growth of transplants. If you have not started your garden yet, do not despair, you still have time to get things growing!
Below is a short list of ideas for your vegetable garden, and you can find more detailed information in the Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide.
Direct seed (plant seeds directly into the garden instead of transplant) recommendations:
UF/IFAS Extension Washington County and the Central Panhandle Beekeepers Association have lined up some top-notch speakers and will ensure there are educational opportunities for all skill levels at this two-day event. Speakers will be joining us from the UF/IFAS Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and beekeepers with experience managing honey bees in this region.
Early bird registration is open through 4:59 p.m. on March 17, 2025, so get your tickets now for the best value!
The University of Florida is committed to providing universal access to all of our events. To arrange disability accommodations, please contact Julie McConnell (juliebmcconnell@ufl.edu ) or call 850-638-6180 at least 2 weeks in advance. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Institution.
2024 was the first year Florida joined the Great Southeast Pollinator Census, a pollinator stewardship project launched by University of Georgia in 2017. In our inaugural year we recorded over 89,000 insects in 55 of 67 counties in Florida which is no small task, but wouldn’t it be great if at least one person in each county of the state took 15 minutes to observe pollinators?
