Flower Power Garden Hour 33: Bees – How to start and maintain a colony

Flower Power Garden Hour

This is a much requested and anticipated episode with a deep dive on bees. Bee expert Dave Watson joins the show to share best practices for successfully raising bees. Dave provides a step by step process on how to set up your hive (including terminology/equipment), proper maintenance, location considerations, how to smoke bees, how to split colonies, pest/disease control, and much more (including hive social dynamics).

Dave is a fantastic teacher – this show serves as the How-To guide for those looking to get into beekeeping or seasoned beekeepers looking to expand their existing knowledge.

As part of his business, Dave helps people by removing bee swarms. This unique phenomena is discussed near the end of the podcast, with Dave sharing some of his best stories.

Check out Dave’s Facebook @ DRWatsonapiaries

Dave sells his NorCal Gold Country honey at The Golden Gecko, where he also teaches beekeeping classes

Other valuable resources are the Sacramento Area Beekeepers Association and their Facebook page (here)

To ask questions for future shows, submit them at Flower Power Garden Hour Facebook page, The Plant Lady Facebook page, or Instagram. You can also email Marlene questions, future show topic requests and feedback at [e-mail]