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California Gardening

Bees or wasps living in ground in garden??

16 years ago

I live in northern California, and I recently discovered (in mid-August) a ground nest or hive of either bees or wasps (or possibly yellow jackets) in my backyard garden. There's a small hole in the ground between an impatiens and a daylily; the insects fly out when I water that area of the yard. They seem to go straight for my hair--which is scary--although I haven't been stung yet. I seem to have more of these bees or wasps flying around every time I water--from a few when I first noticed them to more than a dozen this week. I'm not sure if they're bees--which I definitely wouldn't want to kill given the bee shortage--or wasps, or yellow jackets. They aren't very big--about 1/2 inch long. Does anyone have any ideas about what species they might be and whether it would be safe or risky to dig up the hole in an effort to get them to move elsewhere? If they're wasps (or hornets or yellowjackets), I'd like to get rid of them with an environmentally safe method. TIA for any replies. marilano

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Comments (5)

calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
16 years ago
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7450.html
Please read the above Pestnotes from UC Davis before trying to eliminate the Yellow Jackets which will get more numerous everyday. Al
napapen
16 years ago
They are definitely yellow jackets. Last time I had a nest I called the Mosquito abatement office and they sent an individual out here who suited up and sprayed into the nest. We are in the season now where they are very aggressive.

Penny
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I am apparently allergic to wasp stings having gone to the hospital with severe swelling on my arm. But I am not afraid of them because in the construction business I encounter alot of them and I know that they won't bother you if you don't either disturb thier nest, swat at them or accidentally bump against them. What disturbs me about the post is the gallon of gasoline. Gasoline is highly toxic to humans as well as animals and plants of all kinds, and most of our drinking water comes from the ground. Next time I would either mark the area to warn people away or spray the nest at night with wasp & hornet killer. be sure to be upwind of the nest as you don't want to breath the stuff. It sounds like the stings were pretty bad so I hope you never encounter them again. Stay well. Alan Parker
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Hi Bedford! Several years ago my hubby made some bee houses in hopes of attracting mason bees. I hung them in trees and something is using them, but I never watched them long enough to see what it was. However, there are thousands of kinds of solitary bees that are useful to have in our gardens and some of them look very wasp like. I googled some articles (and got rather inspired to make more bees boxes while skimming over them) that said one way to tell bees from wasps is most bees, but not all, will have fuzzy legs for collecting pollen. But you might need a microscope to see the feather like hairs on bee's legs. Near the bottom of the article linked below are links to pictures of some of those 20,000 species of wild bees. Here is another excellent article that you can copy and past into your browser about the usefulness of solitary bees with a lot of illustrations of different kinds of bee houses to attract them. It says that some wild bees are thousands of times more efficient at pollination than honey bees. http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/nativebee.html Good luck with your bee houses. And thanks for the reminder of what a boon it is to have wild bees and how we can attract them. Incidentally in case anyone is wondering -- wild bees are generally not agressive and many do not have stingers. In any case foraging bees, including honey bees, are not agressive and do not sting. While taking photos I've gotten within inches of them and even brushed against them and they just get out of the way. Here is a link that might be useful: Gordon's Solitary Bee Page
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marilano
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the replies, Penny and Al. I followed up on the weblink and called my local Vector Control Dept. It took a day to hear from someone there. Even though their website mentions yellowjackets, the guy left a message on my machine saying that I should probably hire a professional to take care of them (unless I'm prepared to suit up like a beekeeper--which I'm not). I suppose that is the safest thing, so I'll probably call a pest control company that offers environmentally sensitive solutions. It's surprising (pleasantly so) that if these are indeed yellowjackets (rather than other wasps or bees), they haven't stung me yet, even on the occasions when they've gone up a sleeve or gotten in my hair. Does anyone know if the colony would die out in the fall in the San Jose area, given our mild winters?
calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
16 years ago
Yes all but the queen will die when the weather turns cold, but she will be ready to populate your garden in the spring with the warm weather, including San Jose. Al
Lydia Lee
16 years ago
We had a yellow-jacket's nest in the ground (at the base of a clump of irises). The local city pest control dept. sent a guy out who suited up and sprayed it, which took care of it. I too would have preferred a less-toxic approach, but since I'm one of those people who needs to carry an epi pen in case of wasp stings, I went the more aggressive route.

There is some stuff on the market that touts itself as eco-friendly, it has mint oil. I got it at the local hardware store and we've used it on visible wasp's nests hanging from eaves and such.

Here is a link that might be useful: Victor Wasp and Hornet Spray

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