Ground bees, it's that time of year again.

Saw 2 nests this week. One in a timber landscape wall at our rentals and one last night in the neighbor's firewood stack as i was riding by on the quad. Just happened to see a gray paper blob on the ground between 2 splits. Some kind of yellow/black bastages.
Neighbor said he'd hit it with the mower next time he mows, i told him he'd probably be better off if he just weed eated it...




Man! I hate those things!

 

I just did battle with one of those in our mulch next to the house.

 

Oh yea, they seem to love mulch.

 

I think I burned the last nest I found.

 

I had a nest on a hillside last week. Weird, I've never had them there before. I put a piece of plywood over the entry for a while. Seemed to work. They were just larger than honey bee size but not as large as bumbles. I see them on clover in the yard.

 

Sounds like Yellow Jackets to me. Bears will dig up the nests to eat the larva - they make no honey, they are a wasp not a bee. Hard to kill a nest the size of a volleyball when it only has a whole the size of a nickel. One way is a pour in a cup of gasoline and then plop a pile of dirt on top of that (do this at night or expect to run). The fumes kill them. DO NOT LIGHT THE GAS! Every year we have someone who starts a wildfire that way.

Is this what you have?

Photo is of a nest that was dug up at my place a couple days ago, the Yellow Jackets are trying to repair it.

 

Darn.. You beat me to it


Still..

 

If it's really in the ground, I wait till dark, get a measuring cup full of sevn dust and than dump it on top of the hole. I'll go collect the cup in the next day or two.
Never had to reapply or worry about that nest again.

 

Don't run a mower or weedwacker over it. Those s.o.b's. will sting you in a heartbeat. I usually spray down the opening with a whole can flying insect killer about 1 hr after dark.

 

Don't worry.

 

When I run into those I wait till evening and I dump about a gallon of used motor oil down the hole (makes their wings sticky so they can't fly and saturates the hive) the a little follow up with some gas and a match!

Dump the gas in two spurts. Then a few seconds after the last dump light em up! Works every time.

 

My last nest in the ground... I tried the after dark trick of dumping around a cup of dish washing liquid into the hole, and then flooding it with the garden hose. Killed em all.

 

Any idea what I have here? They are still there and not aggressive at all. My dad used to keep honey bees and these aren’t those plus I’ve never heard of them nesting underground.




I put some more dirt on top and covered it again. I’m sure that won’t keep em out/in. Not really worried about it at this point, they are very passive. Just wondering what they actually are.

 

Look like bumble bees. They nest under ground. Here in Maine, unless ya annoy the chit out of em... they're pretty laid back.

 

That's what it looks like to me. I've only been stung by a bumble bee once. I stepped on it with bare feet and it let me know.

 

I have had my share of run ins with wasp ground nests. Wait till dark and a good shot of wasp spray takes care of them. One day working outside, my dog laid down on the deck to watch me. Few minutes later he let out a couple yips and took off running. Found a softball sized Baldface hornet nest on the underside right where he was laying. Shot of foaming wasp spray ended that problem.

 

Thanks guys Stinny Horkn . I always remembered bumbles as a bit bigger but they sure do look the part. I'll leave em' bee, lol!

 

When i run into those i
run away screaming like a little girl!
I hate those little basturds! And I'm getting more and more allergic to them.

 

Yellow jackets, bald face hornets, are serious a@#$&oles in the forests of Oregon(and plenty of other places too). Got to be super careful from July to mid fall. Once the nights start getting cold they seem to hibernate. The bald face hornets in the woods where I cut are nothing to mess with, way worse than the yellow jackets.