Get Rid Of Ground Nesting Bees

When dealing with ground nesting bees you want to determine what kind of bee you are dealing with and how to control that kind of be; and if it is worth the risk. The following is a list of some common ground nesting bees:

1. CICADA KILLER: This is a large and robust looking wasp that can grow as large as 1 and 5/8 inches long! Quite an intimidating looking wasp, but generally they are content with going about their business of digging holes in your dirt leaving holes with sandy looking dirt around the outside of that hole and stuffing unsuspecting cicadas in that hole to feed their young. Females can sting, but rarely do. They have been known to get caught in clothing or disturbed by lawn equipment and nothing happened except maybe scaring the jeepers out of the human. The males will aggressively defend their female, but they do so by intimidation, they can not sting. If these ground nesting wasps are found and not bothering you, I would say leave them alone. If they are bothering or or are in great number, then a chemical spray will be necessary. Pest control companies can power spray the area for you or you can give it a shot yourself with a pump sprayer from your local home store. Be careful, read the label, and use caution. Like I said, the females can sting and for a wasp that is over an inch long, you can imagine what that sting must feel like!
2. YELLOW JACKETS: These wasps usually take over a vacated rodent burrow in your lawn and often times you discover these nests by mistake wile mowing the lawn or while your kids are playing outside. Yellow jackets can sting repeatedly and control of them should be left to a professional. Dusting the entrance hole with a good insect dust is your best bet for elimination as they will pick this dust up on themselves as they enter and exit the hole, bringing the dust into the nest and infecting the rest of the wasps. They are aggressive and dangerous.
3. DIGGER OR THREADWAISTED WASPS: These wasps are found hovering about an inch off of your lawn and there may be many of them. They appear and stay all day and usually are gone by evening. These wasps are not aggressive as people have been know to walk right through these wasps with no problem. They can sting but rarely do. Control can be accomplished by spraying while the wasps are active via a power spray that a professional can provide.
4. BUMBLE BEES: Another bee that takes over vacated ground space from rodents or other holes in the ground. Nests can be detected by the males hovering around the entrance to the nest, but often times this is not the way they are found unfortunately, it is more like you stumble upon a bumble. These are aggressive bees and can inflict painful stings. If they are found, but not in a area of danger for you or your family, it is best to leave them be, as they are useful pollinators.

This is a shot list of some of the more common ground nesting bees and wasps that you may encounter during your summertime. As I always say when dealing with bees or wasps, it is best to leave their control to the professionals. If you do decide to tackle a problem on your own be sure to do so with a partner who watches from a distance and who can call for help in the event that things get dangerous.

Wood Drilling Bees

Carpenter Bees are scary and intimidating and if left to their own devises for too long, destructive. The female drills a perfect hole into your home, fence, etc, and lays her eggs in that hole. The male carpenter bee "protects" the hole by hovering around the area and dive bombing anyone who goes near it. Treating these bees can be tricky. Pest control technicians will often times power spray the area if it is large enough, or if it is only a few holes, they will dust the holes and seal them up. This can require ladders which makes it a dangerous do it yourself project. Looks for drip marks on your home as this is where the frass is dripping out of the hole. This will alert you to where the bees may be hiding behind siding or fascia board. If you have exposed wood, painting it with a heavy latex type paint can help deter them.

Bees in the ground

There are several species of wasps and bees that tend to dig into the ground to either nest or lay eggs. Cicada Killers, digger wasps, yellow jackets, and so on. If you have a case of the giant cicada killers and they are far enough away from you and not really bothering you, I would say to leave them alone. They are very seasonal and do no harm. If they are patrolling the area right next to your walk way then you may want to shoot some insect dust into the hole, at night, carefully. Same goes for yellow jackets, but again, extreme caution. Digger wasps and the wasps you see flying low to the ground can be controlled via a god surface spray. Most times though, I recommend hiring a pro when dealing with wasps or bees.They can be harmful if managed incorrectly.

Ground Wasps

The little black wasps that hover close to the ground are back. I watched a person walking down the street near a field look over and realize these ground bees were hovering around and he went crazy. flapping and running like the world was ending. Fact is they are not that aggressive and usually leave you alone. They are around for a short time, then they are gone. If you feel the need to treat them a simple garden spray will do.

Big ground bees

Big ground bees around this time of the year (late July and August) could usually be identified as cicada killer wasps. These "big bees" are solitary ground bees that dig a hole in the ground, leaving a pile of sandy like earth outside the hole. This hole is where the wasp will place a paralyzed cicada and lay it's egg in the paralyzed body. So how do you get rid of these mad scientist bees? Well, usually if then bee is not in an area that disturbs you then it is best to leave them alone. They are not aggressive bees. If they are in an area you frequent then you will want to treat the entrance hole. This is best done with a good professional grade insecticide dust. It should be done at night when the bees are not flying around. It should be done very carefully. Be sure to wear long sleeves and pants, eye goggles, gloves. Approach with an escape route in mind. If you are nervous you can purchase a tool that allows you to dust the hole from a far distance called a bee pole. These professional products will need to be bought online at a good do it yourself pest control products website or an over the counter pest control supply store or distributor. Be careful and good luck.

Wasps and bees in hole

I've gotten questions about how to handle bees or wasps that were entering a small hole in an outside wall that happened to be near an entrance door. My first recommendation is not to seal that hole. If you sealed it then all the bees and wasps coming back from foraging for the day would get agitated and confused and wind up stinging. The best approach is to buy a dust with a nozzle and in the evening dust the hole. This dust enters the area the bees are nesting and as new bees go in and out they brush up against the dust and bring it further into the nest, ultimately killing off the nest. A good product to use is Tempo dust or Apicide, either product could be found on the Internet on a DIY pest control products website or at your local distributor. As always, use caution and be aware of the possibility of getting stung or others getting stung. Sometimes with bees, wasps, or hornets your best bet is to call in the pros.

Ground Bees and their control

Ground bees come in all shapes and sizes. Some are great in number and some live by themselves. Ground bees can incorporate wasps, bumble bees, yellow jackets, cicada killers, and digger wasps. Some are dangerous and some not so bad. So what's a person to do?
If you encounter a swarm of low flying black wasps or bees in your garden then you have an infestation of digger wasps or ground digging bees. They are not very aggressive and most cases you can walk through them without getting stung. As always, if you are or suspect that you are allergic then stay clear of all bees and wasps.
If you encounter large bees a few inches long then you have a case of cicada killers. Again, not very aggressive.
Yellow jackets and bumble bees can attack so be careful.
The best way to handle most of these ground bees is to dust their holes with a good insecticide dust. These dusts can be bought online at do it yourself pest control products stores. A good dust to look for is apicide, tempo, or delta dust. If dealing with yellow jackets or bumble bees use extreme caution, dust in the evening, or call a professional exterminator.

Bees in wood

The big bees that dive bomb you in the spring time are called Carpenter Bees. They actually drill a perfect circle hole in the wood members of your home and they become bothersome when the males, who hover around that hole, fly at you to intimidate. The male bees are not capable of stinging, and the female bee, who is more worried about tending to the egg in the hole, can sting you, but it is unlikely unless you grab one in your hand and squeeze.
Treating for these bees can be expensive and sometimes time consuming. It is recommend to hire a pest control professional as they are better equipped to treat the areas the bees are damaging. The exterminator will use a power spray machine most likely in the event the bees are up high or there are many of them. Another method would be to dust as many holes that you can find with a good insecticide dust. The problem with this is that the bees sometimes find their way under the flashing or up under wood pieces where you can't get to. One last method is to paint the wood areas with a thick latex type paint. This is not really one hundred percent tested and not always practical. If you go the route of treating each hole, be sure to go back a few days later to seal the holes with a good wood putty.

Bees and wasps

Out in force and ready for action. Bees and wasps are popping up in houses, attics, and generally being a pest outside again. Spring is here and summer is right around the corner and if the bugs of summer are not already out they will be soon. If you have a bee or wasp inside it is probably just an over wintering bee. If you start seeing several then there could be a chance that they have found a home in your walls or attic or near a window. Here are some things you do not want to do. If you see them entering the wall, do not plug up that hole! They will for sure find there way into your home even worse. A professional would dust the hole which would kill off the bees or wasps. If you have bees or wasps in your attic, do not fog! This will kill off a few but could agitate the rest and drive them down into your home. If you suspect honey bees, do not attempt to eliminate them yourself. Call a professional.

Wasps and Bees

Fall brings with it some good outdoor fun. This season brings to mind memories of the apple fests and pumpkin patch fairs, spiced apple cider and pies! This season also brings with it the bees and wasps! They love the sweet apple juices and all the great food associated with fall festivities. There are some options to keeping these wasps and yellow jackets at bay. Traps are always a good bet. There is also a product called the waspinator that mimics a wasp or hornets nest and this scares other bees and yellow jackets away. After all, it's a competing nest and they rather not disturb another nests turf to avoid war, so they stay away. It takes diligence and a good plan to keep wasps and bees at bay, but with a little bit of work and careful placement of traps and products like the waspinator it can be a sting free fall!

Colony Collapse Disorder In Bees

We finally have a culprit in the demise of the nation's and the world's bee population due to colony collapse disorder. Researchers from Penn State and Columbia has named Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) as the reason behind CCD. There findings were made public in the journal SCIENCE. Now that we know what's causing it, maybe we can solve the problem. Great job!

Colony Collapse Disorder

It's been the mystery of the century. Colony Collapse Disorder. Bees disappearing off the face of the earth at alarming numbers. This mystery ranks up there with the Bermuda Triangle and Roswell and until now there has only been speculation and concern. That has been the case until now. Thursday the sixth of September, a prestigious scientific journal will publish a research paper from the scientists from Penn State and Columbia University about the topic of Colony Collapse Disorder. Hopefully this will shed some light on a very serious subject that has had entomologists and bee keepers scratching their heads for a long time.

Yellow Jackets, Wasps, and Bees

It's the end of summer and it's time for all the yellow jackets and bees to go crazy. Whether it be at your end of summer picnics or at the pumpkin patch around the apple cider area, yellow jackets and bees seem to be crazy and in your face. It happens every year and there is no way around it. All you can do is try to keep the things that bees like covered and maybe try to place traps around the area. You can get yellow jacket traps or bee traps at your local hardware store or online at your favorite DIY pest control supply website, and once you have them in hand then fill them up with some apple cider or sweet treat and place them around the perimeter of the area you will be hanging out. Place them up in trees or along the roof line or along the yard perimeter. Areas like this will keep the bees far enough away from the party and hopefully away from you.

Big bees in ground

Just what are those giant bees that dig out piles of dirt in the ground and scare the living daylights out of you? Some people call them ground bees. Their real name is the Cicada killer. These ground bees do good by keeping those loud cicadas under control, but they are scary and big and ugly. So how do you kill these big bees? Bug spray, or should I say, wasp spray, or should I say bee spray. Usually I wouldn't advocate spray for bees, but in this instance because they a solitary type bee, I would say it is ok to sharp shoot them out of the air and then dust the holes they lived in with a good insect dust. Sometimes you are unlucky enough to have a bunch of these bees burrowing in your landscape, in this case you may have to hire a professional who can spray large areas, and remember, this may be a yearly thing for a while. Now go out and buy a good wasp freeze spray and happy hunting!

Baits for bees

It looks like the votes are in. The best bait for the wasp/bee traps on the market is apple juice concentrate and water at a 50/50 part.

Bee watch

With the start of August upon us we have to address the issue of bees, wasps, and hornets becoming aggressive and steps to take to try to avoid getting stung. August and September are frantic months for bees and they often times get very aggressive and make there presence known at picnics and barbecues. So what can we do? First of all try to identify areas where wasps might be hanging out. By now they would have set up shop under your deck areas or in the corners of your eves or overhangs. Paper wasps are the biggest culprits. You will notice cones or umbrella homes and often several of them in an area. If you are brave, and these nests are easy to get to, you can spray them down yourself at night when activity is low and by using extreme caution. If you are nervous or not sure then I suggest hiring an exterminator to come out and take care of the problem. By eliminating the nests you will ease the stress of being outside and having to be bothered by bees. You can also buy traps at your local hardware store and place them on the outskirts of the area you will be hanging out. Next thing is to be careful what you have outside with regards to foods. They will no doubt crash your barbecue if you have fruit and sodas out in the open. Anything sweet will attract them so try your best to keep these foods covered or at a minimum. If you have cans of soda out on the table be sure to keep them covered as a bees may get into the can and your next sip can give you a stinging sensation!

Ground Bees

There are several kinds of bees that dig and nest in the ground. Some like Cicada Killers dig out a single hole, leaving what looks to be a mound of dirt or sand, and kills a cicada and buries the cicada and the bees egg in the hole. Cicada killers are very large looking bees, but they generally won't bother humans unless provoked. Some ways to control them would be to keep your lawn thick and well maintained to prevent the Cicada killers from finding adequate areas to nest or in some cases a chemical treatment will be necessary. Professionals often times will dust the holes or do a power spray. This treatment will need to be followed up on the follow year.
Another ground bee is known as the digger wasp. These wasps can appear to be hovering over the lawn and can appear in great numbers at times. They are not an aggressive wasp generally and the control is similar to the cicada killer, and that is to dust the holes or apply a broad range pesticide.
The ground nesting bees to watch out for are bumble bees and yellow jackets that will nest in abandoned rodent borrows or other holes in the ground. These bees are very aggressive and will attack and cause harm. Before mowing your lawn be sure to survey the lawn to make sure there is no bee activity coming or going from the ground. This is often the way humans are attacked. The above picture shows what a yellow jacket nest under ground can look like. These nests should be handled by professionals. They will most times dust the entrance hole using a dust stick to keep a distance and treat the holes this way. Do not use gasoline to try to kill them yourself. This is dangerous and will contaminate the ground.

Honey Bees Die

Will this become an epidemic? Some think so with speculation that the American food supply is at risk. Will we be reduced to the diet of prisoners, just having bread and water available? Hopefully it won't come to this point, but some are saying that the worst case scenario can result is such a drastic diet. Honey bees pollinate 90 percent of the flowering crops in the United States. Crops like Apples, Nuts, Asparagus, peaches, and blueberries, just to name a few are among the bees favorites. The bees also pollinate plants like alfalfa...and who eats this yummy meal you ask...why cattle of course. If the cattle can't eat then the bees are also affecting the beef supply. It can become a vicious domino effect if the honey bee problem is not resolved soon. This phenomenon is being called the Colony Collapse Disorder and it's not just contained in the United States. Other countries including Brazil and parts of Europe are also reporting this dilemma. Hopefully in time we will find out what is causing these bees to die and correct the problem before we start paying more for an apple than we are paying for a gallon of gas!

Fleas

Fleas are the most annoying insects to have in the home but one of the easiest to get rid of if you are willing to do the work. First off you must clean everything up off the floor and all the stuff from under the bed and off the floor of closets. You get the point. Next thing to do is vacuum like there is no tomorrow. Every inch of your home will need to be vacuumed. Be sure to throw away the vacuum bag as soon as you are done vacuuming. Next thing to do is get a product that has an insect growth regulator in it as well as an adulticide to kill all stages of the flea. Fleas develop in stages and it is important to break this life cycle. If you have a cat you may want to consider getting foggers with an Insect growth regulator in it to get the area up high that cats often frequent like high cabinets. If you have a dog you can get away with just a carpet spray. Be sure to have the cat or dog treated or dipped and try to use a product like front line for a few months. If you treat thoroughly and follow the labels on the products you should do a good job of eliminating the fleas. Some products pest control operators use are Ultracide, Precor, Precor Plus foggers, and Nylar. Do it yourself pest control places have products to use and you local Home Depot or Petsmart will have products to consider also.

Carpenter Bees

What are some of the products to use in their control?

Dusts are the product of choice when treating carpenter bee galleries. You will need a ladder and some courage. The carpenter bees will no doubt dive bomb your. IF you are on a high ladder treating eaves or roof top areas then use extreme caution. The dusts you can use are drione dust or tempo. Delta dust is also very good because it repels moisture. Treat every hole you can find. Perma Dust or Tri Die are canned dust and in aerosol form and easier to use in these situations. Even after spending the afternoon thoroughly treating every possible hole they are using it still might not get all of them and it won't deter new ones from starting a hole right next to the old ones. At least you will get some relief. They are a tough insect to control. Good Luck.