Bees - I know we need them, but I'm getting a lot!

[thomas.r.silverman]

Hey all,

So I'm getting a lot of bees attracted to one particular spot at the very bottom of a 20 gallon black fabric container growing potatoes.

I have a 10 gallon right next to it. Same soil/compost mixture, same potatoes, same everything but no bees. There seems to be a lot flying around the area, and I noticed earlier there was a good 10-12 of them all on the container buzzing around one spot. I moved them away gently with a hose, nothing to be seen on that spot.

If I had a bigger yard and didn't have two curious dogs I'd leave them be, but with their numbers increasing I thought I'd see if anyone had any ideas/solutions how to move them on nicely!

Thanks.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

What are they doing? Nesting? Collecting pollen/nectar? Resting?


If they're native bees, you'd likely have nothing to worry about. My gardens are loaded with bees and I've never been stung by any, even though I'm constantly bumping into them and disrupting them.

Honey bees, yellow jackets, hornets, and wasps are much more likely to sting if bothered.

 

[thomas.r.silverman]

They look like honey bees to me when I compare to pictures online. They don't match up to any California natives.

I moved the potato pot and saw the bees were in and out of my sprinkler system behind it. I removed the cap of that and it looks like they were maybe just drinking? They don't seem to be nesting. So maybe they're just reacting to this hot weather too.

 

[Tetters]

Here is a link for you to look at. Bees need water, but not necessarily blasted through a hose. Make a watering hole in your garden for all creatures..... they all need clean water. https://growtherainbow.com/blogs/news/35730115-why-honey-bees-need-water#:~:text=Succinctly put, bees need bee,fresh water to them continuously.

PS You are so right Thomas about the fact that we need the bees, and it is, hopefully very beneficial to have raised your question here

 

[roadrunner]

Interested in seeing photos of the bees and the area they are attracted to; I also have tons of bees (of all species), but they're throughout my entire yard, because I have tons of plants that attract them, so I'm sure I'll know the species that concern you.

BTW, some native species do sting, but that shouldn't concern you, because they don't do it out of aggression. I got stung once by a small native bee, when I was weeding in my yard -- it wasn't too bad, just a little itchy, but the bumblebee stings...they hurt!

 

[roadrunner]

Here is a link for you to look at. Bees need water, but not necessarily blasted through a hose. Make a watering hole in your garden for all creatures..... they all need clean water. https://growtherainbow.com/blogs/news/35730115-why-honey-bees-need-water#:~:text=Succinctly put, bees need bee,fresh water to them continuously.

PS You are so right Thomas about the fact that we need the bees, and it is, hopefully very beneficial to have raised your question here

Bees and wasps are the most frequent visitors to my bird baths.

 

[Tetters]

Bees and wasps are the most frequent visitors to my bird baths.

Yes, we have been watching them in the shallows of the pond. Even the wasps don`t bother us when they are busy at the water edge - they just need to survive. There are a number of teasel plants here too, and they hold water which is invaluable to the insect world.

Goldfinches like teasels as well

 

[roadrunner]

Yes, we have been watching them in the shallows of the pond. Even the wasps don`t bother us when they are busy at the water edge - they just need to survive. There are a number of teasel plants here too, and they hold water which is invaluable to the insect world.
View attachment 70624 Goldfinches like teasels as well View attachment 70625

Wasps get a bad rap, but they're just a docile as any bee, except when you are near their nests, but even then it depends on the species. Yellow Jackets are notorious for defending their nests, but I see them all the time in my garden and they never exhibit aggression, even when I put my hand up to them, which I use to do to see if they would attack.

Then you got the paper wasps, which look menacing, but I can get very close to their nest and they don't attack -- I know, because they always make a nest under my carport.

I've only been stung once by a paper wasp and that's because I got very close to their nest without knowing it, in a part of my yard I don't frequent; however, when they see you every day, they learn you're not a threat and don't bother you.

P.S. Yellow Jackets are so defensive, not because they're "aggressive", rather because their nest are a highly valued food source of things like raccoons, bears....

 

[Tetters]

I am well aware of the value of the wasp, but they can be aggressive when they get drunk as they do when you don`t pick the plums on a very high branch and they ferment before dropping off

 

[roadrunner]

I would love an opportunity to evaluate a drunk wasp. Maybe it's happened here with all my berries I grow for the birds, but I've yet to witness such a phenomenon.

However, I have witnessed a very unusual behavior with a type of Sweat bee (native bee). It seems to ram other bees that are on the flowers of my Square stem plant (https://www.fnps.org/plants/plant/melanthera-nivea), but after the bee is rammed and fly away, the Sweat bee doesn't go to the flower, instead it looks for another bee to ram, then it hoovers, takes aim and rams...strange...

~4:35pm on 8/27/20