Bumblebees have decided to make my back porch a clubhouse. There's at
least a dozen always hanging around. I don't want to kill them, as we
need them to pollinate things (no honeybees), but is there some way to
convince them to headquarter somewhere else? Some kind of repellent,
perhaps?


Alan

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In article 3e9c790d$1$nynaurff
,
says...
Bumblebees have decided to make my back porch a clubhouse. There's at
least a dozen always hanging around. I don't want to kill them, as we
need them to pollinate things (no honeybees), but is there some way to
convince them to headquarter somewhere else? Some kind of repellent,
perhaps?


Alan


They may be carpenter bees. See if you can detect any
wood damage that looks like a perfect 1/2 in drilled
hole. If so, painting the exposed surfaces with oil
based or polyurethane paints will help. If they look
like they have made some holes you will have to decide
whether to kill them or let the few exist for
pollination help.
--
Good judgment comes from experience,
and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.


Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

Carpenter bees- which I have a good deal of, are much darker than the
bumble. They lack the brilliant yellow striping of the bumble- it's more of
a brown stripe. They won't bother you- just your house.

Sonya
"Lar" wrote in message
. ..
In article 3e9c790d$1$nynaurff
,
says...
Bumblebees have decided to make my back porch a clubhouse. There's
at
least a dozen always hanging around. I don't want to kill them, as we
need them to pollinate things (no honeybees), but is there some way to
convince them to headquarter somewhere else? Some kind of repellent,
perhaps?


Alan


They may be carpenter bees. See if you can detect any
wood damage that looks like a perfect 1/2 in drilled
hole. If so, painting the exposed surfaces with oil
based or polyurethane paints will help. If they look
like they have made some holes you will have to decide
whether to kill them or let the few exist for
pollination help.
--
Good judgment comes from experience,
and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.


Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

In , on 04/15/03
at 09:51 PM, Lar said:

Bumblebees have decided to make my back porch a clubhouse. There's at
least a dozen always hanging around. I don't want to kill them, as we
need them to pollinate things (no honeybees), but is there some way to
convince them to headquarter somewhere else? Some kind of repellent,
perhaps?

They may be carpenter bees. See if you can detect any
wood damage that looks like a perfect 1/2 in drilled
hole. If so, painting the exposed surfaces with oil
based or polyurethane paints will help. If they look
like they have made some holes you will have to decide
whether to kill them or let the few exist for
pollination help.

They're bumbles - I looked up both on the web. There are no holes
anywhere, not even the wooden picnic table. They just like my porch.
I want them to like somewhere else.


Alan

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In spring, Bumblebees begins to tunnel where the soil is dry. Rain
drowns their larvae. If you watered under your deck, the adults will
leave. If you want them to continue pollinating your yard, do a
search for building bumblebee nests. I saw one made of 2L pop bottles
a few years ago... Good luck.

wrote in message
ganews.com...
In , on 04/15/03
at 09:51 PM, Lar said:

Bumblebees have decided to make my back porch a clubhouse. There's
at
least a dozen always hanging around. I don't want to kill them, as
we
need them to pollinate things (no honeybees), but is there some way
to
convince them to headquarter somewhere else? Some kind of repellent,
perhaps?

I certainly wouldn't worry about having bumblebees around. Beside the fact
that they're great pollinators, they're so laid back that stings from them
are few. You have to pick them up or step on them with bare feet before they
sting. They occasionally do a foray around your head when disturbed, but
I've never been stung in these warnings.

If you don't really like them, tell them to come to my house. I enjoy them.


John

Does this hold for wasps too? Last two years, we've had quite an
infestation of them and I'd like to know if there's something we can do now
to avoid them.

botgrl
"Pen" wrote in message
om...
In spring, Bumblebees begins to tunnel where the soil is dry. Rain
drowns their larvae. If you watered under your deck, the adults will
leave. If you want them to continue pollinating your yard, do a
search for building bumblebee nests. I saw one made of 2L pop bottles
a few years ago... Good luck.

Does this hold for wasps too? Last two years, we've had quite an
infestation of them and I'd like to know if there's something we can do now
to avoid them.


Depends on the type of wasp. I have in my front yard, a ground nesting
solitary wasp colony that are not agressive, just annoying. Mine comes from
the bare clay (they like barren slopes along the sidewalk that hasn't grown
back since they put in the dayum sidewalk). They fly along the ground, haven't
stung yet in spite of there being HUNDREDS of them, and as I understand it, as
my grass grows in will be less inclined to nest here. I don't bother them as
they don't bother me.

Now Yellow Jackets are hyper aggressive and I had a professional exterminator
come and take care of a nest that they had built in the ground in the middle of
my yard because I have children and dogs and couldn't mow my yard without
attack.


Just my 2 cents.........
Christine

In to1oa.417$5M.15982@localhost, on 04/18/03
at 09:10 PM, "Queen" said:

Does this hold for wasps too? Last two years, we've had quite an
infestation of them and I'd like to know if there's something we can do
now to avoid them.

Paper wasps aren't a problem, in my experience. Pretty mellow. You can
approach their nests and they won't bother you unless you fool with the
nest. When I was a kid, I used to watch them build nests - never even got
buzzed by one of the wasps.

Yellow jackets are aggressive, and, if there's a nest on yourr property,
you probably want to get rid of it unless it's in an out of the way area
(even yellow jackets have a place in the ecosystem.)


Alan

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treatment for yellow jacket nests in the yard: One pint of gas, poured
down their hole at night when they are quiet, a match from a distance,
and the problem goes away.

On 20 Apr 2003 12:54:18 GMT, unya (Purchgdss) wrote:

Does this hold for wasps too? Last two years, we've had quite an
infestation of them and I'd like to know if there's something we can do now
to avoid them.


Depends on the type of wasp. I have in my front yard, a ground nesting
solitary wasp colony that are not agressive, just annoying. Mine comes from
the bare clay (they like barren slopes along the sidewalk that hasn't grown
back since they put in the dayum sidewalk). They fly along the ground, haven't
stung yet in spite of there being HUNDREDS of them, and as I understand it, as
my grass grows in will be less inclined to nest here. I don't bother them as
they don't bother me.

Now Yellow Jackets are hyper aggressive and I had a professional exterminator
come and take care of a nest that they had built in the ground in the middle of
my yard because I have children and dogs and couldn't mow my yard without
attack.


Just my 2 cents.........
Christine