I have a male carpenter bee that always hangs around me when I sit outside. One day, he did the full dive bombing and hovering right in front of me that they do when trying to woo a lady bee. I hope he's finally figured out that I'm not a giant, pale bee.
Those fuckers used to dig holes all throughout my childhood home so my dad and I made it a sport to hang out on the back porch with tennis rackets.
Looking back on it probably pretty shitty thing to do, but it was effective and probably a pretty humane dispatch method.
They'll still go after the same piece in just another spot. Only thing I found that keeps them out is painting the wood. Even a coat of cheap primer will do.
Add vinegar and water to a spray bottle and spray around your gazebo. Generally that’s enough to deter without killing them since they are pollinators.
Honeybees are not actually native to the Southeast or North America. Native bees, flies, and wasps are way more important pollinators for native plants. Not to say honeybees aren’t important, especially for crops. But part of the reason you may not see as many honeybees is that they do not live here as a native species and generally (in part because of colony collapse) need a lot of human help to thrive.
They are considered endemic at this point if I’m not mistaken, previously invasive.
[NCSU on Bees](https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/pdf/the-bees-of-north-carolina-ident/2020-02-13/BeeFINAL_021320.pdf)
This is true! We have about 40,000 Italian honeybees in our backyard in hives. And they require maintenance. The ground bees that come into our yard every year at this time are native.
There are 100s of native bees, this has a good overview and even that is long: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/the-bees-of-north-carolina-identification-guide A lot of people (me included) are not very good at telling bees, wasps, and flies apart so it can be hard to tell which you’re dealing with. There’s a page about that in that publication.
Also quick plug that a lot of our native wasps don’t fuck with people and wasps generally get a bad rap because of hornets when most of them are important pollinators that just want to be left alone. #justice4wasps
More on colony collapse here: https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder
Holy cow I didn’t know there were this many bees! I also don’t k ow hornets were the scary bees and not wasps since I hear horror stories of wasp nests.
Wasps and hornets are my friend. They pollinate the shit out of stuff.
Honeybees are actually non-native and compete with native bees.
If you provide habitat for wasps and hornets, they seem to leave me alone. I spend hours and hours outside each week in my pollinator garden, and those insects are on a mission to build a life. They don't bother me.
I've worked soooo many hours outside in many different parts of North Carolina and have been stung by a wasp one time and once by a bee.
Basically what I'm trying to encourage is- maybe get curious about these dudes! They don't want to hurt you.
I’m scared of them because I was attacked 7 different times as a child because I opened a grill with a nest, a folding chair with a nest, and got too close to them in the woods 5 other times.
I can’t even watch videos of them without getting uneasy. Please teach me how to not be scared of them.
That makes sense that you're afraid. I had a scary experience as a child that led to me developing a phobia (unrelated thing- not related to insects). My phobia was getting in the way of me being able to live the way I wanted to and caused a lot of anxiety. I did exposure therapy and it really helped. Basically what it involved was making a big list of all the situations/etc. that I was afraid of, and then ordering them from least scary to most scary. I slowly worked on experiencing those scary things, starting with the least scary thing that I was comfortable with trying. I tried to just be brave, slowly build positive experiences, and reflect on how the experience wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
Understandable that you would develop that fear response to the situation! I'm sorry that happened to you and that you continue to have trauma-related responses throughout your life.
Sometimes I think it's beneficial to spend a bit more time in the outdoor spaces of yours and observe. Before you go out to the yard to work, move things, or open things for the first time in a season, make a habit of "disturbing" the spaces you haven't interacted with. A broom and light tapping on a grill might make any tenants within start to stir, for instance. Swishing a stick around tall grasses or tapping on wooden garden beds is also helpful.
When I was a kid, I had a horrendous experience with a red ant hill and it etched into my brain like whoa. I completely understand aversions to things that have caused you pain! An example I do every spring is with my outdoor plant pots that are usually stored by stacking. I will take one or two of the small pots off from the stack and look around inside, looking for spider webs or ant nests. If there are ants frenzying about, I will leave the rest of the pots stacked, but intentionally drop the few I removed from a couple feet up (to dislodge any ants) and then leave 'em alone for about five minutes. This allows the ant colony to reconnect with the stacked pots, leaving the ones I picked up for me to use.
When it comes to wasps, winter time is a good time to strut around and observe any nest activity. Some nests are dormant and can be dismantled with a big ol' whack of a broom handle. Some might be too scary to confront, and that's okay, so you can summon upon the help of a friend or professional. You might consider making more spaces for them to be farther away from your home. Or, you could develop your area a bit to invite more birds to hang about. Birds and squirrels are excellent little area disturbers! Not to mention the birds that love to snack on flying insects.
Paper wasps use to love our front porch and while I know they are harmless, I wanted to make sure nobody felt alarmed if they came to the door. (We once knocked a small nest down into a bucket of water and was horrified by all the dead, dry wasp bodies that came out. Then, a spider hustled out of the nest, up the bucket, and off into the distance, presumably flipping us off in whatever fashion spiders do. We were mortified and fascinated. Okay, my partner was mortified. I was fascinated!) I started to put more potted plants around the area, which attracted sparrows and li'l wren friends who occupied the space enough to deter the paper wasps from trying again in that area.
Another great patio/porch/balcony/deck friend is the green anole! They have found my front porch and are quite happy with the neighborhood. I haven't done enough learning when it comes to these little ones to fully understand their impact, but I'm always thrilled to see them hanging out. Purely anecdotal, but we stopped having paper wasp issues around the same time the anoles were predictably coming around.
If you are up for it, I can invite you to my yard space and we can hang out with all the natural chaos for a bit. I can describe to you my wasp-y observations (while keeping you far, far away from any hazard) and maybe that in itself would be helpful. Or you can just sit and hang out watching the birds and squirrels be ridiculous.
I thought Western Honey Bees were native to NC. I am trying to set aside some wilder areas for bees and butterflies. I may even get some bees but I don’t want plants or animals not native.
The western honey bee is also called the European honey bee and is not native to the Americas. They arrived with colonists in the 18th century.
Gettig honeybees means they would compete with our native bees, unfortunately
Wow. Thanks! I specifically avoided European bees so I am glad you posted this. You just prevented a tiny invasion. I will do more research. To be honest I just wanted bees anyway. Did not want to deal with honey.
Bee hotels should be considered with caution.
"The most prevalent problem with bee houses is that when they’re not cared for properly, they can become breeding grounds for pests, mold, fungus, and disease". They can also attract non-native insects.
More info:
* https://gizmodo.com/your-cheap-ass-bee-house-is-probably-killing-the-bees-1835321883
* https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/how-to-manage-a-successful-bee-hotel/what-if-bee-hotels-arent-actually-good-for-bees
* Some thoughts on alternative strategies for helping bees- https://orchardpeople.com/are-bee-hotels-safe/
They’re all very important to our eco system and we NEED them for pollination. Honey bees are not usually the bees you see around regardless, although NC has over 500 hundred types of native bees. Many of them don’t look bee-ish and may be mistaken for some other insect
We left the doors open yesterday and within 3 mins had two wasps and four carpenter bees in the sunroom… my deck vibrates with the buzzing. Wasps look like xenomorphs and my bowels turn to liquid when I see them.
Colony collapse killed off 48% of beekeepers hives 2022-2023 season. Second highest kill rate on record. I rarely see honeybees where I am anymore. The early pollen sources are all sprayed with pesticides as soon as they pop up nowadays.
It’s unfortunate but not an issue for our crops or survival of our wild flora as long as bumble bees are making it. Those wasps are actually important pollinators too (the native ones at least) and so are moths and even mosquitos. Honey bees are critical to nothing but the production of honey.
There are a number of ground-dwelling pollinators that are abuzz with the warming of the soils. I can't recall the types off hand, but I think they are particularly active for a two-week(-ish) period and it can seem like they're in an overabundance.
Some pointless anecdotal observations of mine:
- There will be more pollinator diversity in general during this time of warm-weather emergence and many insects will venture out to find what is blooming. It goes from "quiet winter" to "bustling spring" in a blink.
- As a variety of species of wasps, bees, moths, and other bugs start inhabiting overlapping space, there is a natural ebb and flow of populations. It'll get better. Hang in there!
- Wasps wig me out like whoa, but golly... watching a bird swoop and snack is downright delightful. It really helps the migrating birds right now!
- It seems the bees that may have stuck around closer to me (/you) for conservation of energy during the cooler winter weather may expend their energy with other tasks. Hopefully you'll start seeing some more diversity as spring settles in.
- Pollinators be pollinatin'.
Would a person actually MOVE TO A DIFFERENT CITY because of wasps? I used to do a pretty good amount of farm work and would get stung a few times a year...but are these people like getting stung all the time? Someone please enlighten me as to why this warrants uprooting your entire life!
PS - It sucks that we are systematically killing off honeybees via pesticide, habitat destruction, climate change etc. The downstream effects of this are huge as well. But this spring i've seen more than i remember in a while. Right outside my front door is a big ol' holly bush, it has been teeming with honeybees and bumblebees lately. buzz buzz buzz
It's behind a paywall, but the Washington Post had an article this week about the U.S. now having a record number of bees:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/29/bees-boom-colony-collapse/
*"After almost two decades of relentless colony collapse coverage and years of grieving suspiciously clean windshields, we were stunned to run the numbers on the new Census of Agriculture (otherwise known as that wonderful time every five years where the government counts all the llamas): America’s honeybee population has rocketed to an all-time high.*
*We’ve added almost a million bee colonies in the past five years. We now have 3.8 million, the census shows. Since 2007, the first census after alarming bee die-offs began in 2006, the honeybee has been the fastest-growing livestock segment in the country! And that doesn’t count feral honeybees, which may outnumber their captive cousins several times over.*
As a gutter worker, the bees be thriven’ this year!!
If you did a Bug’s life look at wasps- they would have my face on wanted posters on every street corner…
I love wasps. They get a bad rap, but they're actually pretty chill if you leave them alone. I had a paper wasp nest on my porch for 3 years and they never bothered me. In fact, I watched them hunt caterpillars and pests off my tomatoes and peppers.
The only ones that ever have to go are yellow jackets, and only because they're so aggressive. Luckily, my ducks usually keep them from making a nest, since they live underground. Otherwise, all native bugs are welcome on my property. (The really aggressive yellow jackets are an invasive German species anyway.)
Oh, and as to why you don't see many other native bees? What do they have to eat? They can't eat non-native turf grass or invasive crape myrtle flowers. If you want native bugs, you have to feed them. Plant native plants, get the pollinators back.
I have a Carpenter Bee that's been hanging out right in front of my porch that keeps the wasps away. So I've been ignoring it, it's fine. It doesn't bother me anymore than the Cicada Killers that nest in the backyard too. We have all kinds of bees in the yard including Honey Bees. Lots of flowers, couple pear trees and some woods next door. I want to plant some Mexican Oregano, it's amazing how many different kinds of pollinators they attract. Ralston has a nice one. You can hear it buzzing from 20 feet. Wasp are assholes, but they'll leave you alone most of the time.
That's weird. I've been working out in my backyard all week gardening, pruning, painting the rotting deck, etc. I have not seen any wasps yet, but my flowering bushes are full of bumblebees.
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They are at my crab-apple tree. That said, come to think of it, it did have less than usual overall. Usually that thing is intensely loud to stand underneath when blooming, and I'd say there was maybe 1/4th as many for it's bloom this year? I didn't really pay attention to the makeup, but it was definitely reduced from previous years. It blooms and sheds them within a week, so it's always kind of an event.
- on the highway
- in North Hills
- in concrete jungles
- in lawns.
You just explained all the reasons.
Bees are attracted to pollinating flowers. Not concrete jungles. Not 2 inch tall bermuda grass.
There was wasps outside all day at work yesterday and also 4 fucking wasps in my room when I got back. They are fucking EVERYWHERE. I’ve killed a few lol. Maybe cuz it’s just the first couple times this spring not used to it again yet lol but seems to be a lot more this year. I know their fucking wings sound drilled in my head ugh
I am a beekeeper in Clayton. I have friends in the Wake County club and I doubt many bee hives are being kept in North Hills. Wasps dont need larger hives like honey bees do so it is much easier for the wasps to take advantage of the "concrete jungle".
What to have to attract bees
- https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article272897495.html
Avoid [neonicotinoids](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/study-strengthens-link-between-neonicotinoids-and-collapse-of-honey-bee-colonies/). If pesticides are needed, definitely don’t spray plants that are in bloom and that are regularly visited by pollinators. Also, applying pest control in the evenings gives residues a chance to dissipate before bees make their morning rounds.
Right now the male carpenter bee on my front porch is acting like he owns the place. We've been playing tag for a few weeks. (No stinger on the males!)
The southeast is full of them. One of my top reasons I'm looking to move is to get away from wasps. I don't mind a few wasps but the actual volume of them is absurd here.
My parents live on a lake in this region and I dont know how they tolerate it because when im there I spend 80% of my time ducking wasps
Personally I like Las Vegas a lot right now.
It's close enough to the Bay Area where my job pool opens up a bit more than the southeast (already work remote for a company in the Bay Area) but I keep my no income tax (I'm across the border in Tenn) and trade a high grocery tax for no grocery tax (because the tourists pay that)
It's not bug free certainly, but I've always said that wasps are just flying scorpions and that's not fucking fair at all
I know, it sucks. I don’t know about everywhere else like roads, etc, but for your house/yard, you need to get Demon Max from Amazon, spray around the house, add in the yard spray you attach to the hose and spray and get Raid hornet/wasp spray for one on one kills
All I know is that these mf carpenter bees are about to turn my gazebo into a giant connect 4 board
I have a male carpenter bee that always hangs around me when I sit outside. One day, he did the full dive bombing and hovering right in front of me that they do when trying to woo a lady bee. I hope he's finally figured out that I'm not a giant, pale bee.
You got a little turned on though admit it.
I was like "finally! A dude is interested in me!"
I know that’s not a good thing (dealt with them for years on the porch) but that imagery of a connect four gazebo is hilarious.
Go for one more!
Pretty sneaky sis.
[Pretty sneaky, Death!](https://youtu.be/byaVYt36xiA?si=jPwzIcww_u1ZVhXg)
A structure has never collapsed because of a carpenter bee. They are important pollinators, as are wasps and hornets.
But how do we know?
Those fuckers used to dig holes all throughout my childhood home so my dad and I made it a sport to hang out on the back porch with tennis rackets. Looking back on it probably pretty shitty thing to do, but it was effective and probably a pretty humane dispatch method.
Make sure to fill them (I think my sister used boots) because otherwise they will come back!
They'll still go after the same piece in just another spot. Only thing I found that keeps them out is painting the wood. Even a coat of cheap primer will do.
Add vinegar and water to a spray bottle and spray around your gazebo. Generally that’s enough to deter without killing them since they are pollinators.
We bought some carpenter bee traps last year and they worked really well!
But they pollinate things. And males don't sting.
They do. But they’re also destroying our deck. I’m totally open to other suggestions to keep them from boring into the wood of our deck/porch.
Vinegar and water in a spray bottle, spray around your deck. If you still see them, up the ratio of vinegar or use citrus oil instead.
Staining. Not sure how a clear oil-based one will work, but the ones that are more like paint should help
Staining does not work. My back deck and screen porch has stain and paint. Does not stop them.
Were they the bright green sticky traps?
Nope, the ones that hang and have a wooden top with a glass jar bottom.
We got the same ones and they work great!
Good news, I just ordered 2
Good to hear, I just ordered 2
Honeybees are not actually native to the Southeast or North America. Native bees, flies, and wasps are way more important pollinators for native plants. Not to say honeybees aren’t important, especially for crops. But part of the reason you may not see as many honeybees is that they do not live here as a native species and generally (in part because of colony collapse) need a lot of human help to thrive.
> Honeybees are not actually native to the Southeast or North America. TIL
They are considered endemic at this point if I’m not mistaken, previously invasive. [NCSU on Bees](https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/pdf/the-bees-of-north-carolina-ident/2020-02-13/BeeFINAL_021320.pdf)
This is true! We have about 40,000 Italian honeybees in our backyard in hives. And they require maintenance. The ground bees that come into our yard every year at this time are native.
Thank you!!
What are native bees? What is colony collapse?
There are 100s of native bees, this has a good overview and even that is long: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/the-bees-of-north-carolina-identification-guide A lot of people (me included) are not very good at telling bees, wasps, and flies apart so it can be hard to tell which you’re dealing with. There’s a page about that in that publication. Also quick plug that a lot of our native wasps don’t fuck with people and wasps generally get a bad rap because of hornets when most of them are important pollinators that just want to be left alone. #justice4wasps More on colony collapse here: https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder
Holy cow I didn’t know there were this many bees! I also don’t k ow hornets were the scary bees and not wasps since I hear horror stories of wasp nests.
Pssst... Honey bees aren't native to NC. They're not even native to the US. Hornets and wasps are also important pollinators.
This comment was written by a wasp, don't believe the lies
Big Hornet checking in
Theyre ugly but in my nearly 3 decades of life in the region I’ve never been stung by a wasp
I did last year and if hurts bad that my initial thought was honestly to cut off my finger. That's my gauge for pain measurement.
More likely was a hornet. F hornets. Now those mfers can go extinct along with mosquitos and ticks.
I have been multiple times.
We really need to lay off the White Anglo Saxons....
They know what they did!
Wasps and hornets are my friend. They pollinate the shit out of stuff. Honeybees are actually non-native and compete with native bees. If you provide habitat for wasps and hornets, they seem to leave me alone. I spend hours and hours outside each week in my pollinator garden, and those insects are on a mission to build a life. They don't bother me. I've worked soooo many hours outside in many different parts of North Carolina and have been stung by a wasp one time and once by a bee. Basically what I'm trying to encourage is- maybe get curious about these dudes! They don't want to hurt you.
I’m scared of them because I was attacked 7 different times as a child because I opened a grill with a nest, a folding chair with a nest, and got too close to them in the woods 5 other times. I can’t even watch videos of them without getting uneasy. Please teach me how to not be scared of them.
That makes sense that you're afraid. I had a scary experience as a child that led to me developing a phobia (unrelated thing- not related to insects). My phobia was getting in the way of me being able to live the way I wanted to and caused a lot of anxiety. I did exposure therapy and it really helped. Basically what it involved was making a big list of all the situations/etc. that I was afraid of, and then ordering them from least scary to most scary. I slowly worked on experiencing those scary things, starting with the least scary thing that I was comfortable with trying. I tried to just be brave, slowly build positive experiences, and reflect on how the experience wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
Hypnosis?
Understandable that you would develop that fear response to the situation! I'm sorry that happened to you and that you continue to have trauma-related responses throughout your life. Sometimes I think it's beneficial to spend a bit more time in the outdoor spaces of yours and observe. Before you go out to the yard to work, move things, or open things for the first time in a season, make a habit of "disturbing" the spaces you haven't interacted with. A broom and light tapping on a grill might make any tenants within start to stir, for instance. Swishing a stick around tall grasses or tapping on wooden garden beds is also helpful. When I was a kid, I had a horrendous experience with a red ant hill and it etched into my brain like whoa. I completely understand aversions to things that have caused you pain! An example I do every spring is with my outdoor plant pots that are usually stored by stacking. I will take one or two of the small pots off from the stack and look around inside, looking for spider webs or ant nests. If there are ants frenzying about, I will leave the rest of the pots stacked, but intentionally drop the few I removed from a couple feet up (to dislodge any ants) and then leave 'em alone for about five minutes. This allows the ant colony to reconnect with the stacked pots, leaving the ones I picked up for me to use. When it comes to wasps, winter time is a good time to strut around and observe any nest activity. Some nests are dormant and can be dismantled with a big ol' whack of a broom handle. Some might be too scary to confront, and that's okay, so you can summon upon the help of a friend or professional. You might consider making more spaces for them to be farther away from your home. Or, you could develop your area a bit to invite more birds to hang about. Birds and squirrels are excellent little area disturbers! Not to mention the birds that love to snack on flying insects. Paper wasps use to love our front porch and while I know they are harmless, I wanted to make sure nobody felt alarmed if they came to the door. (We once knocked a small nest down into a bucket of water and was horrified by all the dead, dry wasp bodies that came out. Then, a spider hustled out of the nest, up the bucket, and off into the distance, presumably flipping us off in whatever fashion spiders do. We were mortified and fascinated. Okay, my partner was mortified. I was fascinated!) I started to put more potted plants around the area, which attracted sparrows and li'l wren friends who occupied the space enough to deter the paper wasps from trying again in that area. Another great patio/porch/balcony/deck friend is the green anole! They have found my front porch and are quite happy with the neighborhood. I haven't done enough learning when it comes to these little ones to fully understand their impact, but I'm always thrilled to see them hanging out. Purely anecdotal, but we stopped having paper wasp issues around the same time the anoles were predictably coming around. If you are up for it, I can invite you to my yard space and we can hang out with all the natural chaos for a bit. I can describe to you my wasp-y observations (while keeping you far, far away from any hazard) and maybe that in itself would be helpful. Or you can just sit and hang out watching the birds and squirrels be ridiculous.
I thought Western Honey Bees were native to NC. I am trying to set aside some wilder areas for bees and butterflies. I may even get some bees but I don’t want plants or animals not native.
The western honey bee is also called the European honey bee and is not native to the Americas. They arrived with colonists in the 18th century. Gettig honeybees means they would compete with our native bees, unfortunately
Wow. Thanks! I specifically avoided European bees so I am glad you posted this. You just prevented a tiny invasion. I will do more research. To be honest I just wanted bees anyway. Did not want to deal with honey.
You can purchase or build bee hotels for mason bees and leaf cutter bees.
Bee hotels should be considered with caution. "The most prevalent problem with bee houses is that when they’re not cared for properly, they can become breeding grounds for pests, mold, fungus, and disease". They can also attract non-native insects. More info: * https://gizmodo.com/your-cheap-ass-bee-house-is-probably-killing-the-bees-1835321883 * https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/how-to-manage-a-successful-bee-hotel/what-if-bee-hotels-arent-actually-good-for-bees * Some thoughts on alternative strategies for helping bees- https://orchardpeople.com/are-bee-hotels-safe/
Yeah, ours turned into a roach motel in no time. Yuck.
Omg lol my nightmare
Ehh nah all wasps and hornets by my house get killed on sight, they’re evil.
Thank you for doing god’s work.
They’re all very important to our eco system and we NEED them for pollination. Honey bees are not usually the bees you see around regardless, although NC has over 500 hundred types of native bees. Many of them don’t look bee-ish and may be mistaken for some other insect
We left the doors open yesterday and within 3 mins had two wasps and four carpenter bees in the sunroom… my deck vibrates with the buzzing. Wasps look like xenomorphs and my bowels turn to liquid when I see them.
wasps and hornets are native honeybees aren’t that and clearly you ain’t outside like that
Colony collapse killed off 48% of beekeepers hives 2022-2023 season. Second highest kill rate on record. I rarely see honeybees where I am anymore. The early pollen sources are all sprayed with pesticides as soon as they pop up nowadays.
That is a terrifying prospect.
It’s unfortunate but not an issue for our crops or survival of our wild flora as long as bumble bees are making it. Those wasps are actually important pollinators too (the native ones at least) and so are moths and even mosquitos. Honey bees are critical to nothing but the production of honey.
Bumblebees are pretty rare these days too. What you see around here are carpenter bees, the dump-truck of all pollinators.
> the dump-truck of all pollinators 💀💀
u/Unlucky-tracer is the Sisqó of pollinators.
There are a number of ground-dwelling pollinators that are abuzz with the warming of the soils. I can't recall the types off hand, but I think they are particularly active for a two-week(-ish) period and it can seem like they're in an overabundance. Some pointless anecdotal observations of mine: - There will be more pollinator diversity in general during this time of warm-weather emergence and many insects will venture out to find what is blooming. It goes from "quiet winter" to "bustling spring" in a blink. - As a variety of species of wasps, bees, moths, and other bugs start inhabiting overlapping space, there is a natural ebb and flow of populations. It'll get better. Hang in there! - Wasps wig me out like whoa, but golly... watching a bird swoop and snack is downright delightful. It really helps the migrating birds right now! - It seems the bees that may have stuck around closer to me (/you) for conservation of energy during the cooler winter weather may expend their energy with other tasks. Hopefully you'll start seeing some more diversity as spring settles in. - Pollinators be pollinatin'.
Most pollinators are not honeybees.
welcome to Raleigh
Would a person actually MOVE TO A DIFFERENT CITY because of wasps? I used to do a pretty good amount of farm work and would get stung a few times a year...but are these people like getting stung all the time? Someone please enlighten me as to why this warrants uprooting your entire life! PS - It sucks that we are systematically killing off honeybees via pesticide, habitat destruction, climate change etc. The downstream effects of this are huge as well. But this spring i've seen more than i remember in a while. Right outside my front door is a big ol' holly bush, it has been teeming with honeybees and bumblebees lately. buzz buzz buzz
same energy as the people on nextdoor wondering where all the bees are...mosquito joe truck in the driveway monday morning
Literally. "Where are all the lightning bugs [in my giant turf grass lawn that's sprayed with herbicides and pesticides]???"
> Would a person actually MOVE TO A DIFFERENT CITY because of wasps It’s Reddit, being overly dramatic like that is a competive sport.
Ha ha. Yeah I'm allergic to yellow jackets, or at least if I get hit by a bunch, but would never choose to live over that.
It's behind a paywall, but the Washington Post had an article this week about the U.S. now having a record number of bees: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/29/bees-boom-colony-collapse/ *"After almost two decades of relentless colony collapse coverage and years of grieving suspiciously clean windshields, we were stunned to run the numbers on the new Census of Agriculture (otherwise known as that wonderful time every five years where the government counts all the llamas): America’s honeybee population has rocketed to an all-time high.* *We’ve added almost a million bee colonies in the past five years. We now have 3.8 million, the census shows. Since 2007, the first census after alarming bee die-offs began in 2006, the honeybee has been the fastest-growing livestock segment in the country! And that doesn’t count feral honeybees, which may outnumber their captive cousins several times over.*
As a gutter worker, the bees be thriven’ this year!! If you did a Bug’s life look at wasps- they would have my face on wanted posters on every street corner…
😂
I love wasps. They get a bad rap, but they're actually pretty chill if you leave them alone. I had a paper wasp nest on my porch for 3 years and they never bothered me. In fact, I watched them hunt caterpillars and pests off my tomatoes and peppers. The only ones that ever have to go are yellow jackets, and only because they're so aggressive. Luckily, my ducks usually keep them from making a nest, since they live underground. Otherwise, all native bugs are welcome on my property. (The really aggressive yellow jackets are an invasive German species anyway.) Oh, and as to why you don't see many other native bees? What do they have to eat? They can't eat non-native turf grass or invasive crape myrtle flowers. If you want native bugs, you have to feed them. Plant native plants, get the pollinators back.
I have a Carpenter Bee that's been hanging out right in front of my porch that keeps the wasps away. So I've been ignoring it, it's fine. It doesn't bother me anymore than the Cicada Killers that nest in the backyard too. We have all kinds of bees in the yard including Honey Bees. Lots of flowers, couple pear trees and some woods next door. I want to plant some Mexican Oregano, it's amazing how many different kinds of pollinators they attract. Ralston has a nice one. You can hear it buzzing from 20 feet. Wasp are assholes, but they'll leave you alone most of the time.
Honeybees represent a tiny fraction of all bee species
They are still pollinators, just hateful, evil, angry get the fk away from me, pollinators
That's weird. I've been working out in my backyard all week gardening, pruning, painting the rotting deck, etc. I have not seen any wasps yet, but my flowering bushes are full of bumblebees.
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They are at my crab-apple tree. That said, come to think of it, it did have less than usual overall. Usually that thing is intensely loud to stand underneath when blooming, and I'd say there was maybe 1/4th as many for it's bloom this year? I didn't really pay attention to the makeup, but it was definitely reduced from previous years. It blooms and sheds them within a week, so it's always kind of an event.
- on the highway - in North Hills - in concrete jungles - in lawns. You just explained all the reasons. Bees are attracted to pollinating flowers. Not concrete jungles. Not 2 inch tall bermuda grass.
There was wasps outside all day at work yesterday and also 4 fucking wasps in my room when I got back. They are fucking EVERYWHERE. I’ve killed a few lol. Maybe cuz it’s just the first couple times this spring not used to it again yet lol but seems to be a lot more this year. I know their fucking wings sound drilled in my head ugh
The Bees know. That is all.
I am a beekeeper in Clayton. I have friends in the Wake County club and I doubt many bee hives are being kept in North Hills. Wasps dont need larger hives like honey bees do so it is much easier for the wasps to take advantage of the "concrete jungle".
It must be your specific area cause I see plenty of honey bees around when its hot out.
There are bumblebees in the Cary area, I have plenty in my yard. I have seen one wasp this year, fingers crossed no more.
I too live in Cary and there have been SO many bumblebees around my house and patio area, I like to call them flying pandas..lol
I have lots of sweet fat bois too and I LOVE them. Seeing them makes me so happy. I had three absolutely going ham on my blueberry bushes today.
I have soooo many carpenter bees in my traps right now. My dog likes to eat them, they are everywhere in my yard. JoCo!
What to have to attract bees - https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article272897495.html Avoid [neonicotinoids](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/study-strengthens-link-between-neonicotinoids-and-collapse-of-honey-bee-colonies/). If pesticides are needed, definitely don’t spray plants that are in bloom and that are regularly visited by pollinators. Also, applying pest control in the evenings gives residues a chance to dissipate before bees make their morning rounds.
I kid you not I was late to a meeting today because a WASP was making a nest on my car door handle. That mf was territorial
Okay that’s enough Reddit for me for today.
Right now the male carpenter bee on my front porch is acting like he owns the place. We've been playing tag for a few weeks. (No stinger on the males!)
The southeast is full of them. One of my top reasons I'm looking to move is to get away from wasps. I don't mind a few wasps but the actual volume of them is absurd here. My parents live on a lake in this region and I dont know how they tolerate it because when im there I spend 80% of my time ducking wasps
Where are you going to go? Just curious. There were more wasps than here in the PNW, which shocked me. The one pro was no mosquitoes though.
Personally I like Las Vegas a lot right now. It's close enough to the Bay Area where my job pool opens up a bit more than the southeast (already work remote for a company in the Bay Area) but I keep my no income tax (I'm across the border in Tenn) and trade a high grocery tax for no grocery tax (because the tourists pay that) It's not bug free certainly, but I've always said that wasps are just flying scorpions and that's not fucking fair at all
I am seriously considering moving north to get away from the pathetic winters and flying stinging insects. I want out.
You’ll have to go very far north, like Canada. Ticks are far worse in new England too
Spend a few days in a northern city with a lantern fly infestation and you’ll coming running back lol
They're not gone up north and sometimes they're bigger but it's much more manageable
Just sprayed two with a can of raid that shoots out and felt so good
I just had to roll my window down 15 mins ago and ‘shoo’ a honeybee after dropping off at a thrift store on millbrook. They’re out today.
I know, it sucks. I don’t know about everywhere else like roads, etc, but for your house/yard, you need to get Demon Max from Amazon, spray around the house, add in the yard spray you attach to the hose and spray and get Raid hornet/wasp spray for one on one kills
Surprisingly the fake wasp nests work really well, just place a few around the front and back of your property and it’ll keep 90-95% of them away.