# Bee's



## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Has anyone else noticed the lack of bee's this year. Goldenrod is in fullbloom out back and there are very few bees on it. Usually sounds like a low hum. Not this year


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## Rowdy Bandit (Mar 22, 2016)

No. I have tons of different bees this year throughout since spring. Cool breeze and upper 60's in a swamp last evening and also plenty of activity. Neighbor who farms a bit about four miles away noted early-summer they had less, and he seemed concerned... then surprised with my place.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I have lots of Sedum in my yard, and the blossoms are covered with many different varieties of Bees, from sunup, til sundown. My fallen Pears are pretty covered, too.


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## eucman (Jan 24, 2009)

Scout 2 said:


> Has anyone else noticed the lack of bee's this year. Goldenrod is in fullbloom out back and there are very few bees on it. Usually sounds like a low hum. Not this year


Earlier in spring seemed like numbers were low. Seeing quite s few now


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

eucman said:


> Earlier in spring seemed like numbers were low. Seeing quite s few now


I had just the opposite. This spring both my neighbor and I both commented on how many pollinators we had in both of our yards. I had so many I had to mow lawn early in the day or late in the evening to avoid running too many of them through the mower. After the drought hit the bees disappeared. FM


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## Vicious Fishous (Sep 12, 2006)

Last year I only saw 1 honey bee on our flowers. It was sad. But a lot of the bumble size bees were around. 
This year I’ve seen a ton of honey bees. I was successively cutting our clover so they always had some to play on. Hopefully they are on the rebound.


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## Ranger Ray (Mar 2, 2003)

Plenty of bumbles. Some yellow jackets. 0 honey bees.


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## retired dundo (Jul 21, 2015)

I hardly saw any bees in my garden.I have a huge apple tree in my yard.The deers come every night so there is allways a lot of apple pieces on the ground.I use to have to rake them up early in morning or just before dark because of all the bees.This year I have not seen a bee on them


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## Thirty pointer (Jan 1, 2015)

Honey bees down here but lots of bumble bees . The black bees around here are plentiful and do a good job in my orchard Its the wasp that are eating fruit on the ground I kill every nest I find they do little for pollination and I get stung multiple times every year getting near their nest .


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## 4theFish (May 17, 2019)

Yellow jackets are wasps. We’ve seen many of those. My old wooden shed was lousy with carpenter bees but they seem to have quieted down. No pollinators this year at the flower gardens. We had a honeybee hive in a rotted oak but the bees didn’t survive the brutal winter of 2013.


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## brewster (May 30, 2010)

Lots of honey bees and other pollinators here. 

I'm hoping to split my two hives into four or six next spring.


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## wpmisport (Feb 9, 2010)

They normally try to build a bee hive in my awning area but not this year. My ditch did have a ground hive it on one side and a raccoon or something dug into it at night.


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## eye-sore (Jan 7, 2012)

Ive noticed at my house over the last 2 seasons i have 0 bees until sweet corn tassles then they swarm it and stay around various flower beds until cold comes. Might wanna plant corn if you dont already


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

eye-sore said:


> Ive noticed at my house over the last 2 seasons i have 0 bees until sweet corn tassles then they swarm it and stay around various flower beds until cold comes. Might wanna plant corn if you dont already


Corn don't last long enough to get tassles on it here. Deer eat everything even ate my hot peppers this year, These must be some illegals that snuck in. The pickle plants did very well until the bear found them. Needless to say we bought pickles at the farmers market


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

Critters got to eat too.


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## cedarlkDJ (Sep 2, 2002)

4theFish said:


> Yellow jackets are wasps. We’ve seen many of those.


I've got another ground hive in my yard with them. Mowed over it last week and was attacked and stung twice under the eye. That was miserable for two days! I've had them before and always mixed a 5 gallon bucket of Malathion and dumped it down the hole at night. Instant kill! I'd really like to avoid this again. Anybody have any other suggestions?


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## eye-sore (Jan 7, 2012)

Half inch of water in the bottom of a shop vac with a drop of dish soap. Soap not necessary tho in my experience.then point hose in hole and turn on vac. Its incredibly effective


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

Put anything that smells good next to the hole and skunks will get rid of most of them.


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## cedarlkDJ (Sep 2, 2002)

eye-sore said:


> Half inch of water in the bottom of a shop vac with a drop of dish soap. Soap not necessary tho in my experience.then point hose in hole and turn on vac. Its incredibly effective


I forgot about the shop vac trick. Thanks!
I definitely have enough extension cords. Mowed again today and as long as I stayed about 10 feet away, they didn't bother me. 



Martin Looker said:


> Put anything that smells good next to the hole and skunks will get rid of most of them.


I have enough problems keeping ***** out. The last thing I need are skunks!....


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

They're already there.


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## cedarlkDJ (Sep 2, 2002)

Martin Looker said:


> They're already there.


No skunks (yet) but, plenty of other critters....


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

Dog proofs work good for chipmunks.


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

cedarlkDJ said:


> I've got another ground hive in my yard with them. Mowed over it last week and was attacked and stung twice under the eye. That was miserable for two days! I've had them before and always mixed a 5 gallon bucket of Malathion and dumped it down the hole at night. Instant kill! I'd really like to avoid this again. Anybody have any other suggestions?
> View attachment 435771


Those are nasty. Better get rid of them some because as fall gets closer they become more aggressive toward you. We had one like that under our stes a few years ago and some one on here told what to put don to get them. It was a household item but I cannot remember hat. They were gone in 2 days


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## Scadsobees (Sep 21, 2006)

cedarlkDJ said:


> I've got another ground hive in my yard with them. Mowed over it last week and was attacked and stung twice under the eye. That was miserable for two days! I've had them before and always mixed a 5 gallon bucket of Malathion and dumped it down the hole at night. Instant kill! I'd really like to avoid this again. Anybody have any other suggestions?
> View attachment 435771


Go at night and drop 1/2 cup of gas into the little hole. Place a fairly air-tight bucket or bowl over the hole. The fumes will kill the bees overnight. 
Did that once and the kids dug up the nest a couple of days later and there was still live capped larvae in there, but the adults were all dead, the cappings filtered out the gas fumes I guess.


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## Scadsobees (Sep 21, 2006)

Scout 2 said:


> Has anyone else noticed the lack of bee's this year. Goldenrod is in fullbloom out back and there are very few bees on it. Usually sounds like a low hum. Not this year


I wonder if somebody nearby had hives that they moved out. The only time I've ever witnessed the low hum is if there's bee hives nearby and no other nectar sources.


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## on a call (Jan 16, 2010)

cedarlkDJ said:


> I've got another ground hive in my yard with them. Mowed over it last week and was attacked and stung twice under the eye. That was miserable for two days! I've had them before and always mixed a 5 gallon bucket of Malathion and dumped it down the hole at night. Instant kill! I'd really like to avoid this again. Anybody have any other suggestions?
> View attachment 435771


More simple than 5 gallons of mix....6 oz of Sevin at the hole day or night, watch out not to get stung.


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## on a call (Jan 16, 2010)

Martin Looker said:


> Dog proofs work good for chipmunks.


Always wondered if a k9 ever got a tongue caught ???


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

I only put shelled corn in my traps, dog doesn't like dried corn.


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## bobberbill (Apr 5, 2011)

This stuff works. No ants, spiders, wasps, hornets, yellow jackets. I spayed a ground nest and the next morning it was eliminated. Sprayed a giant hornet nest on the eves of a friends house. 2 days later - no hornets.
https://www.domyown.com/taurus-sc-t...MIwOLyrojs5AIVysDACh09SAa0EAQYAiABEgIX4PD_BwE


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Scadsobees said:


> I wonder if somebody nearby had hives that they moved out. The only time I've ever witnessed the low hum is if there's bee hives nearby and no other nectar sources.


No hives around here and the nearest farm if over 5 miles away. Any hives here would not last to long as our black furry pet would have them


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## mbirdsley (Jan 12, 2012)

I have seen a total lack of bees, paper wasps, and yellow jackets. This time last year I had 2 in ground yellow jackets nest and house covered in wasps nests 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## don novicki (Oct 13, 2017)

Only seen a few Honey Bees this year and way less Bumble Bees this season and we have a special pollinator garden for them with lots of Milkweed, Bee Balm, Seedum and other plants they like. Dam Roundup is killing everything.


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## Duwammer (Dec 26, 2001)

brewster said:


> Lots of honey bees and other pollinators here.
> 
> I'm hoping to split my two hives into four or six next spring.


My 3 hives are packed. For the 1st time I'm overwintering mine as single deeps.

Hopefully, all goes well through winter.


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## Ricky Missum (Jan 10, 2003)

Had more bees this year than the past 25!! S.E. Corner, planted a box of wildflower seeds the wife had won at a wedding shower, between them and the hummingbird feeder, I can't recall having this many bees, could be I just closed the pool yesterday, and that may make them look for another water source???


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## finlander (Jan 11, 2007)

At least my wife’s grape and cherry tomato plants are self pollinating. Hit them with Spray-n-Grow once last month as I was out spraying everything else. Oops. New flowers on them.


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