bumble bees in soil (in bin)

scargill

I have grown potatoes in plastic bins and went to harvest them this evening.

As a started digging (with my hands) I noticed some buzzing and saw a bee coming out of the soil. It flew off and I continued digging with my hands.....and got stung!

There seemed to be a good few bees moving around in the soil so I have left it for now.

So what should I do ? I want to get the spuds that I've spent all summer growing!

Are there likely to be many bees ? Is there a "queen" in there too ? The top 6 inches of the bins are full of peat moss which has dried out over the last week or so. There is heavier clay below that.

Can I just tip the bin over and let them fly away ? Or will they get aggressive ? I don't really want to go digging with my hands anymore.

They are fairly big and round and hairy - I presume they are bumble bees ?

Thanks for any suggestions.

scargill

maybe I should've post this in gardening ?

mods - feel free to move if more suitable.

alie

We had same problem a few years ago and they got really aggresive, We had to get a nest killer, this is put on at night and then you have to dig it out, it kind of looks like paper and then seal it in a bin bag and dispose, my kids got stung really badly and had to get hospital care .

Nothingcompares

Be careful you don't get stung anymore. If you're already allergic to bee stings you can actually acquire an allergic reaction.

It sounds like a queen Bombus Terrestris has started a nest in your potatoes and it would be an awful shame to have to destroy a nest. Bumble Bees are largely benign (you got stung because you stuck your hands in their nest).

I've done a little bit of work with bumble bees before and some nests might have 200/300 or more bees in it. What you might do is, tip it over at night time. If all the soil does fall out (as opposed to stay stuck in the bin) just leave it til the next day. Bees don't have good night vision. If they are still around the nest the following morning, I'd again, recommend til you wait til night time and use a spade to separate the spuds and leave the bees to their own devices.

Obviously you could get a professional pest control guy in but I wouldn't.

fryup

do BBs make honey??

Nothingcompares

bumble bee workers feed the larvae of the queen on honey. but the hives are much much smaller than the honey bee hives and they don't make nearly as much honey. therefore if you crack open a bumblebee hive you'd struggle to get a cup of honey out of it.

doctor evil

Contact these people, they may help. As far as I know the queen will go into hibernation in the autumn.

Our native bees are in decline so please don't just destroy the hive.

http://www.tcd.ie/Zoology/research/Bees/

scargill

Nothingcompares wrote: »

Be careful you don't get stung anymore. If you're already allergic to bee stings you can actually acquire an allergic reaction.

Thanks for the replies. My Dad got a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting years ago so I was a bit worried when I got stung !

The top 6 inches of soil only really dried out in the last week so could it be that they have only just begun nesting in there ?

What time of year do they starting nesting ?

I want to end up with a situation where I get my spuds and the bees fly off.

Is that going to happen ? Will I have to sacrifice the spuds ?

Another consideration is that I have a 2 year old who spends a lot of time in the garden. If he came across a bee he'd either eat it or put it in his pocket !!

Alun

We have a number of bumble bee nests in our garden too, but seeing as our garden is a bit of a jungle and doesn't get a lot of attention, we aren't that inconvenienced by them. And as another poster mentioned, bumblebees are pretty placid creatures and you'd have to really go out of your way to piss them off enough to make them sting you .. destroying a bumblebee nest seems way OTT to me. When the new queens and males emerge from the nest in the spring they're really dopey, and crawl across the grass in the garden rather than flying as such .. our cats regularly sniff at them and flick at them with their paws, but none of them has ever been stung. Male bumblebees have no sting BTW.

Here's a lengthy description of the rather fascinating life cycle of the bumblebee ...

http://www.bumblebee.org/lifecycle.htm

Diageio_Man

had a bumble bee in the garden in june that was looking really drowzy so i made up a soloution of sugar water and fed it to it(duno if this was a good thing?). It might have been a male after mating come to think of it. would a sugar water soloution done it any harm? it seemed to be lapping it up wish i got a pic of it.

Nothingcompares

scargill wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. My Dad got a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting years ago so I was a bit worried when I got stung !

The top 6 inches of soil only really dried out in the last week so could it be that they have only just begun nesting in there ?

What time of year do they starting nesting ?

I want to end up with a situation where I get my spuds and the bees fly off.

Is that going to happen ? Will I have to sacrifice the spuds ?

Another consideration is that I have a 2 year old who spends a lot of time in the garden. If he came across a bee he'd either eat it or put it in his pocket !!

The nest in spring and usually all the bees vacate the nest by late autumn, so perhaps another month or two. Have you got a photo of the bin?

would a sugar water soloution done it any harm?

no i don't think so. We (tcd bee research group) used to feed our bumble bees a sugar water solution but it was bought from a honey bee keeper supplier, it wasn't just a mixture of siucra and water. But to answer you question no it wouldn't do much harm.

(i'm not associated with this bee group anymore)

Diageio_Man

Nothingcompares wrote: »

no i don't think so. We (tcd bee research group) used to feed our bumble bees a sugar water solution but it was bought from a honey bee keeper supplier, it wasn't just a mixture of siucra and water. But to answer you question no it wouldn't do much harm.

(i'm not associated with this bee group anymore)

cheer's Nothingcompares.

scargill

Nothingcompares wrote: »

They nest in spring and usually all the bees vacate the nest by late autumn, so perhaps another month or two. Have you got a photo of the bin?

I went out yesterday evening to take a photo.......I think the bees have gone!

I gently moved the soil in the area where they were on Monday and there isn't one to be seen. (or heard)

After I got stung on Monday I could see about 6 or 7 bees moving around in the soil and buzzing loudly.

Could it be that I disturbed them as they were just building a nest and they have buggered off now ?

I had another quick look this morning and there doesn't seem to be any activity at all.

philstar

do bumble bees help to pollinate??

Nothingcompares

bumblebees are extremely important pollinators of wild flowers and crops, especially tomatoes. As I've stated previously, they do not have the same numbers as Honey Bees but nevertheless they are crucial. I think any gardener or farmer should be overwhelmingly receptive to bumblebee nests in their fields.

I find it very unusual the queen would abandon the nest but I'll take your word for it. The queen bee basically finds a hole, and starts laying eggs. The early generations of workers are responsible for making this hole more nest like. So if you saw 6/7 bees there originally I would have assumed there were actually of the a subsequent generation responsible for nectar and pollen collection. Again, I'm only really guessing. Were you able to retrieve the potatoes?

fryup

Nothingcompares wrote: »

bumblebees are extremely important pollinators of wild flowers and crops

you see OP, so leave those BubbleBees alone!!

justice for the BBs