Subject: Re: Bees, how to keep them aw

From: [email-masked] (Chenaya Strutton)
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 18:10:00 GMT

DR>From: [email-masked] (Danial Rubin)
  >Hi All,

DR>I have a problem with bees nesting around my apartment's patio.  The
  >patio is surrounded by trees and there seems to be an abnormal amount
  >of bees nesting around the area.  Last summer there was a nest inside
  >a wall mounted patio light.  Is there any way that I can do something
   It kind of depends by what you consider BEES. Honey bees shouldn't be
 a problem since they aren,t normally aggressive. But if the are, any
 local bee keeper would be glad to come and get them if the problem is a
 wild hive or swarm. Bumble bees aren't usually aggressive either unless
 you disturb the nest. However, if you have any of the many types of
 yellow-jacket hornets, they are often VERY aggressive. We have a mostly
 organic garden but yellow-jackets are one of the only things I would
 use insecticide on if I could reach the nest (However, if someone out
 there knows how to kill a nest safely without poison, I'd love to read
 it.). Since you're in an apartment, and yellow-jackets can be
 dangerous, I'd first ask the landlord to deal with nests on the
 property. If you do have to deal with yellow-jackets yourself, get one
 of the jet-type sprays that are made just for hornets. Wait till dark,
 spray the stuff directly into the hole and run like crazy (I'm not
 kidding). If you simply don't want to use any poisons (I don't blame
 you), you can put out baited traps (no electric zappers please, they
 kill everything). Used early in the season, you might catch some of the
 young queens just starting out and prevent a nest from forming later.
 Used later in the season, I'm not sure how much good they really do,
 mostly revenge I think. This is from Portland, Oregon and we had a bad
 problem with yellow-jackets in our garden last year. Sometimes we
 could see at least 200 or more buzzing the compost pile, searching for
 prey. They made it impossible to turn the compost pile (Wait a
 minute, I think I've got something there. The perfect excuse...). This
 year, we'll be putting out the baited traps early and I plan to WHAP
 every yellow-jacket I can reach.
   Wow, did I ramble...

   Anyway, I hope that helps...  I certainly feel better.

                                    Cheryl
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 * OLX 2.1 TD * Someone, please, stop me before I plant again!