Jun 5, 2011 – The Burrows of Summer
QUESTION:
Ground Bees - If and when treatment becomes necessary what would be a better option, dusting each individual burrow (and if so which dust?)or flooding with a wettable powder like Demon WP or something else? Seems to me that in a case where we are dealing with hundreds of nests that both methods would be very time consuming to complete.
ANSWER:
This is a tough call to make. You are correct in suggesting that treatment generally is unnecessary, and hopefully that is the route that should be approached first. We really need to help our customers understand that not all bugs should be killed. In the interest of a cleaner environment and a smooth operating landscape there are many kinds of insects that should be preserved. Unfortunately, most homeowners are not familiar with all the beneficial insects that appear at their porch lights or on their plants, and since they do not know their instinct is to ask that you kill them all. This would be the improper thing to do, and one of our roles as professionals is to learn what these insects are, understand their importance and role in nature, and educate our customers to understand that tolerance is better than a scorched Earth approach to pest management.
That little sermon behind us, but I truly do believe it is the best route to take, there will be times when harmless little burrowing bees simply cannot be tolerated by some of your customers, and it is their right to demand that these beneficial insects be eliminated in some way. There are non-chemical approaches that could be considered, and the primary one is to make the soil where the bees are working either unattractive or unavailable. The female bees will be active only for a short period of time, excavating the tunnels and chambers in them, providing a supply of food in each chamber, and then depositing their eggs and abandoning the job forever. They are not social insects (although sometimes bumblebees or yellow jackets may burrow in the soil) and as solitary bees they really don't give much attention to any people hanging around near them. While they "could" sting the likelihood is extremely low, and given the benefit of bees preserving them is preferred.
The soil is not always appropriate for creating tunnels and burrows if it is very dry, particularly if it is loose soil or sandy, so keepin the area from being irrigated may be helpful. It may even be possible to discourage the bees by daily raking over the area to ruin their work of the day before, filling in the tunnels. Depending on where this soil is and how much is involved you may be able to recommend covering it with bark, gravel, or mulch, or even a sheet of plastic for a temporary period of time.
If treating is needed then generally treating each soil opening individually is recommended. Not only is this a more directed approach than generally spraying over the entire soil area just to kill bees working one tiny little part of it, but it puts the active ingredient and the bee into much more likely contact. In this case either a dust or a spray solution, directed into the burrow opening, should be effective, so now it is your choice as to which one is easier to apply. Dusts generally last longer than liquid sprays, but normally this is only when the dust is in a dry setting. A dust puffed into a small burrow opening may be more likely to be pushed deeper into the burrow, so this could be an advantage. "Flooding" the surface tunnel with liquid could get the material just as deep, but perhaps take longer to apply into each opening, and the liquid is going to soak into the soil around that tunnel, so perhaps the dust particles resting on the soil would be more available to the parent bee that is moving up and down during the process of digging. I guess I would opt for the dusting, using a contact insecticide rather than an inorganic desiccant dust.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
Ground Bees - If and when treatment becomes necessary what would be a better option, dusting each individual burrow (and if so which dust?)or flooding with a wettable powder like Demon WP or something else? Seems to me that in a case where we are dealing with hundreds of nests that both methods would be very time consuming to complete.
ANSWER:
This is a tough call to make. You are correct in suggesting that treatment generally is unnecessary, and hopefully that is the route that should be approached first. We really need to help our customers understand that not all bugs should be killed. In the interest of a cleaner environment and a smooth operating landscape there are many kinds of insects that should be preserved. Unfortunately, most homeowners are not familiar with all the beneficial insects that appear at their porch lights or on their plants, and since they do not know their instinct is to ask that you kill them all. This would be the improper thing to do, and one of our roles as professionals is to learn what these insects are, understand their importance and role in nature, and educate our customers to understand that tolerance is better than a scorched Earth approach to pest management.
That little sermon behind us, but I truly do believe it is the best route to take, there will be times when harmless little burrowing bees simply cannot be tolerated by some of your customers, and it is their right to demand that these beneficial insects be eliminated in some way. There are non-chemical approaches that could be considered, and the primary one is to make the soil where the bees are working either unattractive or unavailable. The female bees will be active only for a short period of time, excavating the tunnels and chambers in them, providing a supply of food in each chamber, and then depositing their eggs and abandoning the job forever. They are not social insects (although sometimes bumblebees or yellow jackets may burrow in the soil) and as solitary bees they really don't give much attention to any people hanging around near them. While they "could" sting the likelihood is extremely low, and given the benefit of bees preserving them is preferred.
The soil is not always appropriate for creating tunnels and burrows if it is very dry, particularly if it is loose soil or sandy, so keepin the area from being irrigated may be helpful. It may even be possible to discourage the bees by daily raking over the area to ruin their work of the day before, filling in the tunnels. Depending on where this soil is and how much is involved you may be able to recommend covering it with bark, gravel, or mulch, or even a sheet of plastic for a temporary period of time.
If treating is needed then generally treating each soil opening individually is recommended. Not only is this a more directed approach than generally spraying over the entire soil area just to kill bees working one tiny little part of it, but it puts the active ingredient and the bee into much more likely contact. In this case either a dust or a spray solution, directed into the burrow opening, should be effective, so now it is your choice as to which one is easier to apply. Dusts generally last longer than liquid sprays, but normally this is only when the dust is in a dry setting. A dust puffed into a small burrow opening may be more likely to be pushed deeper into the burrow, so this could be an advantage. "Flooding" the surface tunnel with liquid could get the material just as deep, but perhaps take longer to apply into each opening, and the liquid is going to soak into the soil around that tunnel, so perhaps the dust particles resting on the soil would be more available to the parent bee that is moving up and down during the process of digging. I guess I would opt for the dusting, using a contact insecticide rather than an inorganic desiccant dust.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
