Bumble Bee Problem!

[gwstang]

I was removing the firewood that sat on the back porch for the last month. It had gotten warm and no longer needed to have close by. It was only a few pieces. It's all a covered area. I picked up some on the ground that had slid under the wood steps and yikes! Bumble bees started coming out and they were not happy. The hole must be back under the porch somewhat. Porch is off the ground about 2 ft. and it is open under there. I need help on a way to permanently remove the varmints. I guess I could set up a bug bomb and then stir them up and it would get a bunch that way. Might get me too. I worked with a guy that was bush hogging and got into a bumble bee nest and they tore him up! I looked at him and said, "I don't guess a Ford tractor can outrun bumbles...?" He didn't think it a bit funny... :laughing: same guy ran into a hornet nest about 3 years ago and had knots all over his face/head. Nothing funny about that one either... I've had those pigmy wasp yellow jackets that nest in a hole in the ground get me and they burn like fire. I learned to watch where I had cut on the previous round to see if they were swarming their hole. I slapped the old Ford tractor out of gear and abandoned ship one time for an hour. went back and they were still stinging the tractor hood. Maniac bugs. Any help on the bumbles, that doesn't include burning the house down...lol

 

[Deere Dude]

We have their tame kin folks around here. Carpenter bees. I use Bifen IT, 2 oz per gallon and bees, spiders, termites, and many other pests stay clear. I spray my wood piles and all wood around my house yearly, and it works quite well.

 

[gwstang]

"Bifen IT, 2 oz per gallon"

I'll check out some of this. I have lots of those carpenter bees too. I hated it when the epa took the arsenic out of treated wood. Turned the bees lose on us. Same for ddt and fire ants.

 

[Streetcar]

Bumblebees are typically docile. I have disturbed nest and was never stung. Hornets and yellow jackets are aggressive

 

[ovrszd]

Bumblebees are typically docile. I have disturbed nest and was never stung. Hornets and yellow jackets are aggressive

When a BB decides you are the enemy you'll wish you had half a dozen wasps on you instead.

 

[kenmac]

We have their tame kin folks around here. Carpenter bees. I use Bifen IT, 2 oz per gallon and bees, spiders, termites, and many other pests stay clear. I spray my wood piles and all wood around my house yearly, and it works quite well.

believe me, We have them here. At the first of may, I had a swarm around my pole barns. Holes everywhere.
I bought a chemical from the local co-op mixed it and sprayed both my barns and lean tos.
After spraying twice, they finally left

 

[AWSubie]

I use Tempo Dust. You can buy it through Amazon. It is extremely effective. I used it on a very large underground yellow jacket nest and within two days, no more yellow jackets.

 

[Deere Dude]

believe me, We have them here. At the first of may, I had a swarm around my pole barns. Holes everywhere.
I bought a chemical from the local co-op mixed it and sprayed both my barns and lean tos.
After spraying twice, they finally left

I bought some stuff to squirt in the holes in the wood in my barn boards and rafters etc. I did that for about 5 minutes and then decided that a behind the tractor sprayer would cover everything quite nicely. Carpenter bees come back to the same place year after year unless the cycle is broken and this spray fixed my pest problem pretty nicely.

 

[beowulf]

We have those hornets/wasps or whatever that live underground. I have been bitten more than once and it is more of a bite than a sting. You can see tiny chunks of your skin missing. It is like being stuck with a red hot poker. And unlike bees they don't have to land on you and get set before they sting - they just come at you and the instant they touch you, you are bitten. No one ever forgets the times they have been bitten by those insects.

When I can find their holes I wait until the sun goes down and then use a gopher gasser. It wipes out the entire nest. When you dig it up you find a quite large nest - sort of like paper mache.

They can be killed one by one with those hanging wasp traps with attractant, but I don't use those as I think it just brings more of them around. I have read they can sense that attractant for miles.

 

[Wagtail]

Bumblebees are typically docile. I have disturbed nest and was never stung. Hornets and yellow jackets are aggressive

I agree. Tasmania is the only place in Australia that has bumbles and I've only ever seen two types; a large and a medium size. They're the most docile 'stinging' insect I've ever encountered. Mind you, I don't react to them in an aggressive way... Just say, "G'day Bumble!", it checks you out (they like the colour blue) and then 'bumbles' away.

There's not too many bees in one of their ground nests either. I'm happy to have them around.