How to kill bee hive in ground?

[beppington]

This afternoon I was machete-ing away at some vines on my "jungle" property. One vine was laying on the ground across a really dead piece of tree trunk at the base of a living oak tree. I went to cut the vine at ground level, & POW, bees are stingin' me & buzzin' all around. I ran, fast & far, swattin' myself the whole time, but they still got me 4 times (sure thought it was more).

Turns out their nest seems to be a combination of the piece of dead wood & the dirt around the roots at the base of the tree. I got in my truck, rolled up the windows & enjoyed rolling my tire over the wood/ roots makin' 'em mad. Must've been at least 100 of them, probably more.

Needless to say, I want to get rid of them. I'd rather not pour gas all over the oak tree's roots, maybe killing it, so ... Will a towel, sheet, or blanket soaked in gas & thrown over the entire nest area kill them?

 

[beenthere]

If you throw a match on the gas, Yes.

But I'd pour a cup of gas on the nest and toss a match to light it. Don't wait too long or the fumes will travel and give a bigger "poof". It won't kill the tree.

 

[/pine]

if you are sure they are honey bees and not yellow jackets...call any apiary (bee keeper) in your area and they will come and get them for free...

 

[StewartGA1]

Just by poring a little gas down the hole, all the bees will die. Do not wear the same clothes you were bitten in do to the pheromones. Note: the ground tranfers the smell of gas through cracks so it needs to be 20 yards away from the house. If not it can ruin the carpet and furniture in the house. 12 oz MAX away from the house. Keeping the grass low will keep this from happening again.

 

[Shmudda]

Do the gas thing at night when they are all in the nest, thats the only way you will get them all or they will be buzzing around the burnt hole for days....

After the gas thing skunks will get in and clean the rest of the nest out, pretty need to see too!

Craig

 

[Egon]

Why must they be Killed.

 

[tommu56]

all I can say I had the same problem I am allergic to them and had a problem at my dad's I couldn't cut the grass with out them swarming.
All the exterminators I called couldn't or wouldn't do any thing so I went to a big box store and started reading cautions on the labels and found a product to kill grubs it said do not put on active bee areas.

Ill let you read between the lines and and figure out what to do.

A week later bees were almost non existent 2nd week none side benefit grubs all left and the moles left with them. nice soothe yard now.

tom

 

[firefighter9208]

If they are honey bees, please call a bee keeper. He/she will more than likely come and remove them for free. With colony collaspse we don't need to kill bees.

Chris

 

[beppington]

Why must they be Killed.

Good question. It's not my normal MO to kill everything in nature that's a threat to me (i.e. I haven't killed any of the 4-5 moccasins I've encountered so far ), but my acreage has only one ~acre where a house can be built (everything else is below the gubmint designated "100-year flood plain"), so the bees just picked the wrong spot.

 

[beppington]

Unfortunately you can't see a single bee in this picture, so you'll have to trust me that at the base of this tree is where the bees are, & when I took this pic (thru my truck's tinted window) there had to be at least 60 -80 of them buzzing all around the ground, & even trying to sting my truck!

Who'd have thought there'd be a bee hive in the ground at this seemingly innocent tree?!?

By the way, again you can't really tell by the pic, but see how the tree's leaning to the right a little; it's one root extending toward the bottom of the pic is up just a little off the ground, so there's a little space under it where the bees are living.

The vine laying across the right side of the tree's base is what I was trying to cut when the stinging began.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

"How to kill bee hive in ground?" ...

Nuclear bunker buster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

When applied according to manufacturer's directions, it is also effective against rolly-pollies and carpenter ants.


You mention a building site for your home...is the hive right at that site? If you can avoid them in the interim, I'm certain the dozer will evict then at construction time.

 

[beppington]

Nuclear bunker buster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

When applied according to manufacturer's directions, it is also effective against rolly-pollies and carpenter ants.

Funny guy! ...

You mention a building site for your home...is the hive right at that site? If you can avoid them in the interim, I'm certain the dozer will evict then at construction time.

The house will be about 30' away. They're at a tree that will be next to the driveway, probably not needing to be removed. So, I figure they'll just continue living there, tormenting anybody that jostles them from now until ...? ... unless I get rid of them.

 

[ray66v]

Gasoline, no match.

Dangerous, but effective. :thumbsup:

 

[Boeing]

Guys, here's a thought from a pilot...we get constant schooling on hazardous cargo and fire fighting equipment. Many fire ext are now carbon dioxide. Also, we carry alot of frozen cargo...again carbon dioxide. It seems that CO2 is heavier than "normal air" and will sink to the lower levels (read ground holes) and will displace all the oxygen in short order. (Nitrogen is also available and does the same thing)
The bees will die quickly with no ground being poisoned by gas and no fire risk. Talk to any fireman and they might have additional ideas. The orig posting did not say what "species" of bee but I know from experience that HORNETS and yellow jackets are MEAN SOB's. attack at night.....:thumbsup:

 

[LostInTheWoods]

The house will be about 30' away. They're at a tree that will be next to the driveway, probably not needing to be removed. So, I figure they'll just continue living there, tormenting anybody that jostles them from now until ...? ... unless I get rid of them.

Just FWIW....think about marking your trees well and trying to keep heavy equipment off the root zone of any trees you hope to keep. Been down that road, and lost several mature trees when we built our house and driveway.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/148982-what-what-do-i-do.html#post1717314

 

[beppington]

Just FWIW....think about marking your trees well and trying to keep heavy equipment off the root zone of any trees you hope to keep. Been down that road, and lost several mature trees when we built our house and driveway.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/148982-what-what-do-i-do.html#post1717314

OK! Will do, tks! I do have a number of HUGE oaks that I would surely hate to see die. I always wondered how well they handle having their roots run over.

 

[Renze]

My neighbor is a dedicated bee killer.
He tosses some straw over the hole, pours it with gasoline, lights and runs..

Diesel or oil dont work: the fire will start so slow that the bees have time to come after ya... gas, on a hot summer day, lights so fast (especially when thrown on straw = lots of vaporisation area) that the handfull of bees that do make it out of the nest, have their wings scorched off so they drop back into the fire inferno...

Safe and quick.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

If you have the time wait until the first good frost. That takes care of the nest most of the time. I'm not a big fan of pouring gas down the ground or killing every nest. I don't like the bee's myself but there are benefits to those bee's that eat small insects.

 

[beppington]

If you have the time wait until the first good frost.

I'm in N Cent FL: Frosts here are very, very rare.

 

[nebraskasparks]

Hello Beppington,

I've been doing the bee "thing" for several years now and getting stung doesn't make for a great day. If you call your Sheriff's department and ask if they know about bee keepers...they usually keep a list in many counties for saps like us that want a free colony of bees and are willing to go in and bait those beauties.
This time of year especially...they are hungry and getting ready for winter and just about every variety of bee is going to protect the nest. Lots of bumble bees nest in the ground and anything hollow, ground or tree is fair game when setting up a home.

Vibration really upsets bees. More than likely that's what set them off along with dark clothes and heavy perspiration that accompanies many TBN members!