Bees in Walnut Bark

[Woodcutter Tom]

I got a load of walnut when a tree service took down a tree next door. They gave me all the big stuff, which normally they truck it 18 miles to a company that makes mulch. Worked out for both of us. Now I notice that dozens of bees are swarming the wood. They look for cracks in the bark and stick their heads in. There are also ants around these cracks. I have had the wood for 3 days and every day there are more bees. Does anyone know specifically what they are after? What in the walnut bark are they after? Or what do the ants have in the cracks that the bees want?
I have a few ground bee hives in my yard. The bees could be coming from those. I try to leave them alone as the bees are great pollinators. I have a lot of wildflowers in my yard.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

Those look like yellow jackets, not bees. They are wasps. I know yellow jackets are often attracted to freshly cut wood for potential nesting material. I think it's the smell. I know like other wasps they chew wood fibers to make pulp to build nests, I think that's the attraction. Either way be careful their stings are painful.

 

[oilstinks]

Look like Yeller Jackets to me as well.

 

[Ashful]

Yeah. "Ground bees" are generally German Yellowjackets, aka European Yellowjackets. They are an invasive and very aggressive species, and should be destroyed. Please don't preserve those bastards!

 

[Woodcutter Tom]

Well....I have been doing some research this morning and yep, I think they are yellowjackets. Thanks for the feedback. I will be getting rid of two ground nests that I know of tonight when they are back in the nest. I will try either Sevin liquid ( don't have the dust) or dish soap and water. In one nest a month ago I put over 6 gallons of water and not one drop overflowed the hole going into the ground. Therefore I know they are big nests. Wish me luck....

 

[Mudgen]

Well....I have been doing some research this morning and yep, I think they are yellowjackets. Thanks for the feedback. I will be getting rid of two ground nests that I know of tonight when they are back in the nest. I will try either Sevin liquid ( don't have the dust) or dish soap and water. In one nest a month ago I put over 6 gallons of water and not one drop overflowed the hole going into the ground. Therefore I know they are big nests. Wish me luck....

A cup of 20 Mule Team Borax in a couple gallons of water will do the trick safely.

 

[Ashful]

This may not be the most environmentally approved method, and I wouldn't do it atop your well, but a soup can filled 1/3 with gasoline tipped into the hole after dark has 100% success, without getting stung. The fumes are heavier than air, and sit in the nest and kill them.

We can debate what 4 oz. of gasoline is doing to the earth, but in the grand scheme of things, I suspect nothing. Most probably spill more than that by accident, in any given year.

 

[Montanalocal]

A propane tank with a weed burner aimed down the hole will probably do the same thing. At least it does a great job for me on mole and vole burrows. Its heavier than air and displaces all the oxygen.

 

[Ashful]

A propane tank with a weed burner aimed down the hole will probably do the same thing. At least it does a great job for me on mole and vole burrows. Its heavier than air and displaces all the oxygen.

Yeah, but I'd guess the gasoline takes the win on delivery speed. Sneak up to hole, tip can onto it, run like hell.

If executed after dark, running becomes optional, but still feels better.

 

[Doublebogey]

Yep, yellow jacket nests get the high octane treatment from me every time. Those things are nasty. My brother got stung over 60 times when he was a kid. Not letting that happen to my kids if I can help it. Canada is burning half their country to the ground to the point that I can’t go for a run in Cincinnati because of the smoke and I’m going to sweat a quart of gas in the ground? Yeah sure.

 

[Woodcutter Tom]

I put dish soap and water down the holes last night. This morning a few were crawling out of the hole and flying away. I put about 4 oz of E-Free 50-1 mix into the opening. (I gave them the good stuff !!) Now I just see a few fly around the opening and start to go in, but fly back out. I'll keep watching it throughout the day.
I still see some by the walnut logs. These could be ones that got out early or from another nest.

 

[Eman85]

Just pour the gas and throw the match! Might even till the ground for you.

 

[Ashful]

I put dish soap and water down the holes last night. This morning a few were crawling out of the hole and flying away. I put about 4 oz of E-Free 50-1 mix into the opening. (I gave them the good stuff !!) Now I just see a few fly around the opening and start to go in, but fly back out. I'll keep watching it throughout the day.
I still see some by the walnut logs. These could be ones that got out early or from another nest.

This is why you’re supposed to do the gasoline after sunset, when they’re all trapped inside. You’d have had zero survivors, if you had skipped the dish soap and water.

The old-timers weren’t always environmentally conscious, by our standards, but they did know how to kill stuff!

 

[oilstinks]

Shop vac with dawn and water in the bottom works too. Put it by the hole and walk away.

 

[Ashful]

Shop vac with dawn and water in the bottom works too. Put it by the hole and walk away.

Wow, that's cool. You can really clear an entire colony this way, no survivors? I would have assumed there'd always be some remaining in the hive, if not killed in-situ.

 

[armanidog]

Make some art:

 

[Ashful]

I want my five minutes back.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

They aren’t looking for nesting sites now, so it must be food. Maybe something that was living off the tree is now dying and attracting them.

 

[Woodcutter Tom]

I looked at the nests this morning. Something has started to dig into the larger nest. It did not dig very deep.
Something also dug into the smaller nest. It got in deep and pulled out some of the honeycomb. Last year when something dug up a nest, it tore up a big hole. Whatever is digging this year is much smaller.

 

[Ashful]

Usually skunks. People hate having skunks around, but they really are the best way to combat these hateful little wasps in the ground.

We have at least one, maybe a few(?) skunks that come around in the evenings. We smell them outside and have to choose when to put the dogs out accordingly, so the two shall never meet. But they do seem to keep those yellowjackets at bay.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Yup, skunks… the ultimate in grub control.

Skunks usually have a 1-2 sq mile non exclusive territory.

 

[Dunmyermowingllc]

I didn't know skunks ate yellowjacket larva. That's awesome

 

[Ashful]

I didn't know skunks ate yellowjacket larva. That's awesome

They'll dig their nests right out of the ground and eat them. I get that they operate at night, when bees are supposed to be defenseless, but I still don't understand how they don't get the ever loving crap stung out of them while sticking their nose and tongue into a yellowjacket nest like that.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

They do, I’ve had multiple jobs from the wildlife and pest sides where I pull up to a spot that smells like skunk around a hole in the ground.

 

[Dunmyermowingllc]

Maybe they are more pain tolerant then us wimpy humans