Plain Talk: Other Stinging Insects (302)

Episode 302 – Plain Talk: Other Stinging Insects

Jim Tew

Hey, listeners. Just like that, almost overnight. It was fall.

It was autumn. You know, I always give you a weather report when we start. It's just a beautiful early fall day Blue skies.

Bees are out. Then we're going to go back and check on them. Before I do that though, I know this is a bee podcast, but can we just talk about another insect just for a few minutes before we do that?

Listeners, I'm Jim Tew, and I come to you here once a week at Honey Bee Obscura where I try to talk about something to do with plain talk beekeeping, but today for just a minute I want to talk about insects other than

Introduction

Welcome to Honey Bee Obscura, brought to you by Growing Planet Media, the producers of the Beekeeping Today podcast. Join Jim Tew, your guide through the complexity, the beauty, the fun, and the challenges of managing honey bees.

Jim hosts fun and interesting guests who take a deep dive into the intricate world of honey bees. Whether you're a seasoned beekeeper or just getting started, Get ready for some plain talk that'll delve into all things honey bees.

Jim Tew

Years ago, under Kim's supervision, I tried to put out a wildflower garden. The bigger garden just turned kind of into a weed garden which had a lot of native plants in it. But one of the ones right here in front of my shop, it's I bet it's not 30 inches by ten feet.

And through the years it's really become mostly milkweed and a few other flowers. Most of the diversity has gone. And I gotta make this short.

The milkweed was completely unexciting. Nothing happened. And last year I had several monarch larvae on it But listeners, about the middle of the summer, all of a sudden, the butterflies went crazy for that milkweed and at one time on that spot about two feet by about ten feet I had 20 monarch larvae on about 10 or 15 milkweed plants.

And through the summer they maintain that number. I don't know where they go. There's a few hanging off the shop here where they tried to you know build a chrysalis.

I don't know where they're going, but that was just amazing and they absolutely stripped right down to the stem, those milkweed plants. So if it matters to you, I had a bumper crop of milkweed butterflies this year on just a minimum number of milkweed plants I'm gonna take the 75 yard walk back to the shop. But I'm gonna stop by this hibiscus plant.

They've all flowered and are gone Goldenrod up in the field. We'll check that out later. The main thing I want to talk to you about today is the county fair. With some friends I went to the county fair, which usually one time's enough for me, just look at the chickens and the big draft horses and whatever.

And as I was eating a barbecued chicken, I noticed that there were yellow jackets all around wanting to eat with me there too. Let me get through the barn here. And one of my co diners.

And didn't know him from anyone. It was just sitting there and he said, I don't know what was all these bees. It used to be flies.

Now it's just bees. I'm in the bee yard now Many years ago, a young Jim Tew would have taken him on and explained that in fact was not honey bees, that was yellow jackets. But I just let it go.

I didn't say a word. But I did note again that honey bees, honey bees get the blame. for all of the bees that are around the garbage bins and trying to get to the sweetness that you're having at the county fair.

And it's always a major issue at those events. And our bees get the blame for it. So the ones we have to watch for primarily.

are yellow jackets because they're the one that really blindsides people, surprises them, scares them. I mean how many stories do you want? I was on my tractor years ago, not too many years ago, but years ago cutting grass and I noticed my neighbor across the street walk out to her mailbox and as I was turning the tractor around I was going to speak to her.

And she went into all this jumping frenzy response mode and was slapping herself and as after a bit she came over and she said that a wasp's nest had built in her mailbox and she didn't know it and that the bee just stung her. And could I help her with it? So yeah, I took up some bee gloves and went over and tore down the little the little nest and It was gone.

But I was intrigued at that point. Clearly, a single-tier wasp's nest, and she said that it was a bee that stung her. Just because you've got bees on the street.

The most interesting situation I noticed the guy at the end of the street was really going crazy splitting wood. I mean he's got enough wood to be drying out there for about three seasons. Maybe that was his intent.

I don't know. I stopped by one day to ask if he was selling that or what he was doing with it and he explained that no it was all for him. That he would probably let some go if I if I needed a few pieces.

And I told him mine was just to burn outside And then I'd stop back by and talk to him. He said, Well I Where do you live down there? There's some guy down there who has bees.

Uh I think it's right by that lane. Are you anywhere near him? And I said, Well actually I am that guy down there Who has bees.

I didn't know this guy. I still don't know his last name. His first name was Josh.

I don't think he would mind me telling you that. And before Josh even knew who I was, somebody had told him that I've got bees down here. With that in mind, You're gonna get called a lot.

If you're new to this, let's take a walk. If you're new to this and people begin to understand that you're the bee person, you're going to get calls for bees for bee stuff that's not bee stuff at all. Let's take a break.

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Jim Tew

It's a great day for a walk. The leaves are just starting to fall, they're just beginning to turn. And it's that time of the year.

where a hornet nest will turn up. That's been there pretty much all summer and nobody knew it until the leaves drop And a neighbor down the street called me and said that they had a big hornet nest That's right on the edge of the tree limb and it's grown so much that it's sagging down and they're afraid that they're gonna hit with their head as they mow grass. Well, you know, what do I know about hornets?

I know as much as anybody else, you know, I know they're not bees. And I went down after dark and this was my plan. It was on a springy, low-hanging limb.

But it was about eight feet up. They were never gonna hit with their head. And the nests had been there all summer and had done nothing.

When I looked at the nest, it was just a beautiful, beautiful piece of artwork that the insects had made, but nope It's dangerous and it's gotta come down. So with my wife there standing a safe distance back to call 911 if I had to, I went up a ladder And I gently put a black garbage bag over the nest And then I crushed the bag in my hand, you know, around the limb. I'm showing you now what I was doing.

I was holding the limb with the bag crushed in my hand. And then without holding on with either hand, I reached up and clipped off the limb. And there was an ominous vibrational buzz.

In that bag that can only be described as intimidating. I need to be clear, I did have my bee gloves on and I had my bee suit on, and I admonished everybody else to step away. Nobody was out there, I was doing it dark, just my wife.

And like I said, she was my emergency contact because this was the first hornet's nest. that I had ever taken down. Coming down the ladder, I thought that I was just one step off the ground, and in fact I was three steps off the ground.

Boom, I dropped right to the ground from about 30 inches up and fell right flat on my back and the entire time I was falling My thought was do not do not let go of that bug. And I didn't. I wasn't hurt. I was kind of banged up But I held on to the bag and the story basically ends there.

I've got the nest hanging in my shop. It was a perfect nest. I didn't damage it.

It didn't need to come down. I'm sitting here in my front yard. And my neighbor finally got to the age where she can't stay home alone anymore, so her house is vacant Five years ago they had six hornet nests in their front apple trees, the uh the small apples.

What are they called? The dwarf apples have momentarily gone blank They're just decorative trees with a lot of blooms in the spring and not much fruit. And I was surprised at my neighbor.

He was a tough guy, an outdoorsman, but he wouldn't have those things hanging there, so he carefully destroyed every one of them. I don't know why they won't nest on my property. I would leave them here So bald-faced hornets are going to be a challenge for you too.

They're going to have to learn to live with. They're not our bees, but we're going to be given credit for them. The wasps that I talked about early on, they were the stinging insects of my life.

They were ultra, ultra common in southeast Alabama hot climate under every barn eve, under every old truck fender that sat still for a while, that would be either a yellow Polistes nest or a what we called at that time red wasp. They were bigger insects, had fewer populations, but they were always more intimidating.

I grew up with those things. And somewhere I read as a kid that wasps primarily sting movement. So I would climb up in the loft of the barn with a pen full of stones and lie flat on my back and throw stones at a wasp nest just to antagonize it.

and then lay perfectly still. But that was not one of the smartest things I ever did. Even though it worked, I'm sure they respond to sight and to odors.

not just movement, but I thought I had some sophisticated science there that I could use. So I've had a long, combative relationship with stinging insects throughout my outdoor life. And I went into beekeeping with a bit of trepidation because Those things were, you know, they meant a lot to me.

They were meaningful. And the pain of it was always omnipresent.

When you start keeping bees, you were going to be stung sooner or later. Ironically, I was stung the very first day of bee class at Auburn, the very first day, the very first lesson I was stung, so I got that over with. Can almost tell you a story about it, but I won't go into it The last thing we need to mention is bumblebees, those big furry bumblebees and their look-alikes but not the same insect at all, carpenter bees.

Those bees are much smaller in number and though those stings are remarkably painful and sometimes you'll get a call to eliminate them too. I don't know what to tell you to do, listeners. You can be a good Samaritan and try.

But then once you start putting out chemicals, Sevin or something on someone else's yard, I don't know. I don't know what we're incurring or what we should do. So I just always play each one as an individual case. I don't advertise it, I don't promote it.

If I can get out of it, I probably will. and I'd hope that they can find something else to do. I'd usually tell them if they can just hang on and coexist with whatever the insect is, especially yellow jackets By the second killing frost, they're going to be gone.

These insects get lumped in with us as beekeepers And I know just enough about them to be up slightly above average, but I've never wanted to be. uh yellow jacket uh expert or bumblebee whatever I wanted to work with honey bees but I think you have to know just enough about these other insects that sting because people are not going to differentiate them. At the county fair, at a picnic.

on a walk or Saturday afternoon on a paved path, there are going to be wasps and yellow jackets all over that goldenrod. And people are going to refer to them, but more often than not as bees. So I'll close on this.

I don't have any advice other than just expect that somewhere if you keep bees long enough and you become known for it well enough, you're going to have to help out a neighbor. a family member, someone with a bee issue that is not honey bees. And it's interesting because I'm a little bit fearful when I go work insects that sting that are not my insects.

But I feel invincible in my bee garb. That helps a lot. That's enough.

It's a beautiful day. I'm gonna sit here for a while longer and just enjoy life. I'll talk to you again this time next week. I'm Jim. Telling you bye.