Are you looking for a way to prevent or get rid of hovering ground bees in your lawn? Well, you’re reading the right article!
By simply mixing water with strong vinegar, you could create a quick yet natural and effective solution to kill ground bees. Once you spray it on their burrows or the bees themselves, it will cause death after several minutes because they would not be able to handle it. The bonus factor is that this ingredient is just cheap and is surely available at your home.
Even though using vinegar would be an easy way to get rid of these insects, should you really kill ground bees?
How Does A Vinegar Solution Get Rid Of Ground Bees?
Such liquid is harmful to bees. Due to the vinegar’s acidic properties, it has the ability to dry out the exoskeleton of ground bees when they become exposed and have contact with the solution.
To do this, you just only need to mix equal parts of water and vinegar – 1 cup of water and 1 cup of vinegar. Then put it in a spray bottle. Easy, right? This solution will also be great to use if you want to kill other insects and pests like slugs, gnats, and mosquitoes in your yard.
Do Bees Hate The Smell Of Vinegar?
Aside from the fact that it can burn the protective covering of bees, it can also confuse bees. The smell of flowers guides the bees to get a source of food. However, if you previously sprayed vinegar on your garden, the smell of it will overpower the smell that comes from the flowers.
As a result, the bees won’t be able to locate the flowers for pollination and they can even get lost. It would cause worker bees to become disoriented, which causes their entire colony to die from starvation.
Which Vinegar Could Kill Bees?
Choosing the right type of vinegar would not really matter because all forms are harmful to bees. Whether it is white vinegar, rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or horticultural vinegar, all of these could have a negative effect on the bee population.
However, if the infestation of ground bees is too large enough to pose a threat, then it can not just be solved with the vinegar mixture. It is better to call professionals.
What Bee Species Can Vinegar Kill?
Ground bees, Honey bees, Sweat bees, Carpenter bees, and Bumble bees – all species of bees could die from a spray of vinegar solution. However, the effect would not be instant like those chemical herbicides because it might take a few minutes.
Therefore, you should not substitute extermination or bee-relocation strategies with a spray of vinegar because it may provoke them to attack you before they get killed.
Are Ground Bees Dangerous?
Unlike bumblebees which can be quite aggressive, ground bees are not. The males that you usually see around the opening of the nest do not even have a stinger. While the females are equipped with stingers but don’t use them on humans unless they feel threatened.
What are Ground Bees?
Ground bees are also called mining or digger bees because they burrow into the ground. The term does not refer to a single specific specie of bee because any variation of bee species that burrows under the ground is considered as ground bees.
Why do You have Ground Bees In Your Lawn?
If you see a small conical soil mound near a less than 1.5 inches hole in your lawn, it is probably a ground bee’s nest. You may have ground bees in your lawn if the soil is dry and loose because it is easy to tunnel. Existing burrows made previously by small rodents also attract ground bees.
Should You Kill Ground Bees?
If you are afraid of bees, it might actually be a good news for you that you could just go to your kitchen and get that vinegar to kill ground bees. However, the question is do you need to kill them?
Actually, their presence in your yard is harmless especially if you don’t bother them because they are not aggressive. Yes, female ground bees may sting you, but only if they are provoked. Therefore, it is not necessary to eliminate ground bees. In fact, it is better not to kill them because of their essential role in our environment. Killing these species over time would be a threat to our ecosystem. The best choice would be to leave them alone.
But if they get too close to your home that affects your gardening activities and poses a threat to children, that is when removal would be necessary.
When Is The Best Time To Kill Ground Bees?
If you are being interrupted by their presence and have no choice but to kill them, you must do it at dusk or night because they are less active at that time.
But again, you don’t have to kill them. Instead of killing ground bees, you may call professionals to properly remove their nests. Another option that you can do but is non-toxic for ground bees is to prevent your soil from getting loose and dry because ground bees avoid wet areas.
Benefits Of Ground Bees
While you are wanting to get rid of ground bees, it is important to know that there are positive reasons not to. Primarily, it is because they are polylectic. They collect pollen grains from flowers of many types of unrelated plants, allowing ornamental flowers to produce seeds and trees to produce fruits.
It is actually best to encourage bees to go to your garden because they do more good than harm.
Summary
A mixture of vinegar and water would probably be one of the most accessible spray solutions for killing ground bees. It is cheap, readily available, and effective. However, when you have a choice, it is best not to kill ground bees because of their benefits to our ecosystem. Declining bee populations worldwide lead to failure of unpollinated plants to produce food, causing a serious alarm. Therefore, using vinegar as a natural bee repellent should not be the first choice.
Sources:
What Kills Bees Instantly? Everything You Need to Know
