How To Attract Bees To Pollinate Garden

How to Exterminate Bees

As crucial as bees are for the environment, it can be dangerous to have bees nesting and swarming on your property. If you have problematic bees, you'll need to exterminate them before the problem becomes even more serious.

Bees or Wasps?

While it's easy to confuse bees and wasps, these insects are inherently different in their appearance and behavior. Wasps tend to be more aggressive than bees, with the latter usually only stinging if they're provoked.

Bees have furry bodies, and different bees will have different coloration with black, brown, orange and yellow color combinations. Wasps have smooth bodies, often narrower than bees.

Wasp colonies are smaller than bee colonies, and wasps usually won't swarm around their nest as bees do. Wasp nests look like footballs, and it's typically easy to spot them. Bee nests will either be hidden in trees or underground.

Social and Solitary Bees

Bees are categorized by their nesting behavior, either social or solitary. Social bees make large nests to accommodate a large number of insects. These bees act to defend a nest when it's threatened. Solitary bees live alone, and they are usually not aggressive.

Honey bees are an example of a social bee because they live together in a large nest. Honey bees will also defend their nest as they strive to protect their honey. You might find honey bee nests in abandoned rodent burrows, hollow trees, attics, chimneys and spaces in walls.

Wasp Extermination

If wasps are not causing an emergency, the easiest way to exterminate them is to wait until the late in the fall when the wasps abandon the nest. Especially in areas where the temperature dips below freezing, the wasps will leave the nest. At this time, you can simply remove the nest and destroy it. If the nest is inaccessible, seal all openings to the nest to prevent the wasps from returning to it.

If you need to take action immediately, use an insecticide designed for killing wasps. Wait until late evening when the temperature falls and as many wasps are inside the nest as possible. Spray the insecticide into the nest. Observe local ordinances that may be in place in your community that govern use of insecticides though.

Bee Extermination

Bee extermination can be harder because of the swarming behaviors of many bees. Use of insecticides is illegal for bees in many cases. You might use a trap to encase the hive, but this can be a risky endeavor.

If you have honey bees, consider calling a local beekeeper to come and take the beehive. Many beekeepers will do this at no cost because they want the bees.

Call a Professional

When all else fails, call a professional to help you with your wasp or bee problem. Professionals are experts with extermination, and they will use the best products to get the job done without harming the environment. If you find more bees or wasps after extermination, you can usually call the professional back to finish the job.