Bees By the hundreds šŸ

Hey everyone,
It seems some bees have taken a liking to my trees this year. Iā€™m not talking a few, like over 100+
So many of them that I have to time my watering for when they have all gone home for the night.
They are stopping in on their way home for a drink. Especially on the hot days.

Iā€™ve never experienced this before, any concerns I need to worry about? Iā€™m happy to have them and work around them.
I am experiencing some fungal issues in some of my trees. Will the bees be spreading spores?

Any help appreciated

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Hmmm, Iā€™ve usually taken the ā€œI donā€™t bother you, you donā€™t bother meā€ approach with bees, but Iā€™ve never had to deal with that many. I wouldnā€™t worry too much about them spreading fungal issues. Those spores are everywhere. Theyā€™ll grow when they find a hospitable situation.

Iā€™d try to see if you have a nest nearby and whether or not itā€™s legal to have a local bee keeper come and move it for you.

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Coolā€¦ I encourage them. Most honeybees will not sting youā€¦ unless you obviously try to kill em or accidently attack a hiveā€¦ they do let you know beforehand if they are upestā€¦
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Almost winter solstice here in USA.
Last summer I had crazy amounts of honeybees sucking water off my bonsai. I tried leaving dishes of water for them, they ignored entirely. I DO NOT use pesticides, except in a survive basisā€¦ The next door neighbor (2000 feet away) supposedly has a hive or three. Iā€™m OK with that. They do suck off of the leaves and soil, I assume they need the dissolved salts.
Also, I am amazed at the high number of native bumblebees here now. Way more than in past years. Found a ground nest and watched them hatch new bbs.
I do nuke any black faced hornet and yellow jacket nests I see. Got tired of being face straiffed, and forhead stung onceā€¦
Cant wait for the chinese killer hornets to get here from western Washington. 3" with crazy stingersā€¦
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Also, have had several praying mantice make themselves known. One pinched my earlobe. I gently caught it and placed on a leafy bonsai.
.And, we already(elsewhere in chatā€¦) discussed the spider situationā€¦ I leave them be. Except the poisonous onesā€¦ I brick thoseā€¦
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Enjoy your summer there! Im not jealous. Im enjoying the winter slow time!
Bonsai On!

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Thanks guys!! Appreciate the replies :relaxed:

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I agree with Kurt. Leave them alone, they are ā€˜good guysā€™. Pollinators of fruit and crops etc. I have lots of flowering cotoneasters and the bees love them, which is a bonus as the berries look good over the drab winter. I did have to get a pest controller in to get a wasps nest this year and his words were ā€˜Wow! Thatā€™s an angry one!ā€™ I only did it as each time I watered I was dive bombed by the evil littleā€¦

Not to worry. There are literally billions of spores on the air naturally and the bees only collect pollen :laughing:.

I keep several Honeybee hives. When itā€™s Hot and dry and thereā€™s not much water to be found elsewhere my bees will definitely congregate on soil and under pots my to drink the water. I never have any issues with them. My hives are about 60 yards away, But Bees can go even a couple miles for pollen and water as well. As long as youā€™re not allergic to honeybees I wouldnā€™t worry about it. I would actually take it is a good sign,I know honey bees donā€™t like foul water or chlorinated water.

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And for those of us that are allergic we just give the bees their space and move slowly when they are around. However, I have found certain ground bees to be aggressive so I have had to take out one of their hives - it was small.

Donā€™t know what a ā€˜ground beeā€™ is, maybe a yellow jacket?
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This summer I have been inendated by bumblebees. Not agressive at allā€¦
Even found a nest ā€¦ on the ground . Watched them raise babies most of the summer. Recognized there more than two types here. Pacifin N W.
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This is the biggestā€¦ Anybody recognise the species?
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Iā€™m hopeless at recognizing them but I understand the native bees tend to be smaller and more anonymous - more like small house flies. They tend to nest in dry patches of earth in small nests rather than large hives - and apparently there are hundreds of varieties. And thatā€™s not counting the Mason Bees.

Yes, Don. Full marks. These are the size of your thumb ( to the first nuckleā€¦) These had a nest under a small pile of tree limbes.
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Iā€™ve identified the local mason beeā€™s. Their mud nests CAN get anoying. Great polinaters, though. I encourage them.
I have some very very small black flying ant looking polinaters, too. Look more like a mini black wasp. Too small to easily photoā€¦
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Here is a photo of the smaller local Bumblebee.
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They had a nest under some paving bricks next to a black current bush. They love the sweet yellow blossoms early in the springā€¦
They all love my globe thistle and volunteer chivesā€¦
Alarmingly low number of European beeā€™s here this summerā€¦
Even with several hives across the street.!
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Slow bonsai time.
Bonsai On!

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Tried to do a bumblebee deap dive. Who knew there were SO many different bumblebee speciesā€¦
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The larger APPEARS to be a worker Boombas sylvicol or B. huntiiā€¦
The smaller has eluded me. It could be a male B. flavifrons.
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Watched the latest Mirai Live ponderosa video. Put my trees into storage last week. Should have worked my pondy harderā€¦
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It was 60F yesterdayā€¦ Supposed to snow on saturday, Dec. 4thā€¦30F tonightā€¦
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Oooommmmā€¦
Bonsai On!