One Redeeming Quality

   Carpenter bees are some of those critters that can be a downright nuisance.  Those gals (yes, it is the females that do the damage) can bore their way through any piece of wood.  It is hard to stop them once they make up their minds that your house is their house, too.  The female will start boring a tunnel into any chosen piece of wood and keep going until she has decided that she has enough nurseries for her babes.  That long tunnel was built with little side chambers to house an egg and pollen/nectar ball.  She does all the work herself with no help from her mate.  In fact, she is a loner and does not have a hive of worker bees to help her.  She does it...ALL.  Sometimes if she lives long enough, she will reuse her tunnel but, more oft than not, she dies from the toll that this work takes on her.  

  I was out working in the Small Gardens this morning when I noticed that dozens of carpenter bees were busy in the Mexican Hydrangeas.  The flower heads were literally crawling with bees.  These were bees that had just become adults and were out foraging for pollen and nectar.  They will keep busy between now and time to settle in for the winter.  Come spring, they will crawl back out of the tunnel and then start hunting mates.  The cycle will start anew with one lucky female claiming the old tunnel if the original female has died while the others will start drilling their own.

  With all the damage these bees can do to wooden structures, it is a good thing that they are important pollinators.  That is their one redeeming quality...other than the fact that they are extremely slow to sting.  Back when I was a kid, Granddad showed me how to find and plug the tunnels to make it harder for the bees to do too much damage.  If the female had to keep starting over with her tunnel, she would usually move off to a dead tree and leave the house alone.  I guess, I had better be on the lookout for those small round holes being drilled into the house, shed and greenhouse.  Let me find some plugs!  Not that it is going to do much good but, at least, it makes me think I am saving the Little Bayou House from collapse!

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz!

  These beautiful days are just perfect for gardening!  Once the chores for the day are complete, my time is spent puttering about the Small Gardens.  Right now, the vegetable plot is garnering most of my attention. It is time to get the spring seeds in the ground or in the hotbeds.  Since the garden has been used all winter, it is relatively clean and just needs minor work before putting in the seeds.  Still, there is always maintenance to be done and new planters to be built.  While Son is building a huge upright herb tower for me, I am erecting smaller versions to start the seeds.  Plus, he and I are reworking the drainage ditch that I dubbed Pebble Creek.  Raccoons decided that the small stream was their playground and literally tore up the entire thing.  Since it is not a natural creek in the first place, a layer of concrete should deter their efforts of digging beneath it.  

  Back in the veggie plot, however, I was elated to be in the company of a dozen or so bees.  Granted these are carpenter bees and not the sweet, little honeybees but, still, it made me smile to see so many working the garden alongside of me.  The mustard greens are bolting which is fine by me since it is getting to hot to grow them.  Several have already shot up their bright yellow blooms which attract the bees.  The bees will pollinate the blooms allowing them to produce viable seeds for next fall.

  This afternoon, after putting in two rows of yellow squash seeds, I sat and watched the bees for a few moments.  They seemed happy enough with the mustard flowers as not much else is blooming yet.  Given time, the entire row will be filled with the blossoms and more bees will come. It seems early to be putting in this many seeds but I am willing to take the chance of a late freeze.  There will be one, I will panic and try to cover my plants and promise not to push spring next year.  (I will, though, we both know that!)  For now...enjoy the weather, folks!  Get outside and do something.  You will feel better!

Busy Building!

    Along about noontime, I glanced out the front window just in time to see something zip to the left.  Ok, so that was a big bee!  Shoes on, camera in hand and glasses..I need my glasses!  I had to go find a bee!  The search did not take long because the bee was busy building a home.  There, on my gatepost, was a nice sized hole and there, going in that hole, was the bee.  She was poking stuff into the hole.  This was obviously a female that had gnawed out a tunnel in the post and then gnawed individual rooms.  In these cells, she laid in a stock of pollen and regurgitated nectar.  She then laid eggs in the different cells of the tunnel before sealing them off from the rest of the tunnel.  The sealing is done with plant fibers and soft wood from her gnawing.  This was her intentions for the day.  It was time to seal the main entrance to her nest.

  

  These tunnels can sometimes be up to 5 feet long and have many, many side cells.  The female bee does all the work.  Several generations of bees might use the same tunnel with a female adding to the tunnel system each year.  The tunnels are also used as overwintering spots for bees.  They will again lay in a stock of pollen and seal themselves in once the weather turns cold.  Many of the adult bees will die during the winter but those who survive will gnaw their way out during spring and start the process anew.

  The bee that has claimed my fencepost is a Southern Carpenter Bee.  These bees are not as fuzzy and cute as some of the other bees.  Some resemble Bumble Bees but mine lacks the bright yellow fuzziness.  In fact, this one looks downright intimidating!  The females are not apt to sting.  She can and will if you grab her but she is far too busy to be concerned about a mere human.  That said, the male does not have a stinger but he sure can get himself in a tizzy and act like a big bully if he thinks you are getting to close.  But that is all he does...nothing else...at all.   So Carpenter Bees are not a threat to anything but the wood in your house and, well, any gateposts that just happen to be handy.  I guess it is time to remedy a problem before it gets any worse.

A Useful Bit of Information!

  There are a lot of folks that have a tendency to kill just about any bug that crawls, flies or otherwise makes its way about the place.  We have come to the point where all creepy-crawly critters are considered bad and must be eradicated.  This makes me sad.  There are a few insects that I deem a pest and must be eliminated....think roaches, mosquitoes, termites and gnats...but on a whole I do not mind the critters if they do not make a nuisance of themselves.  Ants can build all the mounds they want back by the palmettos.  Grasshoppers are welcome to hop around the woods.  And, well, most critters fall in my category of "live and let live". I am not about to start squishing, spraying or slapping something just because it is alive.  That is stupid, as far as I can tell.  Some of those insects are pretty helpful, in their own way.

  Between the rain showers today, I made a quick trip to the pier.  Being stuck inside was making me a bit stir crazy so out I went.  The rain did catch me before I got back to the Little Bayou House but it was well worth being a bit wet.  While on the pier, I found another denizen of the Bayou enjoying the great outdoors.  A Tiger Bee Fly was drying off after the aforementioned shower.  It sat on the pier boards soaking up the few rays of sunshine provided by a momentary appearance by old Mr. Sun. The Tiger Bee Fly was gorgeous!

  Now to pass on a bit of useful information.  The Tiger Bee Fly is one NOT to kill.  As menacing as they seem to be, they are rather docile.  The word "bee" in the name leads one to believe that this is a stinging insect. Not so.  They do not sting.  Because they are actually a fly, one might think that they are bloodsuckers and bite.  Not so.  In fact, despite their scary name, the fly actually sips nectar with a long proboscis.  If you visit a garden with highly scented flowers, you might see the Tiger Bee Fly flitting about from flower to flower.  

Tiger Bee Fly....menacing looking but helpful and nice!

Carpenter Bee...pretty but will sting if threatened and a destructive tunnel borer!

  While that is a bit of happy news, the next should be downright elating.  These flies are indeed predators to some insects that do cause problems.  The female Tiger Bee Fly will search around until she finds a Carpenter Bee tunnel and then she does her deed!  The Carpenter Bee females are the ones that drill the perfectly round tunnels in wood such as on decks, porches, sheds, etc.  The tunnels weaken structures to the point that most of the drilled boards have to be replaced.  This can be costly. How do I know?  We have had to replace plenty!  The female Carpenter Bee drills these tunnels to house her eggs and larvae.  She stockpiles spiders and other insects inside each cell to assure her little ones have plenty to eat.  The Tiger Bee Fly sneaks in and lays her eggs among the Carpenter Bee eggs.  Once all of these eggs hatch (both Carpenter Bee and Tiger Bee Fly), the Carpenter Bee larvae start munching the paralyzed insects that Dear Old Mom caught for them. The Tiger Bee larvae start munching the Carpenter Bee larvae.  The fly larvae feast upon the bee larvae and eliminate a problem for humans!  Thusly, YOU SHOULD NOT KILL THESE FLIES!

  Hopefully, explaining that some critters can be helpful will cause folks to stop, think, identify and not kill.  Not only are a lot of beneficial insects killed because of folks just not understanding but the chemicals used in eradicating the bugs is quite harmful to all of us.  STOP! THINK! IDENTIFY! And then decide if the critter does not deserve to live.  Live and let live...a good mantra.

Sure Was a BIG Bee!

  Forced perspective is a weird thing.  I see it all of the time with folks claiming to have "killed a 12ft long moccasin!"  Nope you did not.  There are no moccasins that big.  Sorry but the size of that snake was not twelve feet long if it was indeed a moccasin.  You may have killed a 6ft long rat snake but not a 12ft long moccasin.  And...why are you killing a snake anyway??  But back to forced perspective and photography.  It is just weird.  Enough said.

  I was out and about trying to find a neat picture to send to the grandlittles when I decided to plop myself down on the ground and take a photograph of the clouds.  While I figured that this photograph would not work as a "Find the Critter" picture (a game I created for the kiddos), it may be one of interest.  Tall trees, poofy clouds...interesting, right?  It was not until I looked closer at the photograph that I realized that I did indeed get a critter in the shot.  A carpenter bee just happened to fly right in front of the camera at the perfect time!  At first, I was just impressed that I caught a bee flying about the yard, then I looked at the thing a bit differently.  If you stare at the photograph, the bee starts to look huge in comparison to the 50ft (or so) tall trees.  The bee almost looks to be some huge creature actually flying high in the clouds and not a small insect buzzing about my face.  I admit that  carpenter bees are some of the larger bees and they do look huge when they dive bomb you for getting too close to their nest but seeing what seems like one as large as an airplane is a tad ridiculous. They are closer to the size of a thimble!

  Still, the photograph is interesting and it goes to prove a point that it is easy to make things appear to be somewhat different than they truly are. So...that said...bees are not as large as planes, all snakes are not moccasins and moccasins average around 3ft. (occasionally longer but not 12ft!).  All sorts of lessons learned!

Garden Helper

I was up with the birds this morning!  There were a lot of chores that I needed to do before rains set in for the day.  Thunder out over the Gulf was my alarm clock and I knew that it would be just a matter of time before those storms would swing inland.  My herbs are at the optimal point for drying so I had to harvest this morning.  My hike to the pier would have to be postponed for a different day. While heading toward the Sage patch, I passed a few volunteer Zinnias.  These have been doing so well and have livened up the Rose Garden tremendously.  Their bright blooms remind me of Pop's flower gardens back on the farm.  He always loved his Zinnias as they would bloom nigh on the entire summer!  I do believe these will do the same if I can keep the rabbits from nibbling them to the ground.
 

This morning, however, there were no rabbits munching my flowers.  Instead, I found a nice plump Carpenter Bee resting on the tiptop of a lovely pink flower!  Obviously, the bee had spent the night right there and was still a bit "waterlogged" from the rains that pelted the area during the nighttime.  The early morning sunshine was beaming down on his wings which I assume felt mighty fine after the soggy night.  Being curious, I gently poked the bee.  It was definitely still alive but needed some warming before it could carry on about its business for the day.

The black spot in the center of a yellow thorax is a identification mark of a Carpenter Bee!

After checking the Sage and deciding that it could benefit from one more day's growing, I returned to the bee.  It was still on the flower but was moving about a bit more.  Its antennae were wiggling and it was trying to sip a bit of the sweet nectar that the Zinnia supplied.  As much as I do not like these bees for the damage they can wreak on wood, it was nice to see it pollinating the plants of the garden.  Most bees are welcome in my garden.  With the noticeable lack of Honeybees lately, I appreciate any and all pollinators that come.  I watched as the Carpenter Bee finally warmed enough to fly and off it went to visit flower after flower.  Ahhh, with the bee's help the seeds formed from these flowers will produce lovely plants next year!  Carry on, Little Bee, carry on!  Pollinate those Zinnias!

As a happy note, I did see quite a few Honeybees in a large tree down the lane!  I hope they decide to stay in the area!  Perhaps I need to plant more flowers!  On a sad note, our bees are dying out rapidly due to "safe lawn chemicals".  Folks!  These chemicals are not safe at  all!  Find critter friendly alternatives..please! This habit is taking a toll on the bee population and if things do not change soon..we will not be seeing bees of any sort in our gardens.  Without bees to pollinate, it will not take long before the world starves.

Flight of the Bumblebee..er...Carpenter Bee!

The wisteria is in full bloom by the back deck. It is absolutely gorgeous and smells phenomenal! It is truly a sight to behold and a pleasure to be near except for...the bees! Don't get me wrong, I like bees. I would even go so far as to say..I love bees! I love honeybees and bumblebees. These are productive citizens of a garden. They both pollinate the fruits, vegetables and flowers thus fulfilling their duty and earning the right to be a part of the garden community. Today, however, as I was enjoying a leisurely walk through the arbor, I was pummeled..literally headbutted..by a mass of carpenter bees. It is time for these bees to mate and lay eggs so I am quite sure this attack was merely a territorial thing. I was a threat and the males, being the bullies they are, tried to scare me away from this area. I was pelted repeatedly by these little billygoats of the apian world. They were not stinging me as these were males and they do not have stingers but still it was a bit unnerving to be bombarded by a barrage of bees..assaulted by antagonists of the apiary..violated by vicious villians..ok, ok..so I was merely smacked by non-stinging bees. It still was a a tad disconcerting to have the carpenter bees getting tangled in my hair and buzzing about my ears. This I can do without!

And need I mention the damage that these critters can do to decks, fences and gates. While the males are busy smacking any intruder in their space, the female is chewing her way into the wood to make a nice nursery chamber for her little ones. Any unfinished wood is fair game for her. She will drill a most perfectly round tunnel deep into any piece of wood that is at least two inches thick. Some of her tunnels can go well into the wood weakening any structure. Here she will lay her eggs and supply the future larvae with "bee bread". Bee bread is merely pollen and regurgitated nectar..YUM!..definitely sounds delicious..and I am being sarcastic there! The eggs hatch, larvae eat their yummy meal and crawl out of the hole to start the whole process over again.

The good side of carpenter bees??? They are some of the best pollinators of open-faced flowers. The bad side of carpenter bees??? They will ruin your deck or other wooden structure by drilling it full of holes and they can stain siding or deck with an ugly yellow mess as they defecate. Another downside..once they find a suitable nesting sight, they return each year. ALL OF THEM!!! The adults that started the whole colony and each offspring will always nest in the same spot as long as it remains in suitable condition. So paint! Stain! Do something to that wood! I do not mind the bees being in my yard..just not weakening my deck and wooden steps. The tunnels are already there so the best thing I can do is replace boards and stain the deck. I do not use chemical pesticides so manual labor is the route I have to take. Or..I could round up a few young lads to pick up where my sons left off years ago. Both boys used to take plastic baseball bats and have batting practice with the bees. Seems a mite cruel but it is actually a very effective method! I am not sure it even killed the bees but made them think twice about the porch being conducive to baby bee raising!

Note..the pictures of the carpenter bees in flight were taken by Son! Good job!