(light music) - Welcome to Digging Deeper with Backyard Farmer.

I'm your host, Kim Todd.

And on Digging Deeper, we have in-depth discussions with our extension and industry experts about those important landscape topics.

Tonight, we are talking about things that sting, with Jody Green, who is of course our great entomologist on Backyard Farmer.

And she has brought with her half of all of the display of everything in the world that either is them or can do something about them, right, Jody?

- Yeah, we're gonna fit it in, in whatever time you have, whatever time you're gonna let me talk, 'cause right now is like the stinging insect time.

Call after call.

I've even had to get rid of some wasps for some people, friends, family.

- Uh-oh.

So let's start with the difference between bees and wasps.

- Okay, so a lot of times and this cartoon, or this comic was in a paper this week about why people love bees and they don't like wasps, but we need to be able to tell the difference, because we wanna know if we have to take those precautions or if we should let them be.

So, whenever we see things flying and forging on flowers, they're fine because they're just eating.

So it's like people at the grocery store, they're just getting their food.

Like they're not gonna be defensive.

- It depends on whether you get the last- - There's usually enough in the garden for everybody.

But for bees, they're usually a lot fuzzier or hairier, but bees are vegetarian.

So as larvae and as adults, they'll feed on pollen and nectar and water.

For wasps, they are gonna feed on protein, so other insects as larvae, and then as adults they'll feed on nectar.

So that's a big difference.

And then there are social and solitary of both types.

So our main social bees that we know of are gonna be honeybees and bumblebees.

So, those are the ones that we're gonna have to look out for.

Usually we, people have their honeybees kept, so, you just do whatever the beekeeper tells you to do.

For bumblebees, they're pretty, they're wild bees, and we don't know where they're nesting, but they can be a sting hazard.

So, even though we love bees and they're fluffy and vegetarians, they can be a sting hazard as well.

But those are the main differences between the bees and the wasps.

- So when you say social, for our viewers who aren't sure what that means.

What does that mean?

- Okay, so social, like people are social.

We need each other, we take care of each other.

So, for colonies that are social.

And so this includes the honeybee, bumblebee, yellow jacket, and the paper wasp, there is a central nest.

So, it might look like that on the outside.

It may look like a paper wasp nest.

It may look like this underground, but there is one queen or one egg layer and so she is kind of like the mother.

And then there's a lot of workers doing the work and defending the colony, so that's like the castle and they will defend it.

So that is why it can be pretty dangerous.

So, the social wasps and bees are gonna be what's going to be the danger stinging insect.

However, all of these female insects have a stinger because that's a modified egg-laying device, so they are capable of stinging.

It's just whether they're aggressive or not.

- All right, so you mentioned bees and wasps and in your incredibly beautiful box of creatures.

What's what here?

- [Jody] Okay, so over here, we've got bumblebees at the top and then right below them with the shiny abdomens, those are carpenter bees.

So, they're both bees, you can see they're kind of furry, but this bumblebee are gonna be social and the carpenter bee are gonna be solitary, even though they may have nesting aggregation.

So, they may live close to each other, each female has its own nest or provisions or takes care of her own offspring.

- [Kim] Okay.

- [Jody] And then the rest, I believe are wasps, except for this top one right here, these are carpenter ants.

Bees, wasps, and ants are in the same order, so it's good to know that.

So, bees are actually just vegetarian wasps, actually, so.

- [Kim] So, what else is in your box?

So, we have bees and bees - [Jody] Yep, and so then...

I know how may seem live, that's gonna get leased.

Don't worry all that.

Over here, we've got ground-nesting wasps.

So you may, if you've got a great garden full of flowers, you may see these giant wasps, they're called a great black wasps.

You may also see a great golden digger wasps, which are, they have a little bit of orange on their abdomen.

The shiny blue ones are gonna be the steel blue cricket hunters.

And then we've got the cicada killers here, so they're also ground-nesting.

And then on this side here, we've got the mud wasps.

So, you may see little chunks of mud stuck to you furniture or structure.

These wasps use mud puddles and water and make these little things and then they provision it actually with spider.

So, provisioning means they go and get a lot of spiders after building the structure, put it all in there and then lay an egg on it.

So, they're larvae pretty much eat the prey.

So these ones, actually the spiders that you don't like, put in there.

- [Kim] Perfect.

- And this one I added, cause they're pretty, these are called cuckoo wasps.

They actually invade the wasps or the nests of these wasps and lay eggs close to their larvae.

So they're like wasps parasitizing other wasps.

- So they're cannibalizing each other kind of.

- Yeah, you know, it's a circle of life.

And then up here, this row here is yellow jackets.

So social wasps, these ones are pretty nasty right now.

And then also the paper wasps.

And we have several different species of both kinds.

The paper wasps I'm fairly familiar because they have like the umbrella wasp in a nest.

So, it looks like an umbrella on the underside their open cells.

Yellow jackets they can be underground.

They could be in a wall void or they can have these aerial nests as well, so they can be kind of tricky.

- [Kim] So this, that approximates a nest.

- Yeah, so this is some device that they sell that is supposed to scare away wasps from building on your porch.

I do not think it works and people will also say that, you can use a paper bag, but there are also a wasps will build close, like nest close to each other.

So, that might be anecdotal don't go off on that.

- Don't go off and by one.

- And then we have the paper wasp, right here?

- Yep, so these ones here, the yellow jacket and the paper wasp, they build their nests out of paper, so what they use, so if you ever see them, they could be on like rope on a deck, fences, and they just scrape that wood pulp off and then they make these giant structures, like sometimes, yeah.

- [Kim] Like the one your box.

- So the one in this box here, this is a yellow jacket nest.

And again, these could be aerial or underground, so there's several tiers and then they're covered in this paper envelope.

So, those yellow jackets that you see kind of coming in and out of a hole in the ground, you don't really know what it looks like under there.

It could be something like this.

- So, how far down, I mean, if you just see the hole and all of a sudden here comes the yellow jacket after you.

How far down is the giant nest?

- Well, it could be like this, but it also could be in a different kind of shape as well.

So, they will use old rodent burrows.

And so I don't really know, maybe Dennis knows how big they are down there, but they can create a lot of nest.

And even with paper wasps, they can nest in things.

So, like playground equipment, just even a pipe.

So, they can make their nest like, long.

They can do it in like, sign posts.

- Well, my yellow jacket nest with the one that got me was in a compost pile.

- Yep.

- So, yeah.

- And that's also why it's important to find out if it's bumblebees or yellow jacket is because bumblebees will also nest in compost piles.

If things aren't used, they may nest in there.

And even though people like bees better, I guess, they can still do a number.

- Right, and they don't really make a structure like this, right?

- No, they just kind of have these little tiny disorganized pots, honeypots.

So, very dissimilar to honeybees, which were very organized hives.

- Right, okay.

Interesting, interesting.

So, we wanna make sure that you're all paying attention to all of us on Digging Deeper.

Send us all your questions, send us your comments.

Let us know whether you like what we're trying to dig deep on, so that we can decide whether we're going to do this again, and of course with Jody, we want her to do this every single time.

We need somebody on Digging Deeper because she brings the most amazing amount of stuff.

- Well, I'm an educator.

I need to teach everyone about everything and I want everyone to be safe.

Oh, and in this casserole dish or whatever this dish is, we've got a cicada killer wasp.

There's a male in here and there's also a cicada.

These are pretty popular right now, - [Kim] Yeah, they've been all over the place, right.

- That's in around gardens.

- [Kim] And these are the big ones, right?

- Yeah, so you can see the females are a lot larger 'cause they are the ones who have to lug around the cicadas.

The males, they act scary.

They don't really do any other work, but they like to scare people.

- [Kim] Tip that up a little bit for our viewers, Jody, so they can see what's in there.

- I don't know.

- [Kim] Other way, maybe.

There you go.

Yeah, so there's the cicada and there's the killer.

- [Jody] It doesn't really look so mean when it's in there.

- No, no.

Not flying around.

Okay, so let's talk about what to do to not get stung because you've brought a lot of- - So, one of the things that I really try to encourage people to do is scout and walk around their house early in the season, so that's April.

When it starts getting warm out is when you need to walk around and find it.

Sometimes you'll find like a cluster of like overwintering female wasps, which people freak out, 'cause they're like, "Why is there a nest in my house?"

But with each of these colonies, besides honey bees, so take honeybees out of this, they're an annual colony.

So if you do nothing, they will die in the winter - [Kim] In the winter.

- Right?

So it's like, if you wanna save the bees, then can you not use your compost for the rest of the year.

A lot of times people wanna use their things.

- Sure.

- So it doesn't, it's a no-go.

- Right.

- And other times, it's where's this nest, it's way up in a tree, or it's a way up in the peak of the house.

Is it gonna hurt anybody?

If not, let it be.

The colony will collapse at the end of the season.

However, later in the season.

It starts off with one female and she does all she does, and she creates these nests, this is for the social colonies.

They get bigger and they get bigger and they get bigger.

By late summer fall, it's a very big colony.

And they can be very angry when you are close to their home or their nest.

So, they'll be defensive.

So that's why in April, if it's just one, you can like take a flyswatter and you can knock it down.

You can take a scraper and scrape the nest off, if it's a paper wasp nest.

She may come back and build again, but the thing is, it's gonna be just her.

There's not really anything, - [Kim] Nobody else, okay.

- At that time.

Right now, paper wasp nests, there's probably like 20 of active workers, but there are like 50 to 100 pupating ready to come out.

So, if you get close, can get painful, right?

And with yellow jackets, you don't really know.

But if you see a hole and you see a lot of individuals.

Oh yeah, this is a paper wasp nest in one of those chimney or fireplace outdoor fireplace things.

And so like, you go to light it, you go put your hand, you know, you do anything.

They will think you're attacking them and they'll sting you.

It's very painful.

Any of these stings.

Yeah, so you're looking for individuals that all look similar coming in and out of that hole or that space, it could be even like a utility line going in.

If you see many individuals going in and out, that's a social colony and that's time to either call someone professionally to take care of, or you can try to treat yourself, but it's very, I'm gonna talk about safety because it's very...

If you're allergic, this could be life-threatening, so if you're allergic to bees stings or wasp venom, then you wanna have your EpiPen or call somebody.

But so three things.

You wanna do it at night because that's when all the individuals, the whole colonies in the nest.

Sometimes it sounds weird, but you want to make sure you're getting them all.

You don't wanna be treating a nest and having workers come back.

'Cause think about how you would feel if someone was like robbing your house at the time, right?

Like you're gonna chase them.

It's not gonna go well for them, hopefully.

So you wanna do that at night.

You wanna wear protective clothing.

So I'm a bee net or bee hat or something.

I've been known to wear a snowsuit sometimes.

So you want to make sure your face and neck is protected.

You wanna wear gloves all the time, I do cause... And then because it's dark, then you wanna wear a red headlamp and this one actually is a red headlamp.

If you do not have a red headlamp or red flashlight, you can get red cellophane and put that over top.

Do you want me to keep talking with this on?

Red cellophane and put it over a flashlight.

So, the thing is with these things they can't see red.

- [Kim] Really.

- Yes.

So that's gonna be how you win this game.

And then you can use any of the products that they sell at the store that are labeled for wasps.

What they do is they knock the colony down really fast, almost like freezing them.

They're all gonna be like pyrethroids.

So I just brought a bunch 'cause there's not one that I, have that I, it's favorite.

Some of them can knock down like 20 to 30 feet, I would recommend something that you can be farther away.

There's also some that have a foaming ability, so if it's gonna be in the ground, foam is gonna be heavier, so it might go down more and cover more space.

I wouldn't recommend foam necessarily for the, you know, something up high 'cause it will just drop down, pop down.

- [Kim] Right, yeah.

- But yeah, that's how you can do things it yourself.

And then they also have, if you go to the store, there's always so many different choices.

They have a bunch of like different nest traps.

So this one's a yellow jacket, wanna try a disposable one, and this one uses a pheromone of some sort or feeding attractant that's just to capture adults.

And then there's also other ones that are reasonable.

I think you can put like tuna or catfish in there, so, or catfish, cat food.

The reason why they do that is because later in the season, yellow jackets especially like to come to like our picnics and things start eating our food, so yeah.

- Right, I would never have thought of putting tuna or catfish to catch wasp.

- And they go through like times where they really like sugar too, so that's why you don't wanna drink your can of pop or soda out.

- Yeah, exactly.

- And then, trash management and things like that, so.

- Exactly, so we're talking about the ones that sting.

But then people, I know we have a beautiful little solitary bee hotel in our garden.

Talk about those for a minute or two.

- Yes, so because they're all capable of stinging.

Well, some of them, some are not aggressive.

So even if they were to sting, they're not gonna come after you.

But if you're gonna touch, slap, swat, press up against any type of stinging insects that has a stinger, then you can get stung.

And so a lot of these ground masters, if you're walk around with bare feet, that is going to be when you could be stung.

But with the solitary bees.

So I love my leafcutter bees, yeah.

I can pretty much stick my face all over the place around them and they are not aggressive at all.

But for sure if I squeezed one, they wouldn't be happy.

- [Kim] Exactly, all right.

- [Jody] So it's all about how we kind of treat our friends.

(both laughs) - And make sure they stay friendly and we...

So I'm sure Jody, that you've encountered the people that are, they're just so petrified of being stung and they don't differentiate between, they want pollinators or they want the flowers or they want flowers that won't attract insects.

Is that even a thing?

- No, like if you're planting them, they will come, because we're feeding them.

And a lot of times it's, you can't say like, "We just want bees."

Or "We just want butterflies."

"We don't want any," so even with the solitary bee hotels.

You get uninvited guests there, some are gonna be detrimental to your bees and others won't, but it's kinda nature, so.

- That's the way it goes.

So, we had a really interesting winter to say the least.

And now we're having a really interesting summer to say the least, so 100 minus 31.

Has that impacted the populations as near as you can tell, or are you seeing, is it the heat, is it the cold, is it both or is it just we're okay?

- Well, the one thing that does affect the wasps is it early in the season, if it warms up and it stays warm, the wasps do really well because the female comes out from overwintering and starts for nest.

And if there's not a, like a hard freeze or something that takes her by surprise and knocks down the wasp population, they all survive and they get bigger and bigger.

'Cause if you keep knocking it down and she doesn't develop a nest until later on, then her colonies will be a lot smaller.

So, with the warmth and heat and all the degree days that have probably popped in there, they've just been so much more productive.

Colonies will be big wherever they are.

And so I urge people to go out, check it out, but scout during the day, but treat at night.

- All right, and so even though we're well past spring now, will they return to the same spot?

So, if people see one now and they really, you know, they're gonna leave it alone.

Next spring, can you expect them in the same spot or- - Another colony will probably move in because it's all about location.

It's like, if a house gets sold, - [Kim] Real state.

- And your house and you think, "Oh, I didn't like that neighbor."

Well, someone else gonna be moving into the house, right?

So, if it's a good place, so if there's a hole there and you know, it's an old rodent burrow, fill that in.

If there's a hole in the wall, seal that gap, things like that.

And then be the first to scout those areas under the decks or around the windows, next year.

- All right, excellent.

Well, this is always intriguing of course, and always fun and always way too much information for the short amount of time we have.

And unfortunately that is all the time we do have for Digging Deeper tonight with Backyard Farmer.

Thanks to Jody, of course, for coming in and talking to us and bringing all of these cool props.

We will be back next time with another in-depth discussion.

Do be sure to watch Backyard Farmer live every Thursday at 7:00 PM Central on Nebraska Public Media.

Thanks for Digging Deeper with Backyard Farmer.

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