Ground Nesting Bees and Pollinator Information
Now that spring is finally here you may notice some small soil mounds that look like ant mounds in the bare spots of your lawn or landscape. They are actually the emergence holes for many of our native ground nesting bees! They spend most of their lives in these nests alone as larvae and pupae with some pollen to eat that was left by their mother. When the weather starts to warm up, they will finally emerge to mate and collect pollen for their future offspring. There is no need to be afraid of them though! Most ground nesting bees aren’t aggressive because they are solitary; meaning they do their own thing and aren’t part of a community that they have to help protect, therefore no control is necessary for them because they are only out for a few weeks and will not harm you.
Did you know that we have over 500 native bees in NC alone??
They come in all sorts of sizes and colors, and prefer warm, dry areas with sun exposure, with little organic matter. So like I said, they love the bare patches in your lawn or garden. We also have some very specialized ground nesting bees that pollinate almost all of a crop without the use of honey bees like: for example (squash bees & blueberry bees).
Collectively, bees are our most agriculturally important pollinators and research has shown that native bees improve fruit set twice as much as honey bees! We still need to use honey bees though because they are relatively easy to manage and move from crop to crop. Without bees, we would lose ⅓ of all our food sources! Right now, bee populations are in decline. In the bumble bee family alone, 1 in 4 are at risk of extinction. Reasons for declining bees stem from habitat loss, poor nutrition, pesticides, pests and pathogens.
So as we stride into spring, think about these native bees and pollinators in general. It's okay to have areas that are bare in your lawn, they need those places. Create some bee shelters with your kids or grandkids this summer! If you have a lot of flowering weeds in your lawn, maybe leave them and say, “Hey, I think I'll feed the bees this year”, or if you want to get rid of those weeds, consider mowing their flower heads off before spraying. That way bees won't get into any pesticides or pesticide residue. In areas you are already gardening, think about adding some native plants to attract these bees and other native pollinators. Not only do they need good food sources for pollen and nectar, but they need plants for habitat purposes like grasses and plants with hollow stems. Even the smallest efforts help, like adding a few planters on your porch with some bee balm.
If you don’t know where to start, please give me a call! I have all the resources on plants for pollinators!
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