Being a gardener means that apart from enjoying your garden and your flowers you will have to face the lovely sweat bees. How can you get rid of the sweat bees? There are different ways to do it.
Sweat bees are the 2nd well-known bees after the honey bees. They took their name because they need the human sweat due to the salt that it contains. They need it because it’s their fuel in order to work. That’s why they will try to come near you and even crawl under what you are wearing if they smell the sweat.
In this article, we will give you tips on the ways that you can get rid of the sweat bees. You can either use natural ways or chemicals in the worst case. It’s up to you to choose the one that will be better for you. Let’s have a look first at what the sweat bees look like.
Sweat Bees
Their sizes can vary from 5 to 11 mm. Their color is different too compared to the bees that we all know. They have metallic green or purple color. They have long hairy legs and a short sharp tongue. The male ones have yellow stripes with black abdomens.
The places that are most likely to find the sweat bees would be the soil and the softwood. They prefer to nest there. They will pay a visit close to the place that you’ll be and if there is water too then it’s even better for them. Sweat bees are at their pick from March until the end of summer.
In general sweat bees don’t sting. Apart from the females but in general it isn’t a behavior that they have. They just want to collect the sweat drops from our skin. The only reason that they will attack you will be when you will try to get rid of them. That is when you should be very careful.
What Is the Best Way to Eliminate Them?
There are different ways that you can get rid of the sweat bees. There are chemical and non-chemical ways to do it. What is actually better though? To kill them, capture them or just repel them?
Unfortunately, you will have to get rid of them when their attacks are permanent. This means, that they have formed a nest in your garden and they do destroy your plants and flowers. Also, they might distract you from your work the whole time that you’ll be in your garden and definitely if you are allergic to bees.
The ways that you can get rid of the sweat bees would be to use insecticides, to catch them and kill them and to repel them. Repelling them might be one of the better ways that you can choose. Let’s have a look at the steps that you need to follow in order to eliminate them one way or the other.
How to Destroy Sweat Bee Nest
One way that you can get rid of the sweat bees would be to the find their nest. Sweat bees tend to create many small nests, they don’t have only one. It is possible as we mentioned above that you will find them underground in cavities or even in shrubbery roots. Before you do anything you need to notice what these bees are doing.
What you need to do is to mark where the nests are. You can either use small colorful sticks or flags in order to know where the nests are. The best time to get rid of them would be during the night time. That is why you need to mark them.
No matter which method you choose don’t forget to wear protective clothing. You can wear long pants, long sleeves shirt, protective gloves, and eye protection.
If you will use chemical insecticides in order to get rid of the sweat bees you should choose one that it isn’t toxic to humans or toxic to the soil and the other small organisms that live there too.
The best insecticides would be the non-chemical ones that we’ll mention later on. Once you choose the type of insecticides you will spread it. Read carefully the instructions of the product that you will choose. With some of them, you might need to spray the nest more than once in order to see results.
Once you make sure that the sweat bees won’t be a problem anymore you could add compost to their old nest in order to prevent other bees from coming. Additionally, you could plant ivy which is the perfect plant because the bees won’t be able to create their nests.
Sweat Bee Repellents
Another way that you can get rid of the sweat bees would be the use of natural methods. The use of soap is one of them. The chemical ones might cause harm not to only to you but also your children if they play in the garden outside, your pets and your lovely plants as well.
You can use a soap that you use at home, for example, the liquid dish detergent would be a good idea. You will mix about 10ml of the detergent in a bucket of water. Make sure that when you’ll mix it you’ll have lots of foam. You can either add it in a spray bottle or a hose sprayer. Spray more than once and spray a lot.
Again don’t forget to wear protective clothing like the ones we mentioned earlier. Keep a safe distance of 10 feet. You will need to be patient and if you see that the bees continue to be there spray again and notice the results. It will take some time but at least you won’t cause any harm to the ones around you.
Homemade Bee Killer with Vinegar
Another way that you can get rid of the sweat bees would be the vinegar. Vinegar will attract sweat bees to traps. You can create water traps that the bees will go there and eventually die. Also, you could mix vinegar and water and just spray them.
In order to create your liquid spray, you will need 2 cups of warm water and 2 cups of vinegar. Pour your mix into the spray and you are ready to start your operation of getting rid of the sweat bees. Don’t forget that throughout this process you will wear protective clothes.
DIY Sweat Bee Trap
Don’t forget that you can also create your own sweat bee traps. You can use 2-liter bottles that you’ll get from the fizzy drinks that you have at home. What you’ll need to do would be to cut away the top third of this bottle.
You can use a knife. In order to cut it evenly, you could wrap it around with a masking tape and mark where you‘ll cut the bottle. What you’ll need to do next is to invert the top that you cut and place it in the bottle bottom.
The top should be facing downward. What you’ll need to do next is to staple the bottle which will face downward with the bottle. Once you finish with this you will need to create 2 holes where you will add a cord.
Use the cord in order to hang the trap later on. The holes should be about 1 inch. The holes should be opposite from each other. Make a not at the end of the cord so as to ensure that it will remain in place. In order to get rid of the sweat bees you will need to add honey or sugar to attract them.
Pour it at the bottom of the trap. You don’t need to use a lot of honey or sugar, just add a thin layer. If you don’t want to kill the bees that will be attracted to this trap use honey or sugar water. You will remove them from the bottle and release them.
When you’ll place these traps make sure that they are close to access points for the bees. You can check the traps every 2 weeks. You can either clean and re-use the bottle or you can make another one.
Conclusion
From what we saw there are different ways that you can get rid of the sweat bees. You should eliminate them when there are too many and they have formed many nests and as a result, you can’t work in your garden. The best time to get eliminate them would be during the night when they are all in the nest.
The best ways that you can get rid of the sweat bees would be the non-chemical one. In this way, you will protect you and your loved ones and the garden and as a result the environment too. It’s up to you to choose the way that you can get rid of the sweat bees. We hope that our tips will help you. Don’t forget to wear the right clothes.
