How to kill bee hive in ground?

[beppington]

This afternoon I was machete-ing away at some vines on my "jungle" property. One vine was laying on the ground across a really dead piece of tree trunk at the base of a living oak tree. I went to cut the vine at ground level, & POW, bees are stingin' me & buzzin' all around. I ran, fast & far, swattin' myself the whole time, but they still got me 4 times (sure thought it was more).

Turns out their nest seems to be a combination of the piece of dead wood & the dirt around the roots at the base of the tree. I got in my truck, rolled up the windows & enjoyed rolling my tire over the wood/ roots makin' 'em mad. Must've been at least 100 of them, probably more.

Needless to say, I want to get rid of them. I'd rather not pour gas all over the oak tree's roots, maybe killing it, so ... Will a towel, sheet, or blanket soaked in gas & thrown over the entire nest area kill them?

 

[beenthere]

If you throw a match on the gas, Yes.

But I'd pour a cup of gas on the nest and toss a match to light it. Don't wait too long or the fumes will travel and give a bigger "poof". It won't kill the tree.

 

[/pine]

if you are sure they are honey bees and not yellow jackets...call any apiary (bee keeper) in your area and they will come and get them for free...

 

[StewartGA1]

Just by poring a little gas down the hole, all the bees will die. Do not wear the same clothes you were bitten in do to the pheromones. Note: the ground tranfers the smell of gas through cracks so it needs to be 20 yards away from the house. If not it can ruin the carpet and furniture in the house. 12 oz MAX away from the house. Keeping the grass low will keep this from happening again.

 

[Shmudda]

Do the gas thing at night when they are all in the nest, thats the only way you will get them all or they will be buzzing around the burnt hole for days....

After the gas thing skunks will get in and clean the rest of the nest out, pretty need to see too!

Craig

 

[Egon]

Why must they be Killed.

 

[tommu56]

all I can say I had the same problem I am allergic to them and had a problem at my dad's I couldn't cut the grass with out them swarming.
All the exterminators I called couldn't or wouldn't do any thing so I went to a big box store and started reading cautions on the labels and found a product to kill grubs it said do not put on active bee areas.

Ill let you read between the lines and and figure out what to do.

A week later bees were almost non existent 2nd week none side benefit grubs all left and the moles left with them. nice soothe yard now.

tom

 

[firefighter9208]

If they are honey bees, please call a bee keeper. He/she will more than likely come and remove them for free. With colony collaspse we don't need to kill bees.

Chris

 

[beppington]

Why must they be Killed.

Good question. It's not my normal MO to kill everything in nature that's a threat to me (i.e. I haven't killed any of the 4-5 moccasins I've encountered so far ), but my acreage has only one ~acre where a house can be built (everything else is below the gubmint designated "100-year flood plain"), so the bees just picked the wrong spot.

 

[beppington]

Unfortunately you can't see a single bee in this picture, so you'll have to trust me that at the base of this tree is where the bees are, & when I took this pic (thru my truck's tinted window) there had to be at least 60 -80 of them buzzing all around the ground, & even trying to sting my truck!

Who'd have thought there'd be a bee hive in the ground at this seemingly innocent tree?!?

By the way, again you can't really tell by the pic, but see how the tree's leaning to the right a little; it's one root extending toward the bottom of the pic is up just a little off the ground, so there's a little space under it where the bees are living.

The vine laying across the right side of the tree's base is what I was trying to cut when the stinging began.