Why are wasps and bees hanging out in my vegetable garden?

Question

The garden is finally flurishing, the tomato, pepper, cucumber plants are all starting to give fruit, but I can't go in and retrieve because wasps and bees seem to like my garden more than I do!

When I go out to water, the amount of them that come up from the plants are sometimes amazing to me. Why do they like my veggie garden so much? I have flowers in other areas, why don't they go to them instead?

How can I get rid of them from my garden, or at least rid them for a bit so I can go in and de-weed and get some of my veggies?

Thank you.

Answer 1

They are pollinating your plants,so they can produce fruits & vegies

Answer 2

The Bees are collecting pollen which helps fertilize the plant and produce fruit. Good thing. The wasps or hornets are eating the fruit and / or getting water. Bad thing. The problem is to get rid of the wasps and not the bees. I havent figured out how to do that without hurting the bees so I move slowly in the garden. August and September is going to get bad as far as the wasps are concerned. They get more agressive. At that time I will put out sweet traps that I make my self. I get a plastic soda bottle with the s***w on lid. I drill a small hole in the lid big enough for a wasp to crawl into and replace the lid.

I then cut the neck off like I am making a funnel. I then invert it and put it inside the other half of the bottle and then I put some concentrated apple juice in there and place it near the area and stand back. They may start zooming the bottle before you set it down. When I get a bunch I fill the bottle with water or pop it in the freezer so I can empty it and refill it with apple juice. Good luck

Answer 3

Look around for wasp nests, and spray them.  You need the regular bees around, so don't kill them.  They usually don't bother me anyway.  But the wasps build these little grey spherical nests with many tiny holes in them to lay their eggs.  It might be in the ground, on the side of your house, etc.  I found one on my bbq grill.  There is a special wasp spray from Raid, that has a 20-foot jet spray.

Answer 4

Your plants are producing a smell thats irresistible to the bugs, my best advice is that they have a nest somewhere, you'll need to find that nest and have it removed, local pest control can do this if you're afraid of getting stung.