To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] bumble aggression
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 08:26:27 -0500
The bumbles are working my blueberries at the moment.
I've only had a single encounter with a bumblebee nest, but it wasn't very
much fun. In my limited experience, they're every bit as aggressive as
yellowjackets if you disturb their nest.
I was mowing some fairly rank, overmature grass alongside the driveway a
number of years ago, when WHAM! out of nowhere, those rascals started
nailing me. Of course, I took off on a sprint - ran at least 50 yards to
escape them. Left the lawnmower running - I believe it as positioned
almost directly over the entrance to the nest at the point in time when I
departed. A significant number of bees committed suicide on the mower
blades as they exited the nest, but it still took a good 30 minutes before
I was able to sneak back up to the mower and shut it off. Left it there
until nightfall, when I was able to remove it safely. Hated to do it, but
since I had a 1 & 3 -yr old toddling around at the time, I poured a cup of
gasoline down the hole to finish off any survivors.
Lucky
Re: [NAFEX] American Sources for Unusual Plums
, (continued)