Talking to a fellow beekeeper the other day, she told me how her bees suddenly became aggressive a few weeks ago. Now as any beekeeper knows, bees like people, have good days and bad days, and as a beekeeper you know not to mess with the hive on a bad day. But these bees were aggressive to the point she was getting stung even if just tending her garden twenty feet away from the hive. She wasn't sure why but put on her bee wear to take a closer look. 

Upon inspection at the hive, she saw some claw marks and some digging under her electric fence. The claw marks were fairly small, smaller than an average dog paw, so it wasn't a bear problem. So, she installed a game camera to catch the culprit in the act. What she discovered was a skunk that was digging under her electric fence and was scratching at the hive at night. Apparently, the bees did not appreciate this and hence their aggressive behavior to show their displeasure. So out came the Hav-a-Hart trap and the electric fence got moved closer to the ground as well as the dig site being filled in. Night-number-one, caught a racoon. Night-number-two, caught another racoon, none of which were going anywhere near the hive. Third times the charm, right? Wrong. But she did find where the skunk was trying to dig under the fence again, but probably got a good zap from the electric fence and has not been back since. 

After a week of getting a good night’s sleep her bees are back to normal and not aggressive anymore. The bees’ aggression was their way of saying, hey we have a problem over here. Communal insects like bees and ants have quite a language range but instead of words they use movement and vibration as their way of speaking. Most people could care less about ants but to kids they are fascinating. Did you ever have an Uncle Milton's Ant Farm when you were a kid? Did you know they are still on the market today? In fact, one of my granddaughters got one as a birthday present two years ago and she loved it. As adults we don't seem to have that sense of wonder anymore, we see an ant in the kitchen and reach for a shoe or a can of spray. Now I know no one wants to invite ants into their kitchen but in the garden or flowerbed it is a different story. 

A few weeks ago, I noticed aphids were sucking the life out of a couple of spirea I had in front of my house. They were in two different locations and one spirea I saw ants as well as the aphids. Now I know from past experience that ants will eat aphids that are attacking peonies so I wanted to see if the ants would take care of the aphid problem on my spirea as well. So, the spirea that had ant activity I left alone and the other spirea in a different location I sprayed with neem oil. A week later, I took a look at both spirea and the aphids were gone. The ants had cleaned the infected stems of the spirea of all the aphids that were sucking it dry just as good as the neem oil did on the other spirea. Scientific study, no, just the observations of a gardener that is trying to do as much naturally in the garden as possible. 

Can ants be a nuisance when they get in the house looking for sugar and crumbs? Sure, but they need protein as well, so unless you are leaving a protein shake out for them, they will be looking for bugs. Aphids just happen to be one of their favorite foods, especially when they are nice and juicy after sucking on your plants. 

So, before putting down broad spectrum insect control outside just remember insecticide kills both good bugs and bad bugs at the same time. Everyone likes ladybugs, butterflies and honeybees, but to an insecticide, they are no different than aphids, fleas and ticks.