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A week ago, while root pruning around some P. Nigra, I was stung by a bee. I'm not allergic to bee stings, but had quite a reaction, with an egg shaped 6 inch red welt around the sting area. After 20 minutes I even felt a "rebound" reaction in the lymph system on the left side of my face. The sting area still itches, after 8 days, even though there is no stinger left in me.

A year ago (I'm a Massage Therapist), I was asked to attend to a minister who was in the hospital and almost completely comatose two weeks after being stung by a bee. He died after three weeks, and the "massage" I gave him was ultimately more for the family member (who wanted in his helplessness to do something for his brother), than it was for the minister.
I had heard of anaphylactic shock reactions to bee stings, but had never heard of one bee sting killing anybody. I'm not getting to the point very fast here, but bear with me.

The next day, I went back out to continue root pruning where I had left off, and noticed that I had dug right up to an apparent underground nest of bees. Not Bumblebees, and I don't think they are wasps, but small, aggressive bees. It looks to me like they have appropriated a vole hole which I created by originally trenching around the bamboo. Now I am noticing that the bees spend quite a bit of time "examining" the bamboo, even though the bamboo does not have pollen or nectar. Here's the question in all this: Does anybody else notice that bees seem very interested in bamboo? How to explain this?

Bamboomoon wrote:....snip
I had heard of anaphylactic shock reactions to bee stings, but had never heard of one bee sting killing anybody. ..snip..

You will understand if it happens to someone close to you. I had a 12 year old son die from just what you describe.

.....snip.... Does anybody else notice that bees seem very interested in bamboo? How to explain this?

I had a nest of ground hornets dig an underground nest in my B. Pachy a few months ago. This was nothing unusual since they have been building nests in my back yard for the last 5 years. The first 23 years I lived there I had no ground hornets at all. And these ground hornets are very aggressive and the sting hurts like heck. Climatic changes?

I've landscaped professionally in the past and have found numerous nests in the ground the hard way. Several times I was stung over 15 times within a few seconds. A few times I got dinged repeatedly by the same bee stuck in a sock. The sound/vibration from a mower really gets them going and they will chase you for a while too.

I think they kinda hang out around anything close to the hive. They probably get water that collects on the bamboo. Don't know if wasps would use it to build nests??

Sorry to hear of your loss Roy , I lost my first girl Cassie 15 years ago and I still think of her all the time , thankfully I have Ashling and Callum now .
Best Wishes toyou and yours.
Later
Steve

Steve, it sounds like you encountered something similar to our Yellow Jackets. They make their own ground holes that do indeed look like the work of voles. Although I get attacked by a swarm at least once per year around my groves, I have noticed something quite unique this summer.

In my experience, Yellow Jackets usually only sting when you trigger a defense attack around their home and then they attack en masse. This year I have what appears to be a 'hive' of them in my Sasa Tsuboiana patch - they are always on it en masse as though it is their home turf. But these guys seem totally sedated or heavy into their meds. The praying mantis have figured it out and you can always find several of them casually munching the drunken YJ's. They do not attack and they move as though the are quite intoxicated. Foxd or someone suggested that they are there due to the puddles of water trapped on the bamboo leaves but something really seems to be giving them quite a narcotic experience. Wouldn't it be interesting if their was some chemical component in the Sasa that was causing this?

Roy,Steve,

I've only come 'close' to a loss of that great magnitude, it was hellish just coming 'close' not sure how I would cope with that loss but my best wishes to you both.


I'm a beekeeper here and find this animal amazing--The sound when you open a full hive is just amazing, I'm still learning the ropes here although It's been five years trying.

I also have a bit of experience with yellow jackets (aka groud hornets). I have learned that they are primarily insect hunters during the summer but in late summer they change over to a heavy carbo diet; rotting fruit is highly attractive. I characterize them as "mean drunks". Just before Labor Day, I start scouting for their nests in any of the beds. I watch for them coming and going. That way I can alert the family and neighbor kids. I'd probably leave them if they picked someplace I don't need to work. But it never seems to happen that way.

I'm sorry to have brought up any grief around this topic; thank you Roy and Steve, for sharing with us. Can't imagine, and don't think anyone can, what you guys had to endure.

I think I've heard that climate change may be somewhat responsible for the South American "killer bees" moving north into the U.S., but don't know. I have plum and pear trees, and think the "angry drunk" factor, which I had never considered, may be at play. We have wasps also, and all of the bees seem to get more agitated as the season approaches the equinox. Our bees (and wasps) return every day to the fallen fruit, and I guess fallen fruit will naturally ferment. I'm pretty sure our fearless leader is also an angry drunk (sometimes called a dry drunk), but that's another topic.

It occurs to me there may be a chemical which all flowering plants share (which bamboo also emits), though bamboo flower so sporadically. I wonder where Sasa Tsuboiana is in the flowering cycle, for instance?

It's for sure is that bees are fascinating , well deserving the fear they inspire. I admire anybody who goes into beekeeping. You must be mighty fond of honey, Mark.

This article was a good one on Roy, if you haven't seen it already.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/10/10/North ... ambo.shtml

Thanks for posting Lance. I had not seen that one. It was well written and informative. I am surprised they included "Lucky Bamboo" in an article about Roy

Lucky bamboo, prized by Feng Shui practitioners and placed on the east side of a room, is believed to bring good fortune, happiness and prosperity.

Roy, sorry to hear about Jason. Steve, sorry to hear about Cassie.

Brad, I think the technical term for your mystery beverage is "bambrosia". Serioulsy, there are several species of yellow jacket, some more aggresive than others. Around here, the 2 most aggressive species (most likely to sting) are underground dwellers. These guys are the "meat eaters" that go for human food. We also have two aerial species, different genus altogether, which are primarily beneficial predators and much less aggressive. I had an aerial nest in a large potted bamboo plant last year that I didnt' even notice until it was the size of the soccer ball. I probably came within a foot of the nest every time I watered (daily) and never got stung. I had that one removed (free service by a company that sells them for production of antivenom). This year I have another another aerial nest, in my yellow groove about 15' up. I haven't had it removed since the nest is high enough that it hasn't posed a problem for humans. I think the primary draw for them in my yard are aphids and aphid honeydew. There are thousands of them crawling the leaf suraces, I think feeding on the honeydew. I have never been bothered by the feeding yellow jackets, although it is a bit unerving to be thinning a grove on a warm day with hundreds of the things buzzing around my head.

Nest of Dolichovespula maculata in yellow groove- a little larger than a soccer ball as of 09-23-06.
<img src=http://d1102295.u38.infinology.net/images/DSCN3625.JPG>

In this close up I can see a couple of bamboo leaves below the entry hole, incorporated into the "paper" nest
<img src=http://d1102295.u38.infinology.net/images/DSCN3626.JPG>

Brad, I mentioned the water simply because my swarm of yellow jackets hang around my Yellow Groove patch, rather than your species of sasa...I can easily say there are just as many.
Or you could do this -
http://www.bambus.de/infos/1000/single.php?id=519

-eastlandia

http://www.raysahelian.com/bamboo.html

I dunno Phil, these are ground dwelling drunken Yellow Jackets and I'm beginning to think they may conducting research on lactones, flavonoids and phenolic acids. Parasite & bacteria fighting agents???

I guess the possibilities are endless. I would like to see the drunken critters in action since I am having a hard time envisioning this behavior. Also, I mention in previous post that our 2 most aggresive species are ground nesters, but there are some less aggresive ground nesting yellow jackets as well. I don't know which species are in your region. All I really know is that the yellow jackets that are feeding in my bamboo never bother me.

What company came out to do the removal for you, Phil? The nice spate of weather we're having will soon be a memory and the bees will hibernate I guess, but I would still like to know. Fabulous pics, but scary to me.