Wasp(?) on vitex I.D.????

Intheswamp · July 11, 2012, 02:15:33 AM

Last year I dug some vitex up at a beek's bee yard and planted it out at the edge of my yard. The larger plants in the beeks yard had honey bees working them. I planted four small clumps late last summer and they have done well and easily have 5-6 times as much vitex as I started with. What is kind of strange is that I haven't seen a honey bee on the plants. :-\ Bumble bees and other flying critters, but no honey bees. Of the other critters there is a wasp-looking insect that frequents the vitex very often and in quiet a few numbers. Does anybody know what these wasps(?) are? I'm thinking some type of paper wasp, but I'm not sure. Also, anybody got a clue as to why the honey bees aren't working the vitex?

Thanks,
Ed

Joe D · July 11, 2012, 08:55:03 PM

You've got my luck. Bees are suppost to like greens blooms. I planed a patch of turnips, mustard, and collards. The edge of the patch was within 5 feet of bee yard,
When they were going to seed(blooming) I saw 1 honey bee on them 1 time, they were several bumble bees, 1 honey bee. I have lots of fig trees, when they get over ripe bumble bees are all over them. I put some infront of the hives, the next day removed them so not to get ants. Figs are right at gone now and the honey bees have just started messing with them. And thats only on 1 tree. Go fig ure.

Joe

AllenF · July 11, 2012, 10:26:09 PM

I placed a towel on the rail of my back porch over the weekend that I had been putting under supers to catch dripping honey. After that rain bumblebees were hitting it hard and I noticed a black wasp, just like in the pics except with just 3 yellow stripes sucking off that towel.

Riggs · July 11, 2012, 10:41:37 PM

Could this be them? I saw some earlier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphecius_speciosus

Intheswamp · July 12, 2012, 02:13:58 AM

I've about decided that they're European paper wasps. Most of the pictures that I've seen of the EPWs have a slightly different design on their abdomens and they aren't as fuzzy as the ones on my vitex. Once I decide for certain that they're EPW I will deal with them accordingly. These are imported wasps that are not welcome here.

It's amazing, Joe D. I planted the vitex...no honey bees on it. Just recently I've planted some Russian sage and some hyssop...again, no honey bees on it. ??? Ah well, go figure, eh?

Riggs, the cicada killers are a LOT bigger than these wasps. The wasps on the vitex are about an inch long. The cicada killers are probably 2 inches long and 2-3 times as thick...real behemoths!!!...neat wasps, though!!! Here's a couple of shots of some cicada killers that I took a couple of years ago on some cow-itch vine...

Ed

BlueBee · July 12, 2012, 02:53:22 AM

Swamp, that looks like Vitex negundo to me. I've got vitex agnus castus growing here. It's rare to see a honey bee on my vitex. The carpenter bees love them though :( Better mow those marijuana looking plants down and replace them with clover :)

BeeMaster2 · July 12, 2012, 10:01:30 AM

Great pictures ed. Thanks.
Jim

Intheswamp · July 12, 2012, 11:04:33 AM

BlueBee, I'm pretty sure it is vitex negundo (jagged leaved)....I researched the different varieties of vitex before I got this. The variety that you have (smooth leaved, I believe?) is known to attract pollinators but not many honey bees. The negundo variety is noted as being a honey bee favorite...thus my confusion as to why I haven't seen any honey bees at least looking at it.

When I got this vitex, the old beek that gave it too me had just had a beekeeper's meeting at his house/yard. I was the last to leave (this was my first meeting of any kind that I had attended and I was soaking up all the info). He walked me around his yard, showing me his hives, and there was vitex growing everywhere....along with about 500 blueberry bushes and all kinds of other things. Anyhow, I showed interest in the vitex and once we got back to his house he handed me a maddox and a plastic bucket and told me to stop on the way out the driveway and dig up all the vitex that I wanted. :) I didn't want to see greedy :angel: so I used *some* restraint. ;) I ended up with a nice bunch of small vitex plants in my bucket. He'd told me where the water faucet was so I put some water in the bottom of the bucket. The county that I was in has in the past been known for growing marijuana. I had the bucket sitting in the back of my jeep waving back and forth in front of the back window. I kept expecting to see blue lights surround me, but I never did. :police: I planted the vitex last year about this time and it has more than quadrupled in size...I planted four clumps and the smallest clump is bigger than the bunch of plants I started with. ...it just isn't drawing honey bees, though. :-\ :?

Well, I'll leave the vitex and see what it does. :) I know the bees are working the crape myrtle some right now and who knows what else. We just rented out 40 acres of laid-by row crop land. The guy is going to use it for hay production. It was a mess, having laid by for 5+ years. He bushhogged it and disced it twice. He's going to have to spray it at least once...(I don't care for the spraying but with the dog fennel and everything else in there I understand). I'm going to get with him and figure out when it will be safe to overseed some of it with clover. He's leaving me roughly a 10-foot perimeter around the fields (there's a total of 3 of them) to go "natural".

Thanks, Jim. I enjoy taking pictures and it's nice to get an "atta boy!" every now and then. :)

Ed