ok so since when do bee's like peppers?

Last week I went to harvest my peppers in my larger garden (~100 sq ft), well I changed my mind when I found dozens of bees crawling all over the pepper leaves. Several days later I go back and the small garden is even worse. I counted over 100 bees and well over a dozen wasps in that small space. They aren't on the flowers, they are all over the leaves. What the heck is going on? It's been about 2 weeks now and the bees/wasps wont go away. I can't harvest because there are too many bees and wasps. Should I call Moulder and Scully or what?

Sounds like maybe they're building a nest nearby ??? I can take bugs pretty well....but NOT when they swarm or there are tons of them like what you describe.

OK I can't find a nest or hive yet. I tried to pick my peppers and I got 3 before they chased me away. I put the large sprinkler spraying all the plants on high so I'm going to leave it there and hope it chases them away. I guess I can lay some bird seed down and hope some hungry birds come eat them.

Ratfood - I used to keep honeybees, so perhaps I can be of some help.

When you say "bees" are they honeybees, bumble bees, black wasps, yellow jackets?

You didn't happen to spill something "sugary" in that area did you?

OK HoneybeeNC thanks for the help. Best as I can tell by looking at pictures on the net they are honeybees. The wasps are yellow jackets, black wasps, brown wasps, tan/black wasps, bright red wasps, and also that funny black wasp that has huge legs that hang down while he is flying. I never knew there were so many different wasps in one area.

I think you may be onto something here though... About a month ago, maybe less, I sprayed green light fruit tree spray on my cukes and probably did my peppers a bit too ( I was having some rum and coke so I don't remember all the details). Do you think this could have turned sugary and attracted the bees? It says this:
Contains extract of Neem and pyrethrins.
Synergistic blend of natural plant oils that are FDA approved as food additives!

If so, any idea how I get rid of this? I sprayed the plants on two days for about 4 hours each time but whatever they are after hasn't washed away yet....

Thanks!

RATFOOD - If the honeybees are still there in huge numbers, then I suspect they are taking-up housekeeping - which means you will have to call an exterminator. You might ask them if they know of a beekeeper that will come and get them - the beekeeper should not charge you for this service. He will collect the bees and take them away. This may take a few days - he will place a capture box near-by for the honeybees to crawl into.

If there are just a few honeybees (100 hundred or fewer) then they are after something sweet. The Neem and Pyrethins in your spray would NOT be an attractant to them. However, if you spilled some of your rum and coke in the area, the sugar from that would certainly be a treat.

If the bees are few in number (ten or so) then they are pollinating your veggies. If this is the case, then it is safe to work around them. Honeybees (and most other bees) will not sting while they are pollinating flowers UNLESS THEY ARE PROVOKED - so don't swat at them if they buzz around you.

If the Honeybees are after sugar in your garden - then KEEP AWAY from them - bees become rather mean when there're "free eats" to be had. They will soon clean-up the sugar residue and be back to normal.

If this doesn't cover everything - let me know - I suspect that by now the honeybees are long-gone - unless you are unlucky enough to have a swarm that has taken a fancy to your garden.

Honeybees are the most beneficial insects that we humans have - over 2/3rd of the food we eat is dependant on them for pollination, so please don't have them exterminated unless there is no other recourse.

OK well thats a lot of info there... I went and counted today and there are about 80-90 bees so hopefully they are getting some food and they will move on. Its going on 3 weeks now so I hope they finish up soon. Now that you mention it, a little over 2 months ago I poured some sugar on the soil to deter ants... I wonder if the sugar took about a month to work its was up into the leaves of the plants and the bees are now getting some kind of sugar residue from it?

I'll give it another week and if they don't move on I will look at some of your other options~

Thanks very much!

OK Wife got a new camera so I took some pics. The bees are not acting like they are pollination, they are more aggressive than that.

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RATFOOD - great photos! Thanks for showing them. Your honeybees and wasps are defintely NOT pollinating - they look like they are taking up residue from the plants' leaves. I have never heard of sugar being taken up in plants to such an extent that bees will glean sugar through the leaves - but anything is possible - and from your photos that's exactly what it looks as though they are doing. Honeybees will, on occasion, take-up sap from trees.

Is it possible that you spilled some sugar on the leaves themselves? This would answer everything.

Could they be afte some
spilled rum and coke?

Those ae really great
fotos- they deserve to
be put into the bug files

Hi folks,
No way its from the rum and coke. I have at least 70 pepper plants in that plot. I would need a crop duster to get rum & coke to cover all the leaves on each plant. Do wasps go after the same thing as the bees? This is really confusing me now. I only put about 3 pounds of sugar down when I did it. I got 2 wasp-a-naters (fake wasp nest) that I am about to put up but I don't have high hopes for them. I took down my plastic owl so the birds could go check things out too. The huge tomato plants are right next to the pepper plants but the bees arent touching them...

On another note, The weather has been 100 degrees for about 6-7 weeks straight over here (very dry and very very little rain). I have a few friends with gardens and they have all died from the heat. Almost all the greenery in the city is dying but I have been watering my garden at least every 3rd day and it is still doing well. Do you think that this rediculous heat might have something to do with it?

Thanks again!

If the honeybees are only concentrating on these particular plants, then it's not the heat. They will go after water - they use it to cool their hives. They spread the water around the edges, then fan their wings like crazy to evaporate the water - neat huh?

Yes, I think wasps would go after sugar - although I am not as well versed on wasps as I am on honeybees.

OK thanks honeybeeNC, you have been very helpful. There seem to be about 50 bees out there right now so it seems they are getting what they want and slowly moving on. Next year... no more sugar in the garden.