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Author Topic: Beware! vandals on the wing  (Read 1720 times)

Ross Barbour

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Beware! vandals on the wing
« on: March 02, 2014, 07:19:18 PM »
I had a great big queen bumble bee in my access frame this week trashing all my nice Crocus for food.She even defaced my brand new Corydalis 'Gunite, drilling holes in the flowers. I cant complain, it was great to see her out and about and a welcome reminder that Spring is just round the corner.

Maggi Young

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2014, 07:25:52 PM »
Nothing like a bumble bee for chomping holes in flowers - sometimes nearly  every one of our corydalis have been robbed. Furry flying hooligans - they'll drill holes in a wide range of flowers from aquilegias , through erythronium  and narcissus.
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

Editor: International Rock Gardener e-magazine

Ross Barbour

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2014, 07:37:11 PM »
FFH, ha ha ha! I like that  :)

annew

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2014, 08:01:40 PM »
I've just been putting mesh over all the vents in my greenhouses to exclude them until after the shows this month - too late for several pots of narcissi which look like someone has been over them with a hole puncher!
MINIONS! I need more minions!
Anne Wright, Dryad Nursery, Yorkshire, England

www.dryad-home.co.uk

Ross Barbour

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2014, 08:16:43 PM »
Yeah, I'll bet they can be tricky if your trying to hybridise specific plants. (thanks for getting me into the SRGC  :), its amazing)

Hoy

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2014, 09:19:25 PM »
Well, I prefere bumblebees for slugs. Almost all my irises flowering outside (and some other flowers too) are damaged by the slimey bandits. Even without wings they find every plant.
Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

monocotman

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2014, 09:51:02 PM »
They also attack cyp flowers.
I caught one chewing a hole in the lip of a prize tibeticum last year!
David
'remember that life is a shipwreck, but we must always remember to sing in the life boats'

Heard recently on radio 4

Margaret

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2014, 09:57:01 PM »


I wonder why they nibble petals as they don't eat them, Anyone know?
Margaret
Greenwich

ArnoldT

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2014, 10:02:36 PM »
Haven't noticed the bumble bee hole drilling.   Is it to get at the nectar at the base of the flower.  Maybe their too fat to fit in the front door.
Arnold Trachtenberg
Leonia, New Jersey

Maggi Young

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2014, 10:16:26 PM »
We find they are likely to bite a hole to get the nectar even if they could fit in the front door.     Seems to be easier than wriggling in and out!

They've got no shame - you can sit and watch them doing it!
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Margaret

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2014, 08:00:17 AM »


Thanks, Maggi. Guess because my flowers are outside I've not notice these antisocial tendencies!
Margaret
Greenwich

Maggi Young

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #11 on: March 03, 2014, 10:46:15 AM »
I'll bet if you have a good look around your flowers you'll find such  robber holes, Margaret.  Yes, much easier for the culprits to go unnoticed outside because it's so much harder for us to get up-close to the blooms.
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Hoy

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #12 on: March 03, 2014, 07:56:39 PM »
The thievish bumblebee in question is usually Bombus wurflenii which has a very short tongue so it has to cut a hole in the flower to reach the nectar. Other insects use the same hole later because it is easier!

The slug damaged irises (Katharine Hodgkins):
Trond Hoy, gardening on the rainy west coast of Norway.

Margaret

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #13 on: March 03, 2014, 08:32:05 PM »

Some clever person on Wiki has caught the vandal in the act.  This is the type of bee, Bombus terrestris, we have lots of and I'll keep a look out in future - though not so keen to get on my hands and knees these days  :(   They are welcome to the nectar/pollen in the garden.
Margaret
Greenwich

Maggi Young

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Re: Beware! vandals on the wing
« Reply #14 on: March 03, 2014, 08:57:09 PM »
Some Bulb Log links with photos of the culprits in the act on Erythronium and Corydalis:

 
Smash and Grab from  http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2004/210404/log.html
and  these from  http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2006/230806/log.html



Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

Editor: International Rock Gardener e-magazine

 


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