Leafcutter bees have some annoying habits, but they do more good than harm
What about the leaves of Virginia Creeper that are discovered and crushed? It’s a good vine and ground cover, even if it gets too aggressive and even invasive at times. I use it and have quite a lot of it in our residential and commercial gardens, but there is one little flaw.
Each year, in mid to late summer, its foliage develops small yellow spots and develops a tattered appearance. The spots are fungal, but usually nothing more than a minor cosmetic problem. Garlic or garlic pepper tea sprays will limit them, but it’s probably not worth the effort. The cut leaves come from leaf cutter bees, also known as stick bugs.
About the size of honeybees, adult leaf cutters are dark brown to black, sometimes with yellow or beige markings. Their wings are clear or smoky. They range in size from about the size of honey bees to about half the size.
These solitary insects use leaf tissue to line their nests in burrows, deadwood, hollow stems, snail shells, pipes and other openings. Leaf cutters cut neat circles or partial circles from the edges of the leaves to provide material for their nests. You have likely seen this damage on your roses, holly, and fruit tree leaves. For some reason, they make messy cuts on the foliage of the Virginia creeper.
Mason bees are their close relatives. They are metallic blue or green and also use cavities in wood, earth, masonry, robust plant stems, keyholes and snail shells. They glue the holes with cement made of clay, sand, and a sticky secretion from their mouths instead of using leaves like the leaf cutters do.
Leaf cutters and mason bees are helpful, although they cause cosmetic plant damage.(Howard Garrett / special article)
Both are excellent pollinators for many flowers. Honeybees collect pollen on their bodies, mix it with saliva to make a paste, and slide it into pollen baskets on their legs. Mason bees and leaf cutters tend to be messy pollen collectors. They land less delicately on flowers and spread pollen everywhere. Pollen sticks all over your body like Velcro, making it more likely to be redistributed to other flowers. Mason bees and leaf cutters have a pollination rate of around 95%, while honeybees have a pollination rate closer to 5%.
Leaf cutters won’t sting unless you’re trying to grab one – so don’t do that. These helpful bees can be a nuisance around machine shops and homeowner equipment as they clog any exposed pipes or openings. Mechanics have learned to tape the ends of pipes, fuel lines, and other openings.
Despite the irritating little habits these bees have, you shouldn’t try to control them. Spraying anything that would kill them would affect few and mostly injure other beneficial insects. Having good biodiversity in your organic garden will keep them from being too lush. Use natural products and techniques to keep birds, praying mantises, dragonflies, lizards, and other wildlife fun and maintain the balance of nature.
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