Bees and my peaches

animalmom

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Hey there bee people, I'm trying to harvest my peaches and there are a lot, dozens of bees on some of the damaged fruit.

I don't want to spray the bees and I don't want to get stung... but my peaches need picking.

Any suggestions on how to deter the bees without hurting the bees?
 

Latestarter

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Right nw is probably a dearth of nectar available for the bees so they want the sugars they can get from the damaged fruit. Generally speaking if they are honey bees they won't sting you unless they are defending their nest. In your peach tree they have nothing to defend. If they are wasps or hornets, all bets are off and I'd concur to wait till after dark or right before sun up.
 

animalmom

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Thanks for the replies. The bees and I have come to a truce: I won't spray them if they leave me alone and if they are really nice I'll leave a couple peaches on the tree for their use.
 

Mike CHS

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I don't know the reason but Honey Bees are very aggressive around peaches in our area. The orchards here have a form that you fill out before going out to pick your own. There is a question about allergies pertaining to bees and if you say yes they won't let you go out. You can get them for 10 cents more a pound if they pick so I'm not going out there.
 

Happy Chooks

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I've never had honey bees on my peach trees (except during blossom), but I have had yellow jackets going after the sugar in the fruit. If there is no nectar available anywhere else, then they would go for anything they can to store for winter.
 
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