What Did You Succeed in Learning Today?

[Yppej]

I learned that the end that screws into the socket for A19 and A15 light bulbs is the same but A15 bulbs are shorter.

[iris lilies]

I listened to a Lily lecture from a major hybridizer in northern Canada as part of the North American Lily Sociery’s virtual conference. So I learned a little about specific species and their propagation from crossing. I won’t be propagating lilies from seed however.

[rosarugosa]

I learned that use of the singular "they" is not exactly new. Thanks, BAE!

[pinkytoe]

I learned the correct way to prune branches.

[catherine]

I learned a lot about bees. We had a stump near our door, which had a slightly hollowed out core, and we noticed bees were coming in and out all the time. We thought they were a good thing--pollinating the nearby gardens.

Learned yesterday that:

• They are not honey bees or bumble bees, but yellow jackets.
• Yellowjackets do very little pollinating
• They prefer sugary substances, like the lollipops that were dangling in DHs work shed
• However, they do help to keep some pests away so they're not ALL bad
• They are very aggressive, and if you try to kill one, others will rush to defense
• Cucumber slices are a good yellowjacket repellent--they hate cucumbers.
• They sting you if you disturb their home in your compost (I learned that the hard way)

They really haven't bothered us, but their numbers peak at this time of year, so my perfume-wearing, bee-hating daughter had a hard time eating outside with us. We're leaving them as they are this year but trying to think of ways to get rid of them in the late fall/early winter.

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[Jane v2.0]

They were murder hornets??

[Tybee]

Yikes--what did you learn? In suspense here

[catherine]

Hmmm.. did I pre-post? Anyway, see what I learned in edited post above.

[pinkytoe]

I have been learning about wasps lately too. I have a stair step wooden planter that we noticed earlier this summer was home to what I thought were ground bees, ie beneficial pollinators. FB group looked at my photo of them and said they were wasps. Because my lettuce and spinach was happily growing there, I decided to co-exist. We have noticed a huge decrease in other pests like earwigs so I think the wasps have been killing them. On the downside, I noticed one today attacking a bee within a flower. When they finally leave this fall, I am going to take the planter apart and "move" the queens.

[razz]

Do they control Japanese beetles? They have been bad this year so wasps who do keep other insects under control would be welcome.