Tree killing European Hornets!

European Hornet, post mortem.

Did I get your attention? If you have River Birch trees on your property, then please read! Houston, we have a problem. Our River Birch trees are being mutilated by these very aggressive bees. They arrive mid to late Summer every year and eat away the bark on the newer branches and main trunks.

This is a European Hornet. Wiki will tell you that is is a species that might be soon endangered. Well, I can understand why. Now, if you have read my blog from the beginning, you will know that I try very hard not to be a killer of everything that flies and really have cut down my pesticide and herbicide use. I do try. Really, I do. But these buggers are costing me dearly.

Any gardener will know, that it ain't cheap growing a garden. Especially when you have to purchase your plants. In the last several years, we have gone from a blank slate to a yard filled with trees, shrubs and flowers. We only have lost a couple for various reasons as all gardeners do from time to time. But this is pest related.

Girdled branch on River Birch

These European Hornets chew off the bark, using it for their nests. The big, oval papery nest we remember from cartoons. They also probably get some nutrition from it also. But they are basically killing the tree. By chewing off the bark and exposing the cambium layer, they are girdling the tree. The branch or trunk will die from that point outward or upward. If they chew the bark off all the way around, it will die. If they don't go all the way around, there is a chance that that branch or trunk can survive. It will however, make it weaker, especially with rain or snow loads.

Freshly chewed.

Damage from last year. This will heal over as it did not go all the way around.

So I have resorted to a couple of methods to deal with this. I can't afford to loose these trees. Actually, the worst time for this to happen is when the trees are young. It can severely misshapen or even kill a younger tree. As far as the older one in my yard, it amounts to lots of lost branches higher up the tree, many falling during snow loads or high winds.

I have tried the traps, but they don't seem to work, so I will be returning those. It seems as Wasp and Hornet spray, ones that shoot long distances, are the ticket. I have to go out in the morning and then again, when I return from work. My wife will try to hit them at one point during the day.

I am dealing with a conundrum. I want to be clean and earth friendly, but I can't afford to be 100%. Am I a hypocrite? Am I a bad person. I know there are natural gardeners out there. I have read about them. Let the chips fall as they may and let nature take it's course is the way they garden.

I'm almost there, really I am. But it is so damned hard.