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This garden good guy makes big holes in leaves

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUL 27, 2020

Weird circular cuts mean a leafcutter bee has been
nesting nearby. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

Leafcutter bee loves roses, especially tender foliage

“Who is punching holes in my rose leaves?”

That’s what I exclaimed the first time I saw this damage. It looked like someone had attacked my rose bush with a large hole punch. Leaf after leaf bore circular cuts so perfect, the damage looked like it had been done with a tool.

No, it wasn’t a hole punch; it was the aptly named leafcutter bee.

About ½ inch long, this robust native bee has a thing for roses. It loves to make its home in old bushes, nesting in large pithy canes. It lines its nest with tender rose leaves, cut with circular precision.

Leafcutter bees also like to nest in soft rotted wood, or small crevices and cracks in tree bark. They’ve been known to make themselves comfortable in wooden house siding and among cedar shakes.

However annoying their damage to rose foliage may be, leafcutter bees are garden good guys. They’re non-aggressive pollinators, the sort of beneficial insects we try to nurture and support. So what if these bee mamas turn rose leaves into lace? They repay their garden host by pollinating lots of flowers.

Leafcutter bees live as solitary females. Each bee digs out her own nest, then goes looking for rose leaves. Starting on an edge, she cuts the leaf in a ¾-inch semi-circle, then carries back the foliage fragment to her new nest. Once fully lined with leaves, she adds nectar and pollen to the nest and lays an egg. Then, she seals the cell so the baby bee can develop undisturbed in its cozy chamber.

The leafcutter bee is a pollinator, too.

(Illustration courtesy UC IPM)

In the garden, leafcutter bees look similar to honeybees but darker. Instead of gold stripes, they have light bands on their abdomens.

Although their damage looks frightening, these bees are totally benign. They are friends; not foes. As for the holey leaves, the bees will stop cutting them once they’re done nest building.

The advice from the UC Integrated Pest Management program: Get used to it.

“Bees are important pollinators and should not be killed,” says the UC IPM website. “No effective nonchemical controls are known.”

So, if you see large round holes in your rose leaves, don’t be mad. It’s just leafcutter bees, providing for a next generation of pollinators.

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Keywords:

gardening Sacramento integrated pest management bees roses pollinators flowers

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Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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