Having lived my entire life in Virginia, I was amused that people could actually have never heard of chiggers. Got my first "bad" case when I was about 8, sat on a stump and got a butt slam full of them.

Challenge is going to be anything you buy to kill insects you risk damaging your bees. I would remove the mulch; they thrive in dead wood. Or try delicately applying an insecticide at night to minimize the risk to your bees.

I grow pumpkins and we apply liquid insecticides in the late evenings and the next day the bees are buzzing around no problem, but them Cukes bettles is D.O.A

[This message has been edited by scott_dixon (edited July 22, 2003).]