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Online Kathyp

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yellow jacket question
« on: January 20, 2007, 07:37:47 pm »
i wasn't sure where to put this, but i figure yellow jackets are pests!

i had a big nest in my hay.  when the weather got really cold, i dug it out.  it's empty.  there were a few dead ones, but that was it.  now i'm wondering where they went.  might they have gone deeper into the hay stack, or did the cold kill them.

they were a nasty surprise this last year and any ideas about where to look for them would be appreciated.  i'd like to find and kill them before the weather warms, but i don't want to dump the whole hay stack for nothing.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline mark

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Re: yellow jacket question
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2007, 08:25:22 pm »
    only the queen will survive the winter.  the nest dies out and she finds a place to spend the winter and starts a new nest in spring. in the spring keep your eyes open for a queen looking for suitable nesting site and take care of her then befor it gets started.  i hit them with strong soap and water mix. you can add witch hazel too for quicker knockdown.   

Online Kathyp

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Re: yellow jacket question
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2007, 09:50:52 pm »
thanks.  usually i just spray them with wasp spray and keep some traps up.  can't spray them when they are in the hay.  i'll watch for activity early.  maybe i can take care of her before she has a chance to build up again.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline michelleb

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Re: yellow jacket question
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2007, 10:09:46 pm »
Thanks for the tip, Mark!

Last year, I was cutting old canes when I watched a queen stroll out of a trunk cavity. As she sunned herself, grooming, probably fully enjoying the spring day, I whacked her head off with my machete. My poor buddhist boyfriend gave me a withering look, but just today, he hunted out the queen of the colony that had been the bane of our summer existence, and did her in with glee.

Curt, buddhism be darned, found that he prefers the bag traps to the plastic cylindrical traps. We caught WAY more with the bags, though they're about five bucks each. You don't have to clean them as much, and the attractant doesn't dry out over time. Plus, our yellow jackets are monsters, and I think they can get into the bag traps easier.

They often go on sale this time of year, so keep an eye out for them and grab 'em while they're cheap.

I'm also going to try and make some of my own traps, since the cost does add up.
Pocket Meadow Farm

Offline Cindi

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Re: yellow jacket question
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2007, 10:40:12 pm »
I abhore the yellowjacket and the bald-faced hornet.  I know that they are good for eating the insects in the garden, but I'll tell you, they are not welcome one little bit around my place.  They are hideous predators and when you see them come onto the front board of a colony and when the guards come out, they just grab one and fly away, then you know that you have an enemy and you must search and destroy.  I am the destroyer and I am proud of that.

I use the plastic two part containers and relish it when I see how full of the nasties it gets.  I use beeer for bait and they love it.  That bag thing for the wasp trap sounds interesting.  I have not seen that but I am going to look into it, that will be my bag this summer.  Watch out.  Look at these two pictures that I am posting and then you will really know why you don't like them.  They are nasty looking entities.  Great day.  Cindi






Right, now look at how they are going to town on this old carcass, they love protein and that's what bees and bee larvae are!!!!!


There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Online Kathyp

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Re: yellow jacket question
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2007, 01:06:26 am »
is that an inside out frog?? :-P
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline mark

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Re: yellow jacket question
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2007, 08:17:13 pm »
      i don't mind the hornets at all. they don't usually pose a problem but i despise those ground dwelling vespas.   most often ya  find them the wrong way so i keep me eyes open.   if they are already nesting in the ground i place a jar over the entrance and spray the returning workers with the soap.  the others can't get out so the nest starves out.  sometimes they make another exit so keep yer eyes  open for a day or two.
  i remember when i was young back before they put that there iron rim on the wooden wagon wheels,  i used to sit an watch them yeller jackets jumping flies  on flowers  and eating them.  now that's an admirable trait but i don't think it makes up fer their devilment by a long shot .

Offline Cindi

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Re: yellow jacket question
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2007, 10:14:31 am »
Quite the talk about the yellowjacket.  Now I have a story to tell.

When I was visiting with my daughter up in the interior of our province last summer, we were sitting on her patio.  We watched as a yellowjacket alighted on a pole beside her wooden windchimes.  These are very pretty and make a nice sound.  The yellowjacket entered one of the windchime hangydown things (there were about 6 hangys).  Me, being the curious one went over to see better.  I put my head down and looked up into the hangydown thing, what did I see looking back at me?  Many of these blasted things.  Freaked me right out.  I do not have a big fear of insects, nor do these pests make me run, but that was an intimidating site.

I use wasp spray round the house.  I do not have a problem with that one little bit.  I use one by Safer's that is environmentally friendly, so they say.  The spray that comes out of the can is very direct and does not go all over the place, it is target friendly.  I sprayed into the hangydown thing, they all fell out dead in a second or two.  So I thought that I would take down the windchime and knock the rest of the dead ones out.  Oh my word!!!  Each hangydown thing must have been full of them, they all fell on the ground in great clumps.  And they were made and beginning to recover from their dump.  I immediately sprayed and they died.  I do not like to kill insects, but I am sorry, these have no place to live nearby to where I sit.  I could not imagine that that many yellowjackets would have taken up residence so close to a home, not acceptable.

These are nasty, kill my bees mercilessly and I do not accept them one way or the other.  That (along with the bald-faced hornet) are the only two lives of nature that I destroy, except slugs, now that is another story.  I squish slugs when I see them by stepping on them.  They are not allowed in my gardens either.  Great day.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Kirk-o

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Re: yellow jacket question
« Reply #8 on: February 12, 2007, 10:42:50 pm »
I had those critters cause me alot of grief one day I'll tell you
kirk-o
"It's not about Honey it's not about Money It's about SURVIVAL" Charles Martin Simmon

Offline Cindi

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Re: yellow jacket question
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2007, 11:12:14 pm »
Kirk, bring it on!!!   I love to hear stories.  Awesome day.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

 

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