Wasps...

sbaclimber

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...are hungry this time of year, but still very stupid.
This is probably actually a brewing thread, but only indirectly. I just boiled a wasp for the umpteenth time and wanted to vent. :D
One would think that even insects would be smart enough to not fly into a boiling pot of liquid, but not the wasps that live around here... During the warmer months I average about 1+/batch and have at times wondered at what point how many wasps in the boil will start to change the aroma / taste of the beer. :eek:
(assume it would be "many")
 
...are hungry this time of year, but still very stupid.
This is probably actually a brewing thread, but only indirectly. I just boiled a wasp for the umpteenth time and wanted to vent. :D
One would think that even insects would be smart enough to not fly into a boiling pot of liquid, but not the wasps that live around here... During the warmer months I average about 1+/batch and have at times wondered at what point how many wasps in the boil will start to change the aroma / taste of the beer. :eek:
(assume it would be "many")

I was infested with flies last week, same frustration
 
Strangely enough, wasps (Red, Mahogany, or Guinea) around here don't tend to bother with me while brewing. As long as they leave me alone, I let 'em duke it out with the spiders that turn me into a redneck ninga doin' Judy Chops and Ningy Kicks when I walk through their webs. It takes a while to get all of a large spider web out of a full beard, all the time wondering if the spider's still hiding on my face somewhere. Yellowjackets are a whole other matter though. I worry a whole lot more about a spider bite than I do a wasp/hornet sting. Some of spider venom does scary nasty stuff.
 
Strangely enough, wasps (Red, Mahogany, or Guinea) around here don't tend to bother with me while brewing. As long as they leave me alone, I let 'em duke it out with the spiders that turn me into a redneck ninga doin' Judy Chops and Ningy Kicks when I walk through their webs. It takes a while to get all of a large spider web out of a full beard, all the time wondering if the spider's still hiding on my face somewhere. Yellowjackets are a whole other matter though. I worry a whole lot more about a spider bite than I do a wasp/hornet sting. Some of spider venom does scary nasty stuff.
ya, necrotizing vemon is nasty.
 
Strangely enough, wasps (Red, Mahogany, or Guinea) around here don't tend to bother with me while brewing. As long as they leave me alone, I let 'em duke it out with the spiders that turn me into a redneck ninga doin' Judy Chops and Ningy Kicks when I walk through their webs. It takes a while to get all of a large spider web out of a full beard, all the time wondering if the spider's still hiding on my face somewhere. Yellowjackets are a whole other matter though. I worry a whole lot more about a spider bite than I do a wasp/hornet sting. Some of spider venom does scary nasty stuff.
We have these wasps in Aus that will sting and paralysis huntsman spiders and then lay their eggs in them.
I've witnessed this personally 3 times in my life.
Insects do crazy shoit man!

Like this
 
Yellowjackets are a whole other matter though.
Just realized I should've written "yellow jackets" instead of "wasps"...been speaking Zee Deutsch for too long. :oops::D
...meant one of these guys:
wespen_sommer_oekotipp.jpg
 
Just realized I should've written "yellow jackets" instead of "wasps"...been speaking Zee Deutsch for too long. :oops::D
...meant one of these guys:
wespen_sommer_oekotipp.jpg
Yep, thems the ones that are my nemesis. Like I said, they build in the ground to get that little bit closer to Hell where they came from. Those things are WICKED aggressive. Seeing that would make me go find the nest, then pay 'em another visit that night. Darkness makes 'em stupid. I'd take that lovely green bottle they're feeding on, put a few ounces of gasoline in it, then stick it (neck first) in the hole where they go in/out. They're easy to get rid of overnight with that technique.
 
Just realized I should've written "yellow jackets" instead of "wasps"...been speaking Zee Deutsch for too long. :oops::D
...meant one of these guys:
wespen_sommer_oekotipp.jpg
Yep. I remember them well... Around here we get a short, maybe two-week, plague of fruit flies, then they're gone. Our wasps and yellowjackets seem to have packed it in for the winter.
 
Yep. I remember them well... Around here we get a short, maybe two-week, plague of fruit flies, then they're gone. Our wasps and yellowjackets seem to have packed it in for the winter.
Ours are stoopid active right now, because so are the spiders. I probably have a hundred webs scattered across my yard that are at least 2 feet in diameter. (Well, just before I run through them on the tractor or mower). I HATE spiderwebs wrapping around my face.

Need to go find a USB camera for tomorrow. Might go have a peek in Wally World tonight when I go pick up my daughter from work.
 
We have these wasps in Aus that will sting and paralysis huntsman spiders and then lay their eggs in them.
I've witnessed this personally 3 times in my life.
Insects do crazy shoit man!

Like this
Been there, done that, with a huntsman spider. Me and the missus were geocaching out in rural SA, and one cache was on top of a fence post. Easy find, particularly with the big rock covering it up. I moved the rock, and a big huntsman jumped off the post right onto my chest. Diamond Dave (aka the Redneck Ninja) ain't got nothin' on me, because I did some serious Judy choppin and ninjy kickin at the same time. Doesn't matter they're harmless when a spider that size jumps through mid-air to get on ya. The missus got a good laugh at me along with my sister. Until the next cache, also on top of fence post under a rock. He who laughs last (winds up walking to the next cache). They didn't think it was nearly as funny when the next one jumped on them. I did. They screamed a lot more than I did.
 
Been there, done that, with a huntsman spider. Me and the missus were geocaching out in rural SA, and one cache was on top of a fence post. Easy find, particularly with the big rock covering it up. I moved the rock, and a big huntsman jumped off the post right onto my chest. Diamond Dave (aka the Redneck Ninja) ain't got nothin' on me, because I did some serious Judy choppin and ninjy kickin at the same time. Doesn't matter they're harmless when a spider that size jumps through mid-air to get on ya. The missus got a good laugh at me along with my sister. Until the next cache, also on top of fence post under a rock. He who laughs last (winds up walking to the next cache). They didn't think it was nearly as funny when the next one jumped on them. I did. They screamed a lot more than I did.
Yeah i hinting at wasps here hunting them and laying their eggs in them
 
Yeah i hinting at wasps here hunting them and laying their eggs in them
Seen a cicada killer yet? A hornet the size of a hummingbird. That's a bad boy. I MIGHT still have a photo of one that made the mistake of coming into our shop at work one day. I'll have to look for it, though.

Still though, for a harmless spider, a huntsman will scare the bejeebers outta ya when it jumps on ya.
 
Seen a cicada killer yet? A hornet the size of a hummingbird. That's a bad boy. I MIGHT still have a photo of one that made the mistake of coming into our shop at work one day. I'll have to look for it, though.

Still though, for a harmless spider, a huntsman will scare the bejeebers outta ya when it jumps on ya.
Cicada killers want nothing to do with you unless you're a cicada. One of the gentlest wasps on the east coast.

And please don't pour toxic gasoline underground. Plenty of commercially made wasp products that won't poison your soil
 
Cicada killers want nothing to do with you unless you're a cicada. One of the gentlest wasps on the east coast.

And please don't pour toxic gasoline underground. Plenty of commercially made wasp products that won't poison your soil

There are certainly plenty of wasp/hornet sprays that require you to be able to see the nest or insect to spray it, and I keep them around for red wasps, and paper hornets. Some of them are absolutely great sprays and kill pretty much on contact, and work very well for the wasps/hornets you can actually see. The problem is, if you can't see what you're spraying, it's going to be hard to make that contact. Most insecticides are contact poisons and AFIK, NONE are aromatic/fumigates anymore. Most Aromatic/Fumigate insecticides are proven EXTREMELY dangerous to humans/animals. Yellow jackets don't play by the rules that wasp spray manufacturers want them to, and rarely build their nests so that it's easy to wipe out the colony with feel-good green friendly techniques. I play their game when needed and one-up them. They have no other intent than to kill or harm me when they attack me, and all I was trying to do is cut weeds and poisonous plants so I can enjoy my property more. They don't pay part of the mortgage, so their choice is to live by my rules and not sting me or suffer the consequences. I just reciprocate with more intelligence and better tools and materials. I don't react that way to all stinging critters. I found a nest of ground dwelling bumblebees this year (the hard way). I just let them be until this winter when I'll remove the debris they're nested under. I try not to kill pollinators.

Never mind that my yard was most likely the city dump before its purpose was consolidated with the county landfill, and it is full of voids and stump holes that the developer was NOT required to fill in. There are voids in my yard that are large enough for foxes to den in, which are also prime locations for jackets to build. I assure you, this yard is a lot cleaner since I've been here than it was when I bought it in 2004, and certainly than it was before the house was built in 1975. I could go on for pages about the things I've dug up in this yard. The half pint or so of gasoline I've used for killing yellow jackets since 2004 would be an improvement. If soil poisoning is going to happen, someone's beat me to it. I promise, I use my technique sparingly and with the least amount of gasoline that I think will kill the nest. On occasion, it may take two applications because I underestimated the size of the nest and don't get 'em all. I sprayed one with Raid wasp/hornet spray this year, and killed all the vegetation within 5 feet of the hole. I've never seen my technique with gasoline do that. I've even killed a nest under an azalea bush I planted. The bush is very much alive and healthy. So we'll have to agree to disagree that the commercial products are better because the quantity required and the vehicle and propellants used in most of them are worse than gasoline. Neither is actually good for the environment, but neither is a buried human body full of formaldehyde because a wasp sting put them there. As far as I know, none of those are on my property, but I won't be surprised if I find one. Ask your favorite exterminator about killing yellow jacket nests. They REALLY hate doing it because it's so hard to do. My step-son worked as an exterminator for a while, which is how he found out he's allergic to wasp/hornet stings. It shortened his exterminator career significantly when he filed a worker's comp case for his hospital stay.

Gentlest wasps? I gotta think on that one for a minute. Sounds like an oxymoron to me. Maybe they're different on the east coast because they're certainly not friendly down here. Maybe we just have bigger, badder cicadas that put up a better fight, or the heat/humidity does something to them. We have a few bees that are not aggressive, but I can't think of anything in the wasp/hornet family in the South that fits the description of "gentle". Maybe a dirt/mud dauber, but even those have their limits.
 
There are certainly plenty of wasp/hornet sprays that require you to be able to see the nest or insect to spray it, and I keep them around for red wasps, and paper hornets. Some of them are absolutely great sprays and kill pretty much on contact, and work very well for the wasps/hornets you can actually see. The problem is, if you can't see what you're spraying, it's going to be hard to make that contact. Most insecticides are contact poisons and AFIK, NONE are aromatic/fumigates anymore. Most Aromatic/Fumigate insecticides are proven EXTREMELY dangerous to humans/animals. Yellow jackets don't play by the rules that wasp spray manufacturers want them to, and rarely build their nests so that it's easy to wipe out the colony with feel-good green friendly techniques. I play their game when needed and one-up them. They have no other intent than to kill or harm me when they attack me, and all I was trying to do is cut weeds and poisonous plants so I can enjoy my property more. They don't pay part of the mortgage, so their choice is to live by my rules and not sting me or suffer the consequences. I just reciprocate with more intelligence and better tools and materials. I don't react that way to all stinging critters. I found a nest of ground dwelling bumblebees this year (the hard way). I just let them be until this winter when I'll remove the debris they're nested under. I try not to kill pollinators.

Never mind that my yard was most likely the city dump before its purpose was consolidated with the county landfill, and it is full of voids and stump holes that the developer was NOT required to fill in. There are voids in my yard that are large enough for foxes to den in, which are also prime locations for jackets to build. I assure you, this yard is a lot cleaner since I've been here than it was when I bought it in 2004, and certainly than it was before the house was built in 1975. I could go on for pages about the things I've dug up in this yard. The half pint or so of gasoline I've used for killing yellow jackets since 2004 would be an improvement. If soil poisoning is going to happen, someone's beat me to it. I promise, I use my technique sparingly and with the least amount of gasoline that I think will kill the nest. On occasion, it may take two applications because I underestimated the size of the nest and don't get 'em all. I sprayed one with Raid wasp/hornet spray this year, and killed all the vegetation within 5 feet of the hole. I've never seen my technique with gasoline do that. I've even killed a nest under an azalea bush I planted. The bush is very much alive and healthy. So we'll have to agree to disagree that the commercial products are better because the quantity required and the vehicle and propellants used in most of them are worse than gasoline. Neither is actually good for the environment, but neither is a buried human body full of formaldehyde because a wasp sting put them there. As far as I know, none of those are on my property, but I won't be surprised if I find one. Ask your favorite exterminator about killing yellow jacket nests. They REALLY hate doing it because it's so hard to do. My step-son worked as an exterminator for a while, which is how he found out he's allergic to wasp/hornet stings. It shortened his exterminator career significantly when he filed a worker's comp case for his hospital stay.

Gentlest wasps? I gotta think on that one for a minute. Sounds like an oxymoron to me. Maybe they're different on the east coast because they're certainly not friendly down here. Maybe we just have bigger, badder cicadas that put up a better fight, or the heat/humidity does something to them. We have a few bees that are not aggressive, but I can't think of anything in the wasp/hornet family in the South that fits the description of "gentle". Maybe a dirt/mud dauber, but even those have their limits.
Wasp Freeze we use less than a second pretty much instantaneous as in take the name of the can literally.
Everyone's happy at the end of the day except the poor intruding wasps.
I'd hate to know exactly what's in it but you feel pretty confident turning it towards thousands of paper wasps at the ready:eek:
 
I use peppermint and water as a repellent. They hate the smell and go away. Used to have a huge paper wasp issue coming in my house. Just spray the windows and doors openings. All gone
 

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