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Is there a single person on Earth that likes wasps?!
Show me your gardening Progress
- Thread starter Ozarks Mountain Brewery
- Start date
My wife is always so happy to see wasps in our garden, knowing they are doing their part in reducing unwanted pests from our fruits and vegetables. For me, there is appreciation and apprehension. I was stung by a wasp as a kid - right in the palm as I pulled a handful of weeds where it was working - I believe that was the most intense pain I have ever felt, like grabbing flaming hot metal. So I am glad to see them so long as they don’t invade my personal space. They are very interesting to watch as they hunt their prey.
Yeah I don't mind them.
I do pest control so I'm amazed at what people will pay me to kill a tiny little nest lol!
I had some paper wasps on my patio a few years ago and me showing them compassion let them be. I decided as long as they don't bite me then they can live there.
My wife Insisted I get rid of them but I told her oh their harmless they ain't gunna bite you.
Anyhow months later after our harmonious living arrangements (me and the wasps) my brother is comming to visit.
His wife likes to dash on the perfume and as soon as she took a foot on that patio no kidding one of the wasps stung her right in the middle of her forehead.
Well she let out a real good bellow ohhhhh What the FFFF!
Inside I was like
but of course I was apologetic especially being accused of being a soft C@ck pestie lol
So that was the end of our patio paper wasps.
Moral of the story watch out around wasps if you like perfumes and deodorants I think the chemical pheromones in them set off Wasps.
I do pest control so I'm amazed at what people will pay me to kill a tiny little nest lol!
I had some paper wasps on my patio a few years ago and me showing them compassion let them be. I decided as long as they don't bite me then they can live there.
My wife Insisted I get rid of them but I told her oh their harmless they ain't gunna bite you.
Anyhow months later after our harmonious living arrangements (me and the wasps) my brother is comming to visit.
His wife likes to dash on the perfume and as soon as she took a foot on that patio no kidding one of the wasps stung her right in the middle of her forehead.
Well she let out a real good bellow ohhhhh What the FFFF!
Inside I was like
but of course I was apologetic especially being accused of being a soft C@ck pestie lolSo that was the end of our patio paper wasps
.Moral of the story watch out around wasps if you like perfumes and deodorants I think the chemical pheromones in them set off Wasps.
Yeah, I was too, but the cabbage worms were prolific and had already done a lot of damage before I could find something more organic to stop them. I couldn’t wait another week for Neem Oil or BT to work, but hopefully the last dusting of BT I gave everything will keep future infestation in check. We just plucked the hornworms then dusted everything with BT.
They like to build in the smaller nooks and crannies under the deck, giving them multiple approaches to the nest, including departure via the gaps in the deck flooring, putting them in close proximity to humans, including the grandkids and great grandchildren. ONE made the mistake of stinging me on the deck, and our otherwise amicable coexistence came to a screeching halt. I actually like red and mahogany wasps around because they control a lot of venomous spiders as well as the harmless ones that leave webs to wrap around your face. This normally results in simultaneous judy chops and ningy kicks if I’m the one that finds the web and my DIL will absolutely refuse to visit unless I can give some assurance that spider abatement has been performed regularly and recently. She freaks out about a photo of a spider. I can sit and watch spiders build webs for hours. Then, the next day, I watch to see whether the wasp gets the spider, or the spider gets the wasp. I try to let Mother Nature make all the hard decisions, but when painful insects or venomous reptiles start invading my space, she gets no say in the matter.Yeah I don't mind them.
I do pest control so I'm amazed at what people will pay me to kill a tiny little nest lol!
I had some paper wasps on my patio a few years ago and me showing them compassion let them be. I decided as long as they don't bite me then they can live there.
My wife Insisted I get rid of them but I told her oh their harmless they ain't gunna bite you.
Anyhow months later after our harmonious living arrangements (me and the wasps) my brother is comming to visit.
His wife likes to dash on the perfume and as soon as she took a foot on that patio no kidding one of the wasps stung her right in the middle of her forehead.
Well she let out a real good bellow ohhhhh What the FFFF!
Inside I was like
So that was the end of our patio paper wasps
Moral of the story watch out around wasps if you like perfumes and deodorants I think the chemical pheromones in them set off Wasps.
The most fun battle of bug control, however, has been a Christmas pressie from my stepdaughter. She gave me a “Bug-A-Salt” gun. I have an absolute blast murdering big black cockroaches on the deck at night. The Bug-A-Salt uses exactly what the name implies, salt, much like a shotgun. Completely harmless to other critters and I can season my french fries with the ammunition. It’s basically an air rifle, and will MANGLE a roach up to 3 feet away. Good fun, really. I reckon I’m a new age red neck that’s graduated from the bug zapper and a six pack.
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Me too. I attempt to keep it as organic as I can....so far this year is looking well on the wilt problem I had a couple years in a row ...fingers crosserd.
We really wanted some squash but we can’t seem to get past bloom end rot on any variety. Have ZERO issues growing cucumbers, so that’s what makes me a bit frustrated. Are cucumbers more forgiving of soil chemistry than squash? That would surprise me a little since they’re both in the gourd family along with watermelon. It’s just weird.
My zucchini is the first in a few years. They either never develop, or rot prior to maturity. Cukes grow like crazy, and nip at my ankles when I harvest. I don't know why similar plants have such different patterns.
For the zukes, I suspect southern humidity has an effect. Up north I never had a problem.
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I have peas and onions. Yellow squash and beans soon to follow. Lettuce and spinach are just about ready to pick. Cukes and my pumpkin leaves are getting chewed up pretty badly and I need to figure out what to spray on them or set out. I'm thinking a diluted vinegar and dish soap solution on the leaves and then set some beer traps for any slugs.
The garlic needs the tops cut and is likely close to harvest. The spuds are big and bushy and still flowering which seems a little late to me, but mother nature knows best.
The tomatoes are setting fruit and I believe i'll start getting cherry tomatoes in a couple weeks. The corn is knee high, so a little behind, but not much.
I need to get into the garden and clean it up a bit.
The yard is finally together and looking like a park, so I'm happy with that.
Now on to smaller things and maintenance.
The garlic needs the tops cut and is likely close to harvest. The spuds are big and bushy and still flowering which seems a little late to me, but mother nature knows best.
The tomatoes are setting fruit and I believe i'll start getting cherry tomatoes in a couple weeks. The corn is knee high, so a little behind, but not much.
I need to get into the garden and clean it up a bit.
The yard is finally together and looking like a park, so I'm happy with that.
Now on to smaller things and maintenance.
I grew up farther south, near Mobile. Down there, the humidity is often higher than the temperature. Simply stifling. We had much better sandy soil down there, versus this bloody clay and rock. If I want decent gardening soil here, I have to buy it or make it. I keep two pretty large compost pits going now, because it just goes against the grain to buy dirt in a bag. Never mind how much of it I need. So I just keep plodding along correcting small spots in the yard and doing what I can. There's not even enough topsoil to establish and keep a decent lawn in this yard. The first little dry spell kills most of the grass that I've worked very hard to cultivate unless I run the water bill up. I don't think humidity is the issue, but I don't doubt the soil here is so bad it can't be corrected. All I can do is cover it up with more/better dirt. We grew pretty much anything we wanted down in Washington County, where the topsoil is nearly 2 feet deep before there's any color change to the loam that's under it. The only reason we didn't grow zucchini is because none of us cared for it. The missus loves it, and it makes a good substitute for a lot of things she can't eat because of diabetes. But when I was growing up, grew yellow crook-neck, patty (scallop) squash, cushall, butternut squash (and not the puny little things you see in Publix), and pumpkins by the trailer load. It was my job to bring the pumpkins in, which to me meant time on the tractor and away from the house. Certainly, we grew a lot more than we'd ever need or could give away. So, it was also my job to get rid of the ones that rotted. That, I did mind.
I know I'm never going to have the wonderful garden we grew when I was a kid, but I'm trying best I can to produce enough for me and the missus. It gives me something to do and keeps me from annoying her. She tends to give some of it away, and I keep pointing at the price tags in the markets and groaning about my bad back and all the empty space in the freezer.
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@RoadRoach I'm dealing with similar rock hard clay. I've been adding to it and working it small bits at a time and am finally starting to get it broken up. I think another 2 years and I'll be happy with it, but for now I deal with it the best I can,
That's about all I can do with it. Just keep fixing little bits at a time. I'm currently shopping for a plug aerator for my tractor to see if I can help the grass a little. Doesn't do much good to put fertilizer on this yard. It's so hard after a little dry spell, next time it rains, all the fertilizer goes to my neighbor's yard or down through the ditch between us. He's got gorgeous grass, and the undergrowth in the ditch is horrific, I still have bare spots where I pick up broken glass and unburnt coal. A good aerator will at least catch some of the fertilizer and hold it, as well as a little more water that otherwise runs off in torrents.
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Yep that's a good idea. I may give it a try as well this fall. I'd like to get one of the ones they use on the golf course greens and then maybe fill it with sand the way they do it.
Most come with a frame on them to stack cinder blocks as weights. Some have more elaborate weight racks for 'suitcase' weights designed to go on tractors. I have to admit some of my grass growing issue is somewhat self-inflicted, though. I wasn't very kind to my yard while I was building my shop, and it still hasn't recovered. It was originaly one of the prettier spots in my yard. Forgetting to pick up the box blade before I moved the tractor was a little harsh on the centipede.
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Can't like that one! HAHA
Built-in fertilizer pod!
Glanced away from the zucchini for two days, and these appeared from nowhere. I only grabbed the biggest ones until I had my hands full. I suspect the remainers will attack me next time I go out there. Oh, and the first Jalapeño.
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Nice looking zukes. I put in one chili pepper plant and we’re already hunting people that like chili. That plant is LOADED. We use a little for homemade salsa, but we don’t eat anything that’s super spicy. The German Princess tomato looks like it’s gonna be very prolific, too. Picked 5 today and I counted 20 about the size of a baseball this evening. Can’t give the cherry tomatoes away fast enough. Getting a double handful every day now from 3 plants. Gonna replace the bell pepper where I dug up the spuds. Might as well keep something growing.
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Those are some thicc boys!
