Mowing Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later..... and today it was my time

[dfkrug]

Yikes! These stories are scary!

But I'm glad we don't have these guys around!
View attachment 392584

[/url]

That hornet photo is scarier than even Thomas' injuries, Ray.

Be careful out there. I bought a beekkeeper's outfit.

 

[dfkrug]

Yikes! These stories are scary!

But I'm glad we don't have these guys around!
View attachment 392584

[/url]

That hornet photo is scarier than even Thomas' injuries, Ray.

Be careful out there. I bought a beekkeeper's outfit.

 

[check]

Those little pests sure can be a bother! I have a rental cottage property, and they build one or more paper nests under the eaves every year, and then this year they started a colony in behind the (outer) door trim. Can't have that, because my renters will get stung.

The rental season is over now and the wasps will of course die off over the winter (except the queen I guess), but I want to prevent this from happening again, by doing the right thing in the Spring before they get started. Any ideas, guys?

 

[jacspath]

I just was lucky and spotted a ground nest of those nasty yellow bastard before I or my wife or dog got whapped. The big problem was what to do with it since it was f**kin BIG and very busy. I dumped a big load of soil on it but they had it dug out [through about 30 inches of stuff] in about 24 hours. AND they seemed some how rather perturbed by the aggravation. Cheeky little bastards.

Anyway. two big cans of hornet spray [with a 20' stream, of course] killed an awful lot of them, but no where near all.

My 'final solution' was gasoline. I put about half a gal. in a gallon sprayer and shot it into the hole [again from a distance] just as it was getting dark and they seemed to have gone to bed and tossed in a match [well it took about a dozen 'tosses' till I got it going] but that did the trick. By the time I got it to lite, the gas had soaked well down in and [since it had a hard time getting oxygen down in there when the mouth of the hole was on fire] it burned for about 45 minutes. I didn't think of it before hand, but it was also a good idea to do it at dark so I could keep an eye on any dry grass that got lighted up [this was in a part of my meadow] which showed up well after dark. It has been two weeks and no sign that they are back. keep a broom and rake handy and don't get any gas on your hands or clothes. That would spoil the triumph.

 

[RobD70]

Just saw this one on the news. I couldnt imagine what ti was like for these people -

Massive bee swarm in Arizona attacks four people, killing one | Fox News

 

[kebo]

My 'final solution' was gasoline. I put about half a gal. in a gallon sprayer and shot it into the hole [again from a distance] just as it was getting dark and they seemed to have gone to bed and tossed in a match [well it took about a dozen 'tosses' till I got it going] but that did the trick. By the time I got it to lite, the gas had soaked well down in and [since it had a hard time getting oxygen down in there when the mouth of the hole was on fire] it burned for about 45 minutes.

Gas is my weapon of choice for eliminating the buggers too. Don't really think you have to light it though. Keep pouring some gas into the hole maybe every 12 hours for a couple days. The fumes alone will displace the oxygen in the narrow tunnels and cavities and kill them. Besides, I never liked lighting gas that's been poured out like that.

 

[PhysAssist]

That hornet photo is scarier than even Thomas' injuries, Ray.

Be careful out there. I bought a beekkeeper's outfit.

I agee, and reading about their stings is even scarier than seeing them...

BTW, I don't use gas because it gets into the ground and water table, and both the water in our pond, and the water in our well come from the ground.

We are even really sparing in our use of the spray that we use to kill the ants that ontherwise would invade our log home to keep it out of the water table.

Thomas

 

[PhysAssist]

I agee, and reading about their stings is even scarier than seeing the...

Hi Rob,

I was going to post a link to that story, until I saw yours.

They said that nest was over 100# and 6'x4' are the only the dimensions they gave...

One guy has died, God bless him.

Thomas

 

[oldpilgrim]

I previously posted about a ground wasp hole I ran over. Got buzzed but not stung. It was enough to make me decide to come back when it was colder.

Last week after a few days of unseasonably cold weather, I went back and tried again. The pests were still there, not dormant or dead like I hoped they'd be.

Funny thing was, I think it was a whole new crop of them as they were all very small. They all buzzed around their hole and didn't seem to realize that I was there.

It was weird.

 

[oldpilgrim]

I previously posted about a ground wasp hole I ran over. Got buzzed but not stung. It was enough to make me decide to come back when it was colder.

Last week after a few days of unseasonably cold weather, I went back and tried again. The pests were still there, not dormant or dead like I hoped they'd be.

Funny thing was, I think it was a whole new crop of them as they were all very small. They all buzzed around their hole and didn't seem to realize that I was there.

It was weird.