School_Farmer
New member
Well, we have the whole assortment of wasps, yellow jackets, whitefaced/baldfaced hornets, bumble bees here. I typically get stung once a year or so, but generally I'm pretty lucky, given how many nests I get close to. I've learned a few things about all these "lovely" hymenoptera...
When bush mowing anytime beyond the middle of July up until we have a hard freeze, I am always on the lookout for them. I've driven over quite a few nests, even a basketball-sized one about 6 weeks ago, but I've learned that they're too disoriented, trying to figure out what happened on the mower's first pass to get me. It's one the return pass that they get you, so I just keep an eagle eye out for flying activity near the adjacent area I just passed. That saved me twice last year and earlier this year.
For all the supposed evilness of bald-faced hornets, I've inadvertently gotten within 3 feet of the things with walk-behind mowers of all things in the past several years and not been attacked. It's bumping the nest or bush that the nest is in that gets you. Move it at all and you're done.
I've never been stung by a honeybee either. They're way too gentle unless you mess with their nests, which aren't nearly as common as wasp/yellow jacket/baldfaced hornet nests. People say "bees", but it's almost always the other guys....err...gals.
I try to leave as many nests alone as I can as hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets are excellent hunters of other flying/biting insect pests. When I do have to go after one, if the nest is low enough, I lob a mess of boiling water from a pot at them. NOTHING survives that jolt. The hot water instantly dissolves most of their paper mache and wipes them all out, larvae as well and doesn't leave a greasy, oily stain on the house or whatever they attached to.
If it's a big nest and/or it's up above shoulder/head height and I have to use spray, I never bother with a can that's less than half full because lesser cans just don't seem to spray much, especially if they're not held totally vertical, which is often impossible to maintain and still hit the target.
Having said sort of nice things about bald faced hornets, last year we noticed a basketball-sized one outside a dorm at the residential school I work at. It was so large that a spray can just wouldn't have soaked it quickly enough (bald faced make enclosed nests.) We couldn't leave it because our kids would be stupid and get too close, poke it, etc. We were fortunate to have a window on a side wall that opened facing the nest so I took our 16 foot pool boom and brush and WHACKED the entire nest broadside from the window, dropped the brush after the hit, and SLAMMED the window shut. Well, were they ever MAD!!! 'Must have been a few hundred of them and bald faced hornets are speedy things. They MOVE! They pelted the entire side of the building, rammed the (closed) window, rammed another window that was always closed, and took about half an hour to calm down. They later returned to the now open paper comb that was still attached to the house, but now being out in the open, an evening follow up spray easily did the deed.
But as I say, on tractors, when mowing, the big thing is keeping an eye open on the return pass. If, on the other hand, you're doing something more stationary like grading, well, if you're on an open station machine, good luck!
When bush mowing anytime beyond the middle of July up until we have a hard freeze, I am always on the lookout for them. I've driven over quite a few nests, even a basketball-sized one about 6 weeks ago, but I've learned that they're too disoriented, trying to figure out what happened on the mower's first pass to get me. It's one the return pass that they get you, so I just keep an eagle eye out for flying activity near the adjacent area I just passed. That saved me twice last year and earlier this year.
For all the supposed evilness of bald-faced hornets, I've inadvertently gotten within 3 feet of the things with walk-behind mowers of all things in the past several years and not been attacked. It's bumping the nest or bush that the nest is in that gets you. Move it at all and you're done.
I've never been stung by a honeybee either. They're way too gentle unless you mess with their nests, which aren't nearly as common as wasp/yellow jacket/baldfaced hornet nests. People say "bees", but it's almost always the other guys....err...gals.
I try to leave as many nests alone as I can as hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets are excellent hunters of other flying/biting insect pests. When I do have to go after one, if the nest is low enough, I lob a mess of boiling water from a pot at them. NOTHING survives that jolt. The hot water instantly dissolves most of their paper mache and wipes them all out, larvae as well and doesn't leave a greasy, oily stain on the house or whatever they attached to.
If it's a big nest and/or it's up above shoulder/head height and I have to use spray, I never bother with a can that's less than half full because lesser cans just don't seem to spray much, especially if they're not held totally vertical, which is often impossible to maintain and still hit the target.
Having said sort of nice things about bald faced hornets, last year we noticed a basketball-sized one outside a dorm at the residential school I work at. It was so large that a spray can just wouldn't have soaked it quickly enough (bald faced make enclosed nests.) We couldn't leave it because our kids would be stupid and get too close, poke it, etc. We were fortunate to have a window on a side wall that opened facing the nest so I took our 16 foot pool boom and brush and WHACKED the entire nest broadside from the window, dropped the brush after the hit, and SLAMMED the window shut. Well, were they ever MAD!!! 'Must have been a few hundred of them and bald faced hornets are speedy things. They MOVE! They pelted the entire side of the building, rammed the (closed) window, rammed another window that was always closed, and took about half an hour to calm down. They later returned to the now open paper comb that was still attached to the house, but now being out in the open, an evening follow up spray easily did the deed.
But as I say, on tractors, when mowing, the big thing is keeping an eye open on the return pass. If, on the other hand, you're doing something more stationary like grading, well, if you're on an open station machine, good luck!
