I was pushing the mower in the orchard and wanted to look at a yellow-jacket nest I had sprayed yesterday.
There were still a few yellow-jackets flying in-and-out so I went hunting for my sprayer.
On my way back to that nest I saw a cyclone of yellow-jackets exactly where I had been standing to observe the nest I had sprayed. I think I must have covered the opening of the nest with my foot and they could not recover fast enough to whack me when I left.
Did I mention that I am moving more quickly now? Good thing, too.
I hosed the newly found nest from 12 feet away. Early tomorrow morning I will stretch a hose to the hole in the ground and start flooding it. It is a very long way from the spigot but I own plenty of hose.
I think I will let the grass grow in that row of the orchard a few more days before I mow it.
Drying tomatoes
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A mix of Stupice and Roma halves on the tray
I am trying a batch with the tomatoes (1.25" diameter) quartered rather than halved. I was not happy with how long it took for the halves to dry.
I never knew there were ground-nesting wasps until I moved here. We also have the ones that like to build nests in any opening they can find, like the inside of your outer rear view mirrors, and under the gas cap door.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever dig a nest up, you'll be amazed at how many are there.
ReplyDeletewe frequently encounter ground bees while horseback riding. the allegheny state forest, a mixture of mountains, fields, river, dead railbeds....the first rider disturbs the nest, by the 2nd or 3rd rider they are pissed and sting multiple times, usually the horse in the undercarriage.
ReplyDeletecarry a bottle of 7 and shake a bunch liberally in nest entrance to smother them.
they seem to prefer semi sift ground near water.
Yep, ground nests are the worst...
ReplyDeleteA coke bottle of gasoline is serious yellow jacket medicine. Pour it in and around the hole. Wait till dark to light it off.
ReplyDeleteTake a drop of Tick and Flea treatment "Advantix 2" (the stuff you put on your dog's back) and mix it well with 2 tablespoons of chunky chicken cat food. Place in a shallow dish out of the rain and the bees will take it back to the nest and poison the whole works. Too much will kill them before they fly back home. Honeybees and bumbles will leave it alone. Only protein eaters.
ReplyDeleteSold my late brother's freightliner last weekend. I had to help the guys who came to pick it up by sitting in the cab and horsing the steering wheel around as they pulled it out and got the back end swung around for towing.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago, some idiot managed to get the driver's side window down a couple of inches, (power window), and critters got into the cab. Hanging from the divider between the passenger side cab and the sleeper section was a Bald Faced Hornet's nest, thankfully empty. But as I was managing the steering wheel, the Velcro holding the side window curtain came loose and I could see out of the corner of my left eye, a large Paper Wasp's nest...and it wasn't empty; infact, it was full of those large brown and yellow striped critters with daggers for stingers. Thankfully I was able to sit still enough to not startle them into flying into my face and stinging the hell out of me. My 64 yr old body wouldn't have been able to move fast enough to avoid them and I most likely would have killed myself exiting the cab of the truck.
Twice this past month I’ve encountered these little terrors. Six stings and boy did they burn. The older I get the worse the stings react. I have a bunch of trails on my acreage, I look for movement in the air and on the ground, but sometimes they surprise you.
ReplyDeleteRE: Drying tomatoes, we use an inexpensive meat slicer to slice the tomatoes right onto the drying racks. It makes the job a lot easier and faster.
ReplyDeleteYellow jackets are a terror in the apiary this time of the year. The comment about the cat food and Advantage, we use floramite instead of the Advantage.
wes
wtdb
Shawn Wood's youtube channel had an installment about bald face hornet nest this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19-qku8F8fA
ReplyDelete