Featuring...
September 2007

A Vespid Battle Plan
Our Readers Respond

Last month we ran a lament about hornets, wasps and yellow jackets eating our raspberries and asked our readers for tips on how to exterminate the mean little buggers. Thanks for your great response. A number of you stopped us on the street to comment, and a few took the time to write us with their vespid stories. These appear below.

Not everyone is as sour on these critters as we are. Let's start with a refreshing new take on "the problem":

The American Legion in Metaline Falls has a patio, and an ancient cherry tree beside it. Last year the cherries dropped onto the patio -- and we tried to keep up with sweeping them off, but they fell constantly. To make our story short -- we had piles of sticky cherries beside the patio that stuck to people's shoes in 2-inch clumps. We had squashed cherries tracked onto our rug and dance floor. We had fruit flies, etc.

This year, as soon as the cherries ripened, hordes of vespids began eating them off the tree and the patio. A few of us got stung; we put up traps, but we didn't catch many -- they preferred the cherries. Last year at this time (August) we were still battling the problem. This year all we have on the ground are cleaned pits, and no cherries or fruit flies in the Legion.

Once in a while these guys can help -- we hope they come next year!

Janis Haglund
American Legion Post 144, Metaline Falls

We also got a call from someone named Lynn who pointed out that vespids have a beneficial role to play in the environment. She points out that they eat their body weight a day in flies, caterpillars and other pests. She recommends luring them away from the garden by putting out flat plates of sugar water.

A more typical response follows:

Yellow Jackets, Wasps, Bald Face Hornets -- Oh Mad!

Watching these little buzzers keep the Hummingbirds at bay on their feeders was what prompted my most unusual and often effective method; a shop vacuum. If I can't easily vacuum them up I nudge them into the airflow with a fly swatter. They swirl around with all the dust in there and come to their end. Just in case though, I cover up the hose nozzle with packing tape after I turn the vacuum off.

Then there is the swat and stomp method, frequently employed under duress. Wearing a bee suit is preferred when employing this method. In fire camps for the USFS my dad said they would take a pie tin and pour an entire jar of jam or jelly into it.

They'd place the pan about 60 feet away from the camp and then pour water into the pan until it came up to the edge. Apparently the sugar and water makes the Yellow Jackets a bit calmer and lures them away from the main eating area.

I went to picnic in McCall in the sixties where we all watched a group of Yellow Jackets descend on a roast turkey and skeletonize in about two hours. No one tried to shoo them off, fortunately.

Last year Jeannie tried a number of techniques and found that PamÆ cooking spray has several distinct advantages:

It is non-toxic to animals and human beings

It has a wide spray area (though that in itself requires being in fairly close proximity for effective coating)

It improves your woodwork rather than ruining it.

Remember the SNL skit? It's a dessert topping. It's a floor wax. Noä It's BOTH!

My preferred (presumably) method of dealing with Yellow Jackets? Napalm. Flame Throwers. Only the contemplation of how much collateral damage might be incurred as well the inability to acquire either tool at a local strip mall keeps me from using those rather thorough methods.

Joel Shenk from Colville



And from the truly determined:

I was thinking about you this morning as I went about my morning chores in the wasp war. With 400 grape vines, I am totally aware of the problems. I face a cascading calamity. If the birds peck holes, the wasps follow. Moths and flies follow the wasps and the open grapes rot which is impossible to overcome in wine production. There are several lines of defense. None are perfect.

A good solution is insect row cover, ultra-thin nonwoven cloth. (The thinnest weight doesn't fry the plants.) I'm using Agribon (AG15) from Phoenix Organics (591) 535-1134.

I check my buildings, eaves, lumber and other storage places for nests and nuke 'em with the usual wasp spray. I use Pyola - a mixture of pyrethrum (from chrysanthemum flowers) and canola oil from Gardens Alive on a variety of insects (ants, bees, leaf hoppers, wasps). It breaks down in a few hours to something harmless and edible. But you need to spray the insect. It doesn't protect crops from being eaten.

I put out traps using whatever they are eating. (They don't like substitutes so for instance they won't eat apricots once they are started on grapes.) We have some frozen and canned grape juice from last year. They love that. I put a teaspoon of mineral oil in with it. It coats their wings and they can't fly. Fish and chicken meat are supposed to attract wasps. Maybe they work on yellow jackets or early in the season, but paper wasps and bald-faced wasps don't seem to care. I'm bring out my not-so-good wine as the next choice.

There are a lot of different styles of traps. I'm finding green plastic pop bottle with holes cut in the sides work as well as any of my fancy store-bought models. I clean and refresh the traps every morning when the wasps are not flying.

Joe Barreca, Kettle Falls

Becky Dubell from Colville had no problems with wasps and their friends this year. Her trick? Kill the first ones you see when they come out in early spring. These, she claims, are the queens. Kill them, and the drones are pose no problems throughout the year.

Actually, I like Joel's flame thrower idea...

Care to comment? Please direct your comments to editor@ncmonthly.com.

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