Subject: The Starlings of the Yellow Jacket World

From: [email-masked] (Pollinator)
Date: 30 Aug 1996 10:07:07 -0400

This is the time of year when you hear a lot of fussing about yellow
jackets. (Or, if the fusser hasn't looked too closely --  "bees"  -- 
which seems to mean "anything that stings.")   Bees are important
pollinators, yellow jackets do little pollination.  So we need to protect
bees, and kill yellow jackets  --   Right?

    Actually yellow jackets have an old and honorable tradition.  Our
native yellow jackets (hundreds of species) are an important biological
control for pest insects.  They LOVE to catch and feed their young that
fat juicy caterpillar that's munching on your cabbage.  And they do a
little pollination too.

    But we have one scoundrel amongst them - the German yellow jacket.  It
was accidently imported in the 1940's and has spread across the continent.
 It has no significant enemies here, so it overpopulates, crowding out and
replacing more beneficial types.

   It also is a scavanger.  ...And has a sweet tooth.  By mid-summer, when
populations are built up, to the first killing freeze, they'll be out
looking for your soda, or anything sweet you throw into the dumpster. 
They can be a royal pest at the Labor Day picnic.  And, if you run your
mower over their underground nest, they will sting like fury.

    There is a file common around university or extension web sites, which
you can usually find by running a search at the site.  One is at:

http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/academic/agriculture/entomology/beekeeping/gene
ral/
yellowjackets/        This will tell you how to kill yellow jackets.

    Now if you see your local handyman-type yellow jacket, be nice to it. 
But if it is the German yellow jacket, the starling of the yellow jacket
world, you have permission to kill it, and all her sisters. 

   For a picture of a German yellow jacket, which is smaller than a
honeybee, stop by       http://users.aol.com/pollinator/compare.htm       
 This, compared to a honeybees can help in identification.

[email-masked]                                   Dave and Janice Green
Practical Pollination Home Page    
http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html  
PO Box 1200, Hemingway, SC    29554

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From: Peter Backiel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 13:21:42 -0400

> bees, and kill yellow jackets  --   Right?

The way I control yellow jackets is:
First, I get a can of cat food - yellow jackets are carnivorous
Second, I mix Sevin with the cat food
Third, I put this mixture back in the can with 3/8" wire mesh over the top. This will prevent my neighbors new 
cat from eating the concoction, but allow the yellow jackets to eat it. I think their old cat ate my first 
attempt without the wire mesh. Please don't tell them, I think they still have hopes of Cuddles returning.
After 3-4 days you can't find a yellow jacket within 1 mile of my apairy.

================================================= 
Omnirel Corporation                                      
Peter J. Backiel Jr.
Accounting Manager
205 Crawford Street
Leominster, Massachusetts 01453
(508) 534-5776 Fax (508) 537-4246
=================================================

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From: [email-masked] (Chiemer)
Date: 10 Sep 1996 21:15:42 -0400

It sounds like a good recipe, I will keep in mind for in times of need.  

We should not forget that even though they seem useless to us, God
designed the Yellow Jacket  as  beneficial insects.   They are eating
spiders and many different kinds of little insects.  If they are not
bothering us, then we should let them remain unpoisoned in the local
ecosystem.  

Thanks for the tip, my condolences to your neighbour.

Best regards,
Chris Hiemstra
Kingsville, Ontario