Subject: Yellow-Jackets 2/2

From: [email-masked] (Jim Dixon)
Date: 21 Sep 94 09:36:30 -0500

concluded from Yellow-Jackets 1/2

>  To remove a hanging wasp nest without using chemicals:
First, it is a good idea to get a helper. To be safe, both of you should we ar
protective clothing from head to foot.  Although a beekeeper's suit with hat
and veil is ideal, you can assemble a similar suit for the occasion from heavy
coveralls, a hat with a wide brim and a length of fine screening. Wear boots
with your pants cuffs pulled outside the boot tops an d seal the cuffs around
the boot top with rubber bands so that wasps can't get up your legs. Wear
gloves and pull your sleeve cuffs over the tops of the gloves and seal them the
same way. Drape the screening over the hat (the brim should keep it away from
your face) and tie it around the neck,over the collar of the coveralls. Make
sure there are no openings around th e collar or base of the veil. You should
wear another layer of clothing underneath the overalls because wasp stingers
are long enough to reach through one layer of cloth.
To remove the nest, approach in the evening or at night when the wasps are all
home and less active because it is cool. Have your helper hold open a large,
heavy bag or a box with a tight lid under the nest while you cut the attaching
stem of the nest as quickly as possible using a long handled pruning hook, or
other tool. When the nest is in the bag or box, close it immediately and seal
shut.  Kill the wasps inside by putting the whole package in a deep freeze for
24 hr. or by directing a wasp spray into the package through a small hole for
several minutes. Don't neglect this last step because wasps can eventually chew
their way out of almost anything.

>  Wasp nests in walls:
Wearing suitable protection as above, spray pyrethrins (fast-acting,short-lived
compounds extracted from pyrethrum daisies) into the opening of the nest at
night. Repeat applications nightly until no more wasps are seen leaving the
hole. Never block up the opening as wasps can chew through wood or follow
wiring to the interior of the house.  In the fall, when the nest is definitely
vacant, caulk or repair the crack to prevent recolonization next year.

>  Underground Wasp nests:
This is a job better left to a  pest control operator, who can dig and vacuum
out the nest, however, you can apply pyrethrins sprays as above or pour several
gallons of boiling water into the nest. Wear protective clothing as described
and be extremely careful not scald yourself with the boiling water.

>  Lifecycle:
In spring, the mated queen wasp crawls out of her overwintering shelter,fills
herself on flower nectar and insects and then builds a nest in a hole in the
ground, inside a wall cavity, or hanging from a branch or the eaves of a
building.  She chews up plant fibers and weathered wood to make a grey papery
pulp for the first egg cells. The queen rears this first brood herself,
foraging for food and feeding the larvae. In about a month these larvae become
adult worker-daughters and take over cleaning, building and feeding chores for
the next generation.  The wasp population grows and the nest expands all season
as the workers add new layers of cells. In late summer the queen stops laying
eggs and the last of the brood matures. Among the last generation in late
summer are both queens and males that develop i n special cells. When they
emerge, they mate and the queen crawls away into a hiding place under bark, in
an old stump or under litter to spend the win ter. The workers and males all
die before winter, the nest falls apart and is not reused next year.

Jim