Subject: Re(2): Wasps?
From: [email-masked] (Bill Christensen)
Date: 23 Jun 1994 00:41:16 -0000
Newsgroups: bionet.plants

A trick I have found useful to avoid commercial sprays for getting rid of
wasps is to use straight ammonia in a garden sprayer.  You can usually adjust
the nozzle to do as well as the commercial sprays (20 ft or more), and it
knocks them down just about as fast.  It acts by suffocating them, as insects
exchange oxygen just under their exoskeleton.  

Ammonia doesn't leave long term residues, is just about as effective, and
costs a whole lot less than the commercial sprays.  And if any falls on the
ground, it might just fertilize it. 

The other thing to remember is that wasps tend to kill other pest insects. 
The wasps around here are particularly fond of black widow spiders, from what
i'm told.  Trichogramma (sp?) wasps are particularly beneficial, and you'll
find them for sale in the organic gardening stores and catalogs.  

BC

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