Thanks for your comments, Brian. Years ago, I did the same as you
suggest. But, with today's concerns about ground water contamination,
it is not a good idea. When he finished extracting the insects, Pete
placed Sevin dust in the hole to kill off the stragglers. He says the
nests only last for one season, and the queen dies when the workers
leave. Any new concerns are associated with the future workers and
queens that have already departed, who will winter beneath tree bark and
establish new colonies next year.
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
On 10/3/2016 10:30 AM, bj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Jim wrote
Several weeks ago, I discovered a Yellow Jacket nest in my
back yard. I
kept a wary eye on it, but worried that my lawn
maintenance guy might
get stung.
On Friday, the local newspaper, The
Tullahoma News, ran an article on a
Winchester, TN resident who traps
Yellow Jackets, Hornets, and Guinea
Wasps, and freezes them, eventually
packing them in dry ice and shipping
them to the lab of AKL Source
Material in Pennsylvania. There, the
venom sacs are extracted by hand
and used to create anti-venom. I gave
him a call and told him about my
nest. He arrived yesterday afternoon
as I was watching a football
game.
I decided to document the process. The first photo shows the nest
entrance as I found it, essentially a hole in the ground laid bare by
the passage of many insects.
.............................
Interesting
article Jim. We have Vespula species = Yellow Jackets here too.
One
thing bothers me about this ... the future.
In my experience if the wasp
nest itself is not dealt to (destroyed) it will live on.
It contains not
only wasp eggs, but wasp larvae which are mature enough to hatch and
perpetuate the nest.
Back to square one it is!!
Myself. I'd also pour a
cup-full or so of petrol down that hole. The vapour should be enough to
kill whatever
wasp juveniles are down there, and within a day or so will
have evaporated, leaving the site safe.
My experience - I stand to be
corrected if I'm wrong.
Cheers, Brian.
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|