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Marthe48

(16,691 posts)
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 06:52 PM Sep 2020

What about the pest insects?

I usually avoid killing anything, although I kill ants in my kitchen. I was working in my shed today, while it was cool, and luckily noticed a wasp nest with live wasps on it. I stopped working in the shed, and closed it up till tomorrow, figured I'd get an early start before they warm up.

I've got wasp and hornet spray and I could zap the whole nest. But is mindless killing of pest insects okay? I didn't see many insects of any kind this summer. If the only things flying and creeping around are nasty, should I just grin and bear it?

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Warpy

(110,900 posts)
1. I leave them alone in the woods
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 06:59 PM
Sep 2020

but when hornets moved into the wall of a house I was living in, I slaughtered them.

You could wait for a hard freeze to do the job for you, but that would deprive you of the use of your shed.

If you decide to commit wholesale waspicide, waith until twilight when it's barely light enough to see. That's when they're all home and loath to leave.

Marthe48

(16,691 posts)
2. Haven't been in the shed for a long time
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 07:08 PM
Sep 2020

Since I am home, all the time, I've turned into a cleaning machine. I thought I'd get the shed cleaned out and organized, so I can put more stuff in it. Not a priority. Not crazy about the wasps being in there, but so worried about the planet.

Thanks for your advice. I'm sure glad they aren't yellowjackets, I probably would have been stung and retaliated

Botany

(70,289 posts)
3. Leave them alone.
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 07:55 PM
Sep 2020

they will not hurt you. I am an expert in this stuff.

Not unless you pick em up or put them into your mouth they will not sting you. Most of time when a wasp uses its stinger it is to paralyze an another insect that the wasp then takes back to a nest it has built to be food for the next generation.

If you are dealing with yellow jackets you might have to kill them.

Wasps are part of our ecological food web.

LuckyCharms

(17,287 posts)
4. Got 12 yellow jacket stings at once last month...
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 08:25 PM
Sep 2020

I didn't even know they were there.

They are awful little shits.

If you happen to crush one by stepping on it, you're in for it, because the crushed wasp releases a pheromone that signals the other yellow jackets to come and wreck your shit.

And they do.

Botany

(70,289 posts)
5. Yellow Jackets do very important ecological work but their nests will hammer you if they "think" ...
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 08:29 PM
Sep 2020

.... you are a threat.

LuckyCharms

(17,287 posts)
6. Yes.
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 08:34 PM
Sep 2020

It was an underground nest in a crack in my driveway. I unknowingly was standing 6 feet or so away from, putting some mulch into a wheel barrow when the first one got me.

Every living thing on earth is here for a useful purpose, even yellow jackets, but man, those things are living on the edge.

Warpy

(110,900 posts)
10. That same house had a big paper wasp nest attached to the soffit outside the bathroom.
Thu Sep 24, 2020, 10:54 PM
Sep 2020

I just left it there all season, the screen on the window kept the little mofos out of the house. After the first hard freeze, I knocked it down with a broomstick. I didn't feel at all guilty for letting Mother Nature take care of them.

Marthe48

(16,691 posts)
13. We would knock down nests if they were close to a door we'd use
Fri Sep 25, 2020, 09:41 AM
Sep 2020

When we had a hummingbird feeder up, the wasps and yellow jackets would find it, and they were a threat to the hummingbirds, so my husband would go out and kill those insects, to protect the hummingbirds. Our grand kids had such severe reactions to stings, our daughter had them tested for allergies. They were sensitive, but not allergic. She had epipens for a few years, but they seem able to handle it now.


Marthe48

(16,691 posts)
7. Thank you
Tue Sep 22, 2020, 09:35 PM
Sep 2020

for a clear answer.

I'll work in the shed during the cooler part of the day and hope I don't threaten them. They aren't yellow jackets, just brown waps. I'm hoping there aren't any yellow jackets around.

LeftInTX

(24,548 posts)
11. You obviously do not have to deal with 2 inch cockroaches on a frequent basis
Fri Sep 25, 2020, 03:00 AM
Sep 2020

My garage is infested.

Large roaches live outside here, in the bark of trees and palm thatch, under the deck, in much etc, but the garage is how they are currently making their way into my house. (They also don't have predators in the garage) I am scared to death of them. My fear is irrational. I've tried everything to deal with my phobia.

I will clean out the garage after the election. I am very busy with elections right now. I spend good money on insecticides. I purchase professional products.

I envy that your biggest problem are wasps. Be glad you don't have rats jumping around your shed. Rats are a reason that I do not have a shed.

Watch out though, unlike bees wasps can sting numerous times.

Marthe48

(16,691 posts)
14. I hate roaches
Fri Sep 25, 2020, 09:49 AM
Sep 2020

I got some in the house a few times, when I brought boxes home from auctions. If people could see me track the bugs down, they would laugh. Fast and frantic! I've never had an infestation, thank God. I don't know why I don't like roaches, but I really do.

I'm not going to auctions any more, but after that first experience, I would repack any boxes, burn the boxes from the sale, and leave the stuff outside as long as the weather was good. Never had to spray.

Your wrok on the election is more important and I'm glad you are working on that! Thank you

Wounded Bear

(58,437 posts)
15. One of the reasons they are pests is that they propagate rapidly...
Fri Sep 25, 2020, 11:05 AM
Sep 2020

If they're inside your shed, you're hosed. Get rid of them.

Marthe48

(16,691 posts)
16. I think most insects are successful propagating
Sat Sep 26, 2020, 05:16 PM
Sep 2020

Most of the short-lived critters are, if I recall biology class correctly.

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