Yellowjackets -- the wasp/hornet

i'm west of bastan, and it's all horse farms around here. nothing in mine but critters though, hasn't seen a horse in over 50 years probably.
there's no hay either, but it's still a 'hay loft'.

 

A hay loft with no hay?
NOT going to judge......

That leaves you with more options to exercise.
Dawn Dishwashing Detergent - for example.

Hose the place down with a pressure washer!!!

 

today, mrs b discovered a nest being built in the clematis growing on the garden arbor you can see in my avatar.
big year for wasps for some reason. oh well, more raid

 

my neighbors are beekeepers, i find it frightening. happier to go out tonight and put an end to the nonsense

 

ouch! i'm heading out to spray the beasts as we type

 

i just saw a blurb about checking open drinks outdoors before partaking.

well, no harm done (to me at least) now back to the barn conundrum...

 

the nest on the arbor was still active the next day. mrs b got stung on the lip going into the garden. these buggers a vicious! took a week for the swelling inside her mouth to go down. i hit it again the next night with the rest of the can. that finally did it and i knocked the nest down the following day.

set off a pyrethrin fogger in the hayloft, kinda scary with all the label warnings.
bees are still there, i'm out of options

yesterday i saw one entering a hole in the patio stone grout right under the back door step.

 

"Tempo insecticide dust" was unknown to me. It's cyfluthrin which at least gives a starting point for searches. It's a pyrethrin; the parent of which was isolated from Chrysanthemum flowers. Many synthetic versions have been developed. This one seems quite 'hopped up' with chlorine, fluorine and azide side chains.

It is approved for use in 49 states (Not Calif) and also not in Europe. Rest of world one assumes it is. Readers may know the drill: a potential endocrine disruptor (of which there are many many), bad for aquatic ecosystems, bioconcentrates in adipose tissue.

At commercial insecticide concentration of 1% ... well ...it ain't ricin. I would not refrain from using it at need. Would wear personal protective equipment and wash things up after.

 

I serve little, but not none. A chemist's eye is such that seeing azides and fluorides dangling off a benign (ish) parental molecule attracts attention. Bayer (TM) added it because it works. The keyhole to molecules that snuff only organisms we don't like is narrow indeed.

Y'all serve me by dragging my attention to areas I seem to have not enough time for. And have for decades. Site structure does not allow for global outgoing likes.

 

I would not assert that 'the water problem' covers small stuff you mention. Nor sending water after washing up to the sewage treatment plant. Dilution dilution dilution.

But do not dispose of Tempo in a nearby lake even if it is a whacking source of mosquitoes. Farmed fish foods, if infected with insects, ought not not 'treated" with it. Stuff like that.

 

I use Dawn dishwashing detergent.
I mean - they wash cute little baby ducklings with it after those mean old oil people contaminate their homes with tar balls - riiiiiiight?

Telco employees have lots and lots and LOTS of wasp spray which is ALSO a cyfluthrin-based product IIRC.

'Off label' uses for wasp spray are not uncommon - but I live in a 'red state' so I have other options.