Warning:
The information contained in these
web pages has not been verified for correctness. Some of the
information contained herein is hearsay and may not be correct.
Use the information from these pages only at your own risk!
- Suggestion A: The safest pesticide I
know is diatomaceous earth. You can put one tea spoon of
it on an ant hill and eliminate the entire population in
30 minutes [ed. note: people have noted it can take up to
a couple of weeks, depending on variety of ant]. It is
harmless to humans and animals. Diatomaceous earth is
comprised of tiny microscopic sea animals which are the
sharpest smallest creatures known to man. They cut the
outer membranes of the parasites body and cause them to
bleed to death. It is not harmful to the stomach as I
have used this for 6 years now on my goats for internal
(worms) and external (lice and ticks) parasites with no
ill effects. You can purchase this stuff in most health
food stores or nurseries. Don't buy the pool filter
variety as it has rounded off edges, plus it typically
contains heavy metals. The food store variety is for
human consumption. I buy it by the 50 pound bag for $15
per bag.
- Suggestion B: For getting rid of ants in
your house, there is an insecticide called
"Demon". It worked perfectly the first time on
my carpenter ants and every other kind of bug for that
matter. I strongly recommend it to anyone that asks and
I've had nothing but thanks back. Just use it according
to directions. I was able to get to the area where they
were doing the most damage and sprayed directly on that
wood. Any insect that crosses the powder is killed (not
instantly) and it seems to send out a "signal"
that keeps them away after a while.
- Suggestion C: I had a problem with
some... I bought some of the various cans of ant
poison/bait and placed them where the little buggers
could haul it all back to momma - the queen ant. Took
about a month before all of the existing workers died
out. Three years later, they have not been back.
- Suggestion D: They are attracted to
'moist wood'... get rid of that and they tend to go
somewhere else. A good 'homemade' poison is a mixture of
confectionery (powdered) sugar and borax (or boric acid?)
in equal parts, with enough water to make a paste. Leave
it in their trail and they will take it back to the nest.
The nest will die off. This system worked for me, I
haven't seen any since (three years). I did leave the
'poison' mixture out in the various spots the ants would
frequent. (BTW this works for common 'kitchen' type ants
too, although keeping the crumbs cleaned up works and is
probably more ecologically fair.)
- Suggestion E: I sprayed with some harsh
chemicals and used diazanon granules around the exterior.
I know, it ain't politically correct, but it is even less
correct for my house to fall down. So. It worked,
although the diazanon has to be reapplied occasionally.
- Suggestion F: I would recommend spending
the time to follow the buggers and locate the nest. This
will take several hours over a couple, three days. Once
you find the nest hit it with Durban ( called OrthoChlor
by Ortho Inc. {I have no connection with Ortho}) at the
highest concentration allowed on the label. This stuff
will kill for 30 days minimum and much longer when soaked
into a stump or fence post. Then I would spray the trail
and around the outside of the house with Diazanon.
Diazanon will kill for 7 days minimum and does not last
as long in the environment.
- Suggestion G: Plant mint around your
house. The ants don't like it. The only problem with this
is that mint grows like a weed. It will quickly take over
where you plant it.
How can I get rid of Bumblebees?
Bumble bees usually nest in the ground in a deserted mouse
nest or bird nest. Occasionally they nest in cavities within a
wall or even in the clothes drier vent.
- Suggestion A: If the vicinity of a
bumble bee nest can be avoided, then leaving them alone
and waiting for them to die in the fall would be the
preferred "management" option. Trapping bumble
bees is not practical and exclusion techniques may not
solve the problem. When controlling bumble bees is
necessary, using insecticides to poison bee colonies is
the control method of choice. Bumble bees, honey bees and
yellowjackets are all controlled the same way. After
determining the nest location and nest entrance during
the day, wait until night to treat if possible. Wear
long-sleeved shirt and trousers and tie sleeves and pants
legs shut or pull your socks out over your pant cuffs.
Apply insecticide through the entrance hole. Dust
formulations of insecticides are preferred (e.g., Sevin
dust). Use a duster or "fling" insecticide into
the hole off an old plastic spoon. Sprays and
ready-to-use "wasp and hornet" aerosol sprays
can also be used, but often with less satisfactory
results. Do not plug the entrance hole until all activity
has stopped. Be prepared to repeat the treatment if
necessary. Finally, seal shut, caulk and paint all
openings in the vicinity of the old entrance.
- Suggestion A: Suspend clear bags, filled
with water, with a strip of aluminum foil suspended
inside. Apparently, the flies are startled by the
reflection and leave.
- Suggestion B: Providing
(1) that you've lost your beneficial predator insects; or
(2) that the fly population is more intense than
expected, get out the Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth!!!
Mix it as a 1 percent wettable powder and hose out the
area, spraying walls, ceilings, roofs, the nearby
trees... well, at least get carried away in the area that
the flies are bothering you. (Wear eye protection and the
proper respirator when spraying wettable powders). The DE
will act to repulse the flies and the residue will be as
if you had applied a fine dusting by hand. (DE strips an
insects' protective layer of surface oil from the
exoskeleton, which is why it is so effective on Ants,
discussed elsewhere in this page. With the oil gone, the
insect quickly dehydrates and dies). Retreat in 5 days
only if your beneficial/predator insects and birds have
not been able to take control of the fly population.
Several treatments may be needed if there was adequate
food sources for the last season of flies to get crazy
while mating and laying eggs. Move livestock and domestic
animals out of the area during spraying or dusting with
DE.
- Suggestion C:
"Attic" flies are the large, black, pesky flies
that show up in bed rooms and on window sills from late
fall through early spring. These flies are known as
cluster flies, a name that describes their habit of
clustering in large numbers inside attics. Cluster flies
do not reproduce indoors, and home owners bothered by
these pests do not need to fear the flies are 'hatching'
from a dead animal or other unpleasant material within
the attic or walls. Cluster flies develop as parasites
inside the bodies of earthworms. There are three
generations of flies produced each summer, and the final
generation of the season migrates to houses and other
buildings during mid to late September. Houses located on
an exposed hill top or high ground are most attractive to
these migrating flies. The flies cluster on the warm
sides of buildings in late summer during the day. When
the sun goes down and the temperatures cool, these flies
crawl into the building through cracks under the eaves
and around windows or through gaps in the siding. Once
inside and secured in a protected location, they remain
in hibernation until warmed by heat from the furnace or
the sun. As the flies warm throughout the winter, and
especially in the early spring, they come out of their
cold temperature dormancy and begin sluggishly moving
around. Their random crawling brings them into the house
by way of electrical outlets, window pulley holes, and
small openings around windows, moldings and base boards.
Cluster flies are difficult to control in homes because
they hibernate within inaccessible places. Because they
hide inside walls or under insulation, they are usually
not vulnerable to treatment until they appear within the
living space of the house. Preventing attic flies is a
job for the summer and fall. As much as possible, seal
cracks and openings around the outside of the house,
especially under the eaves, as you would for energy
conservation. Insecticides can be used on the outside of
the house in mid-September if you have a persistent
problem with attic flies. The problem varies greatly from
year to year and is worse after a wet summer. The outdoor
treatment with residual insecticides such as garden
sprays labeled for exterior house treatment, or cattle
barn fly sprays is difficult and potentially messy. There
is little that can be done for flies already inside the
attic and walls. Space sprays and fogs into the attic
have little if any affect, as the flies are usually under
insulation or deep in cracks and crevices. They do not
fly around much in attics. Therefore, fly paper, fly
strips and bug zappers are of no value. Flies buzzing
within a room can be dispatched with a fly swatter, a
short burst from a household insecticide aerosol sprayer
or the hand vacuum or shop-vac.
- Suggestion A: In the evening, when it's
cool, place a clear glass bowl over the nest entrance for
a few days. The ground hornets will keep flying against
the bowl to go get food. When they can't, they will
eventually starve to death.
- Suggestion A: Eliminate places where
they can breed. They don't need a whole pond to breed.
Even the tiniest amount of still water makes them happy,
such as water collected in an old tire, or the top of a
hollow stump.
- Suggestion B: Citronella supposedly
repels them, but the "mosquito plants" sold for
big bucks (citronella-scented geraniums or other plants)
seem to be a rip-off. Citronella candles may help, too.
- Suggestion C: How about frogs, and
toads, and other little amphibious people. Or, how about
dragon flies? Dragonflies are huge mosquito eaters. The
object I think is not to subtract from the web, because
it only perturbs the balance to try and eliminate factors
from the system rather than balance the system more by
integrating other life forms that have more beneficial
affects. It is philosophically hard to try and argue for
a reduction or addition as far as integrated pest
management, but in general, balance through predator/prey
relationships is better than eliminating the resources of
the pest, or merely deterring the pest with sustainable
methods.
What can be done about
Whiteflies?
- Suggestion A: Whiteflies cause more than
$200 million worth of damage each year to U.S. crops
including greenhouse ornamentals, such as poinsettias,
and most melons and vegetables. Other plants -- such as
the Nicotiana family (which includes the commercial
tobacco plant), and wild tomato and potato species --
have a natural protection against whiteflies and other
pests. Their defense is based on a group of chemicals
known as sugar esters. Unfortunately, the amount of these
sugars available in plants is very small, so plants
aren't practical sources of commercial quantities of
insecticides, according to Dr. Orestes Chortyk, acting
research leader in the Natural Products Utilization
Research Unit at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in
Athens, Ga. So he and his colleagues turned to the lab to
make a series of environmentally friendly synthetic sugar
esters similar in structure to the natural pesticides.
They proved to be highly toxic to whiteflies and also may
be useful in the battle against other soft-bodied
arthropods. A patent application has been filed for these
uses, three companies have committed funding for further
research, and field testing by more than a dozen
cooperators is underway.
Yellow jackets (Vespula spp. - colonial wasps), can pose a
severe problem for people when these wasps aggressively seek
food. (Remember, though, yellow jackets do pollinate plants, such
as squash, and dispose of waste matter and thus are not all bad).
Early in the season meat is preferred; later they focus more on
sweets. Normally, they are an annual species, with colonies
started in the spring of each year by a single mated and
over-wintered queen. As the season progresses, nest sizes grow
and can contain thousands of individuals by late summer or fall.
In mild climates colonies can even over-winter.
Effective control measures vary according to the
circumstances:
- At eating areas in a backyard, wasps can be kept under
control by diligent use of traps (next section). Public
picnic areas, however, have wasps already locked into the
readily available food supply (messy previous
picnickers). Bring along a fly swatter and eliminate the
early arrivals - other wasps are then not recruited.
Fortunately, individuals of many yellow jacket species
are not aggressive when not near their nest. Wasps do not
hesitate to go into soft drink cans or bottles, posing a
problem for anyone not paying sufficient attention to
their activities before taking another swallow. Neither
do they hesitate to ride along on a meat sandwich as it
is put into one's mouth. Watch out, also, for wasps
attracted to meat covered hands, fingers, or utensils. If
one places an effective trap (next section) 20-30 feet
upwind from the picnic table, the foraging wasps, when
shooed away by picnickers, continue to go upwind past the
picnic table and end up in the trap.
- Traps: Remote treatment yellow jacket bait traps have
been used for more than a century, with one basic
characteristic in design: Wasps will fly into a funnel
(sometimes quite small) to get at the bait provided and
then cannot get out of the transparent or translucent
enclosure that incorporates the funnel. One can buy any
variety of ready-made traps with a wide range of
effectiveness. The following two companies (among others)
have produced successful traps: Seabright Laboratories,
4026 Harlan Street, Emeryville,CA 94608, (800) 284-7363
or (415) 655-3126; Sterling International, Inc., P.O. Box
220, Liberty Lake, WA 99019, (800) 666-6766 [FAX:
(509)928-7313]. These commercial traps can become clogged
with yellow jackets in a relatively short time during
severe infestations, and then one must remove them. The
problem then arises that live wasps may still be inside
and pose a threat. In that case, one can place the trap
in a freezer or an ice chest, wait until the cold
immobilizes them, and then empty the trap. Alternatively,
the trap can be placed in a paper or plastic bag just
large enough to contain it. One can then spray a very
small amount of electronic parts cleaner (e.g., Electric
Parts Cleaner, CRC, Warminster, PA 18974;(215) 674-4300;
Electric Motor Cleaner, Berryman, Arlington, TX
76011),one that contains 1-1-1 Trichloroethane, into the
bag and close tightly for a few minutes.
- One can also construct a simple and safe trap at
virtually no cost - an example follows. Start with a one
gallon translucent milk bottle. With a razor blade, cut a
couple of small slits downward from one point (three
quarter inch across at the bottom), a little more than
halfway up the sides. Bend the point so formed inward.
Fashion part of a wire coat hanger into a hook at the
bottom and thread it through a small hole punctured into
the cap so that the hook will be down about halfway to
the bottom of the bottle when inserted. Bend the top of
the coat hanger piece so that it can be suspended from
the lid. Fill the bottle about one-third full of soapy
water. Then pierce a small piece of turkey ham, salami,
or ham (small enough to go through the bottle opening)
with the hook and put the lid, hook, and meat in place in
the bottle's neck. Hang the bottle in a tree or bush
upwind from the area where wasps are not wanted. You
might also dig a hole and place the bottle in the ground
so the down wind opening is at ground level (wasps often
search along the ground for food). If no gallon bottles
are available, a one-liter transparent soft drink bottle
should suffice.
- Nest location known (perhaps with more than one
entrance). If one knows the location of a ground nesting
colony, the entire colony can be exterminated quite
easily by using nothing more than soapy water. Take care,
though, because these wasps are highly defensive of their
nest, usually allowing one to get no closer than about 10
feet before attacking. Some people prefer to treat the
colony at dawn or late evening, when activity at the
entrance is less than in mid-day. Fill an adjustable
nozzle spray bottle with water, add one level tablespoon
of liquid detergent, and shake. Set the spray nozzle on
stream, approach from downwind (also from down slope or
protected by bushes, if possible), and spray wasps
(guards as well as departing and returning individuals)
at the nest entrance as fast as possible from a distance
of 10-15 feet (practice at a target first to improve
aim). Wear full protection, including a beekeeper hat and
veil, if possible. Once all activity at the entrance has
ceased, pour a bucket of soapy water into the ground
through one of the entrances and block all entrances with
a shovel-full or two of dirt.
- A take home poison when wasp infestations become severe,
you may wish to use stronger measures. To reduce their
numbers, one can lace a desired food with poison after
yellow jackets become committed to that source of food.
With this method, timing and procedure are somewhat
critical. Expose marauding wasps to canned cat food, such
as a shrimp and tuna mixture. Allow the number of
foragers to build up into a "feeding frenzy."
Then provide a second dish alongside the first, but one
laced with a take home poison. Orthene (20 drops per
small can of cat food) or KNOX OUT (trade name for a
micro-encapsulated diazanon product; one-half teaspoon
per can). Don't attempt to use straight diazanon, or the
laced food will be rejected).
- A 30-page booklet "Suppliers of Beneficial Organisms
in North America" is available from the Department
of Pesticide Regulation, Environmental Monitoring and
Pest Management Branch, Attn: Beneficial Organisms
Booklet, 1020 N Street, Room 161, Sacramento, CA
95814-5604. To order by phone, call (916) 324-4100.
This page was last updated on January 23, 2006