Insect plagues

[SRath]

It seems odd how different insect populations have gone crazy over the past several years.

Around here, we have had different plagues each year of different bugs. It might be yellowjackets one year, then boxelders for a few years, then came japanese beetles that look like ladybugs, Lyme-disease carrying deer ticks, and now, most recently, earwigs have invaded by the millions.

I really hate using pesticides around my home or yard, but I see no choice as I have had Lyme disease twice now (first in 1989 and then again 2 years ago), my dog has it right now, and earwigs are so bad you can't sit outside without them crawling all over you and they seem as adept at home invasion as the jap beetles and boxelders.

The local doctors say the Lyme disease is epidemic around here, but you no longer hear anything about it on the local news. That is tragic since it is easily left undiagnosed or misdiagnosed until it is too late. It remains more easily and accurately detected in animals than humans and is incredibly crippling and even life-threatening. I can attest to this. My boys and I are outdoors a lot. We have deer in our yard every day. I really worry what such a debilitating disease that can hide in your brain could do to them. I know what I went through.

At least with boxelders, you could kill them easily with a spray bottle loaded with water and dishsoap, but ticks, jap beetles, ground wasps, yellow jackets, and earwigs take more potent poison.

Are other parts of the country seeing waves of invasions like this? What are you guys using to kill these disease-carrying pests?

 

[GHerrmann]

We have a problem with skeeters that carry the west nile virus, I think that it messes with your brain, not sure. I also get earwigs, but not as bad as you have it.



I think a lot of it may have to do with the type of spring weather you have, warm, wet, cold , dry. May have a lot to do with how the bugs are born or hatch.

 

[SRath]

Yeah, I suppose the skeeters are a problem, too. But I have read little about West Nile and developed more or less of an immunity to mosquito bites themselves many years ago while working in heavily infested railroad ditches and right-of-ways. After a few million bites day after day, they no longer were felt, itched, or swelled at all. Very, very seldom will I ever have a skeeter bite that I am aware of.

Our weather has been too crazy for the past several years to associate any type with any single outbreak, but I imagine you are on the right track. Right now, I just want to find a way to deal with these bugs without poisoning my family and self in the process. i used to be a licensed commercial/agricultural pesticide applicator and I am well aware of the lasting and unintended effects of such poisons.

 

[fest3er]

Try spraying a strong-ish solution of nicotine on the little blighters. I understand it's supposed to work fairly well.

 

[SRath]

So what's the story on the huge bright orange and red wasps that have taken to boring holes in the ground in front of my porch? They are a far cry from the normal paper-nest or black mud dauber wasps and look just meaner than 'ell, though i have yet to get stung by one.

When we first bought this place 18 years ago, my wife insisted on having Orkin come out on a regular basis since she doesn't do bugs very well. I allowed it since one more of her shrill female screams over a lousy little spider while I'm half-dozing in my recliner and my heart just might give out. Yes, it is possible for a woman's unexpected 210 decibel scream to cause a man to hit the ceiling and stick to it for a moment...

Anyway, that year was the one the yellowjackets were such big news. They found a crack between my cement porch and the house and soon built a megopolis under my porch slab. They are ill tempered and vicious little beasts and we had our first newborn which they would likely attack as a swarm just as they did me and many other people around here that summer.

So I told the Orkin dude: "Lookee here, I've been paying you to keep our home pest-free for nearly a year, and I can't even step out on my front porch anymore. I want those yellowjackets dead and gone or a refund. " He said he had 'never noticed any yellow jackets' and asked me to give him a week to get the necessary equipment.

On the day he showed up, my buddy and I were dealing with trees that needed cut around the yard. Mr. Orkin donned his gear, pressurized his spray equipment and headed to the front porch. just a few minutes later, my buddy heard the sound of a roaring engine, spraying gravel, and squealing tires as they hit the blacktop road... The last I ever saw of that Orkin dude was the hind end of his little pickup fishtailing down the road... His gear, sprayer, etc was all still sitting in front of my porch. :-laf I guess he finally "noticed" the yellowjackets i was referring to. They must've gotten under his helmet and protective jacket since those items were on the ground with the jacket inside out...

So I bought some hardware store bug bombs; 6 or 8 cannisters; cautiously knocked out half a cement foundation block and waited for nightfall to get all the vampires in their nest. I then quickly caulked and stuffed all gaps and cracks around the porch slab and like Sergeant York began pulling safety pins and lobbing the grenades under the porch. Once all six or eight were expended, I blocked up the hole and let everything sit for a couple of days.

No more yellow jackets. After a couple months, I took my now-unpaid Orkin bill in to their office along with all of the little dude's gear (he never did come back for it) and explained why their services and their bills were no longer required at the Rath property.