Bee Very Careful....

[John_fromNY]

... My weekend is going good, as I just finished cutting the lawn. We have a wysteria tree on our property, those lovely purple flower blossoms that hang down. I heard on the TV that there is a shortage of bees, mainly honey bees, in the country as a virus is killing them off, well not here.... as this thing attracts big gigantic bumble bees . You definitely have to watch it and be very careful when approaching a wysteria tree around this time of year .... so sneak up on it... :lol:

[stickyvicky]

There's no shortage of bees here! They're eating our house! Nice neat little piles of sawdust as they bore holes into the wood siding....

[John_fromNY]

Yikes!! ... Big and black - They hover over the piece of wood by the entrance of the hole they just bored or drilled -- sometimes you can see the yellow stripe, when it reflects in the sunlight, like bumble bees? Carpenter bees uh, oh ... They are trying to build a hive/nest into the rafters for the bumble bee colony. Spray in the holes and around the holes, and the surrounding pieces of the rafters with sevin, and about a gallon of water under a high pressure pump drum canister. Most likely, they aren't in there but if they are.. the better ...But like hornets, wasps, yellow jackets or any type of bees ....just do it at night, as this is when they gather together..and they won't scatter. When they get hit with the spray, they'll just be dazed and drugged up, soon they'll die. If you did it during the day, they'd just scatter and get mad and sting you ...

... It's best to get an exterminator - as it's best that they remove the weightless paper hive that's created, with all the dying hornets or bees...

[stickyvicky]

John are you a walking encyclopedia? lol... like Dietrich on "The Barney Miller Show"? lol....

What is sevin?

[Anthony_JK]

Sevin, I believe, is an insecticide specifically made for killing flying insects like bees and wasps.

Personally, I'd try a more humane way of getting rid of these bees, if killing them promotes the dying off of the honey bees. Not to mention the effects of chemicals on the environment.


Anthony

[stickyvicky]

Yeah, me too, I vote for humane, like isn't there some old wives tales about putting out lemons or coffee grounds or something to make them stay away?

I do know of 2 things, linseed oil all over your house makes the bees stay away, but the squirrels will go nuts! they'll rip your place apart, lol...

also there is an old trick about diesel oil or something, but then you have to live with that smell....

[WalterB]

A more humane way to kill wasps? After they sting the hell out of me? What should I do? Round them all up and make them watch Oprah all afternoon???

[John_fromNY]

John are you a walking encyclopedia? lol... like Dietrich on "The Barney Miller Show"? lol.... What is sevin?

Thank you Vicky. A very big smile!!!...That's so funny!! I love Steve Landesberg, the actor who played Detective Dietrich. I've had friends say the very same thing. A big smile!!

A more humane way to kill wasps? After they sting the hell out of me? What should I do? Round them all up and make them watch Oprah all afternoon???

Anyway, I'm like Walter... A more "humane" way to kill wasps, bees or hornets, with natural remedies... Not!! ....use the sevin and kill them. Otherwise run for the neighboring water hole..lol.

All I know about squirrels is that they love tulips, but dislike daffodils... gets them really really sick....lol!!!

By the way, squirrels will dig your lawn up looking acorns and seeds which they buried over the winter. They sniff and sniff, and dig and dig but won't find them...lol.

And anyway, the carpenter bees will start all over again, next year. They do it every year to our patio...lol.

Nature a never ending process, Gotta love it!!... lol!!!

[stickyvicky]

We just found out that if you like to keep your doors open in the summer but don't want the flies to come in, hang clear ziplock bags of water in the doorways and the flies won't come in because they think they are wasp nests! How cool is that! Gonna try it!

[rokkerr]

From House and Garden........... I can't believe this is in a hardcore porn site but that is what you get at Vickyathome...... fly remedies

By Richard Fagerlund
Scripps Howard News Service

Q: Short of making my house airtight, how can I keep flies out using non-toxic methods? - A.R.

A: It is not known why or how this works, but it is worth a try: You can tape sandwich-size zip-top bags half filled with water to your doors. These water bags will repel flies.

Perhaps the reflections in the water make a difference, somehow scaring or confusing the flies. Entomologists know that flies are phototropic, meaning they are attracted to light, but they don't know why these water bags repel flies.

"I have no earthly idea," an entomologist from Iowa State University replied when I asked him how well and how this works. But if it works as well as some say, you could see water bags taped to doors all over--houses, horse barns, livestock yards and poultry houses ... just about any structure that gets flies.

If you want to try this, here are some guidelines:

Use a sandwich-sized zip-top bag. Fill it about half-full with water. If it's completely full, then it doesn't move and movement is said to be important by those who swear by this method. Zip the bag closed and tape the top of the bag to the outside of your door. Replenish the water as needed; there will be some evaporation.

[rokkerr]

More Fly Remedies..... this is pretty current topic though with summer and that bug movie coming out:

Prevention: Keep kitchen garbage tightly closed. Sprinkle dry soap or borax into garbage cans after they've been washed and allowed to dry; it acts as a repellent.

Orange: Scratch the skin of an orange and leave it out; the citrus acts as a repellent.

Cloves: Hang clusters of cloves to repel flies.

Mint or Basil. Mint planted around the home repels flies. A pot of basil set on the windowsill or table helps to repel fleas. Keep basil well-watered from the bottom so that it produces a stronger scent. Dried ground leaves left in small bowls or hung in muslin bags are also effective.

Sugar and Corn Syrup: Make your own fly paper by boiling sugar, corn syrup, and water together. Place mixture onto brown paper and hang or set out.

In our place (Taiwan), we use transparent plastic bags (3 or more) filled with clear water and hanging in a row to prevent flies coming close. I think the idea is to confuse their eyes. It works like magic!

Offered by Kerne.

We have huge swarms of flies and mosquitoes in any nature spot in Israel. The flies don't just sit on you, they sting pretty hard for the first few weeks of living in a place like that, before your skin gets used to them. Anyhow, when I fist saw those plastic water bags hanging in the middle of the room or tent, I was amazed at how effective they really are. I haven't actually been able to get a proper scientific explanation for this phenomena, but flies and mosquitoes really do somehow shun rooms that have those hanging bags. Now it doesn't get rid of all the flies and mosquitoes, of course, but it greatly diminishes their number. Beats me how.

Where I lived, we considered rosemary ointment to be pretty effective for keeping mosquitoes off the kids at night, and for itching relief after bites. Rosemary is also very good for getting rid of lice in kids' hair. (lice prefer children's hair to that of adults). Lavender was also considered good relief against insect-bite related itches.

[rokkerr]

Don't forget the penny.....

* The locals in Brasilia (capital of Brazil) and indeed the rest of Brazil all rely on this method of pest control.
* Bags should be suspended at a height taller than any member of the family. Not only is this for the obvious reasons of people not hitting their heads on the bags, but it's also because flies will always fly in circles upwards, and bags up high will keep them away from people.
* Adding a couple of pennies to the inside of the bag, also helps to repel flies.
* Moving the bags by gently pushing on them occasionally also helps.

Enough of the flies..... I am going back to bathing down vicky

[Donor]

I thought you guys lived in the south. We use screen doors in northwest Georgia and Tennessee.

[stickyvicky]

yeah, but we forget to close them sometimes, lol.... and a lot of people going in and out all the time... plus we have a wrap around deck that is not screened in.... also no screens on the french doors - so I'm gonna try this!

[WalterB]

If you're really sincere about wanting to keep the li'l buggies away, there simply is no better solution that letting TheOldGuy come over to rub you down heavily with my special 'ointment.'

[John_fromNY]

So we're gonna rename and call this post ... The Lord of the Flies , remember reading that in high school?.. lol!! .. with these fly remedies... are we gonna kill them .... or have a Christmas ham for dinner...cloves, and mint... lol! .... interesting though.

Arrrghhhh, and Yikes!!!.... a spider!!!!! A big smile ... just kidding!!!

[Tony D.]

Did I ever tell you about two summers ago when I had a black hornet's nest in my front crab tree? I had no idea it was there until I was mowing around the tree and they started attacking me. The nest was 3 feet above my head which apparently is too close for comfort for them. My neighbor across the street was laughing his ass off as I ran away from the swarm. He later told me he never knew such an old guy could run so fast, lol.

[rokkerr]

What the hell is a crab tree? Sounds kind of painful....

[Donor]

The correct southern name is Crab Apple Tree. It has a hard green grape fuit size apple on it that who knows what it is for. Dam sure can't eat it.
Rokkerr you stay around us hilbillys long enough we will teach you things you never expected know, or would ever want to know. LMAO

[John_fromNY]

Ha!!! Donor's right in the Northeast we call them Crab Apple Trees as well. So Tony D. calling it a crab tree, must be midwestern terminology. Anyway, they give off ornamental fruit, about the size of a grape. We can't eat them, but birds, and squirrels love them. They also have pretty blossoms in the spring, usually pink or white. Enough about crab apple trees... :lol: