Group, Most of you know that the southern United States and many other regions are notorious for yellow jackets in the fall. I have run up against a problem that is very complex in nature and could use some advice.
Here is the situation: I have a yellow jacket nest in the attic void of a historic house that serves double-duty as a residence. The resident's wife is taking chemotherapy treatments, and is very concerned with the use of pesticides in this building. Yellow jackets have been getting into the 2nd floor living quarters and are congregating at the windowsills. The resident says he is killing approximately 5-10 per day, and has been stung at least once. Last week, I was able to treat the nest from the exterior entry point (I used Alpine dust in hopes of avoiding repellancy /scattering of the workers), which we found outside of a dormer by the bathroom. No activity was noted over the weekend, but it started cropping up again mid-week. Yesterday, I went into the attic and pulled up insulation to have a look at the nest from the back. Though I found no activity, I retreated the nest with petroleum-based wasp spray to ensure thorough coverage. At a certain point in the late fall, yellow jackets release a barrage of reproductives. These are loners and, after mating, look for a solitary place to overwinter. Unfortunately, this surge of reproductives has already occurred. All of the specimens I have found indoors are extremely large, a clear indicator of this caste. These continue to get in and hover by windows, and I suspect they are scattered intermittently throughout the attic. It seems to me that I have two options: 1. Fog the attic heavily to kill the remaining reproductives 2. Install a light trap in the attic and clean up the mess using that medium. Obviously, fogging the attic is out of the question. To make matters worse, all points of the attic are not accessible, so getting the fog to permeate would take a lot more product than normal. I have an insect light trap on order that will be here in a day or two. Is there anything I am missing by way of potential solutions? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this. Ryan Jones Integrated Pest Management Specialist [Colonial_Williamsburg_Logo.jpg] P.O. Box 1776 Williamsburg, VA 23187 (757) 220-7080 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Thanks, Ryan Jones Integrated Pest Management Specialist [Colonial_Williamsburg_Logo.jpg] P.O. Box 1776 Williamsburg, VA 23187 (757) 220-7080 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
