Ryan, Interesting problem. Here are a few thoughts. It seems you've already located the exterior of the nest. It is difficult to imagine how treating the site with most any pesticide labeled for this use would expose the resident. A fast knockdown formulation containing pyrethrins or pyrethroids would seem to do the trick. I understand the concern of the resident, but one has to weigh risks and benefits. What is worse, a little bit of the wasp spray that will almost certainly do the trick, or one or more stings? Can the resident leave the premises for the day? That would further reduce exposure. It is quite possible that the dinotefuran in the Alpine formulation killed many of the adult wasps, but left untouched the pupae protected within capped cells of the nest. A follow-up treatment of the same material would very likely kill those adults that have since emerged.
Another non-chemical option is to set up a vacuum cleaner with the nozzle at the nest entrance. Then turn it on and let it run for a few hours or more. You'd need to find a vacuum cleaner that won't burn out from such extended use, and won't drive the resident or neighbors to distraction because of the noise. It would seem that this method would be unnecessary and a bit extreme, but I've seen it used elsewhere with certain very sensitive sites or for folks who had exaggerated fears of all pesticides. Let us know how this all works out. -Rich Richard Pollack, PhD. CEO & Chief Scientific Officer IdentifyUS, LLC 320 Needham Street Suite 200 Newton, MA 02464-1593 ------------------ 617.600.6360 (W) 617.513.9266 (M) HARVARD UNIVERSITY Environmental Health, Safety and Emergency Management (EHSEM) Senior Environmental Public Health Officer 46 Blackstone St. Cambridge, MA 02139 Office: 617-495-2995 Cell: 617-447-0763 www.ehs.harvard.edu [email protected] HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Instructor, Department of Immunology & Infectious Diseases On Nov 19, 2014, at 11:11, [email protected] wrote: > > 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: > > Fog the attic heavily to kill the remaining reproductives > 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 > > <image001.jpg> > P.O. Box 1776 > Williamsburg, VA 23187 > > (757) 220-7080 > > [email protected] > > > > > Thanks, > > Ryan Jones > > Integrated Pest Management > Specialist > > <image001.jpg> > P.O. Box 1776 > Williamsburg, VA 23187 > > (757) 220-7080 > > [email protected]
