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Wasp Blower: Carnage

The day after I set up the Wasp Blower, the carnage was terrible to behold:

Wasp Blower - carnage
Wasp Blower – carnage

Two weeks later, the blower is chopping up two or three wasps each day.

As far as I can tell, the blower killed essentially every wasp leaving the nest and most of the returning foragers:

Wasp Blower - shattered wasps
Wasp Blower – shattered wasps

After two weeks, (nearly?) all of the eggs remaining in the nest have hatched, the larvae / pupae have starved for lack of incoming food, and I’ve put out ant bait traps to discourage scavengers.

The plan is to keep running the blower until a week goes by without any kills, then seal the crack under the door sill.

I have no idea how the queens (Yellowjacket wasp nests have multiple queens!) are doing in there, but they must be getting pretty hungry and, we hope, will not survive the winter.

This makes me feel awful, but not nearly bad enough to regret dealing with the critters.

Comments

2 responses to “Wasp Blower: Carnage”

  1. David Howard Avatar
    David Howard

    the larvae / pupae have starved for lack of incoming food,

    Aww, the larvae make excellent fishing bait. The problem is usually the larvae are guarded by scary stinging aunts, and it is rare to access larvae that aren’t soaked in poison.

    You should post an offer for free bait to Facebook Marketplace, or Craig’s List.

    1. Ed Avatar

      Yeah, and get the side of my house torn off … :grin:

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