But why use gasoline at all when just some boring old bucket of soapy water could work. That way you also don't have to pinpoint with a great deal of accuracy the entry hole, either.
This worked for me, but the first time I was askeered and I think I poured it out too quickly (or ran before I quite finished - I was hardly well protected clothing-wise!). One more dousing the next night took care of the last few of them.
Keeping in mind that I doubt the nest was particularly large, either....
Great analogy ;)
You might've already answered these:
What's the ratio of soap and water?
Was there any particular type of soap you used or were the perameters "cheapest, largest?" {I currently have a drum of that Costco-inspired liquid soap; it doesn't really suds up nicely but it was cheap and I have a lot of it left still.)
What does the soapy water do to exterminate the nest?
Many thanks.
The Ranger
Oh, yes you can....
That reminds me of a method where you don't have to find the nest. Make a tripod of sticks a foot or two long, to stand in a bucket or pan. Hang a piece of fish from it. Add water until the level is an inch or two below the fish. Add a drop of detergent to the water and leave the trap where yellow jackets can find it.
They tend to fall in when the try to fly with a piece of fish. The soap speeds drowning. It may catch so many that it has to be emptied each night.
Against stinging insects in general, I keep a household spray bottle handy with a mix of 1:15 soap to water. I use dish soap like Dawn or something similar. Water alone will not kill them, they are adapted to outdoor living and rain. However soapy water drowns them quickly. Hit with this spray, they die FAR faster than with Raid, and I don't have to worry about poisoning the kids or the dogs.
But I haven't wanted to waste expensive dish soap on nests in the ground. I just throw in a cup of tide or similar laundry detergent to each bucket of water.
Soapy water wets them and drowns them. Plain water doesn't, I guess they must have some way of shedding it. I don't really know the physics of this, but I have done it a number of times and can testify it works.
Has anyone ever used a power washer to take out a nest? Um, WTF does "askeered" mean? Does it hurt? 8-)
TDD
When I was a kid and teenager we used quarter sticks of dynamite in traps for foxes, in the Indiana orchards and in place of fire crackers. Uncles used it in their own small coal mines or dog holes Dynamite was common and used by Farmers etc all over the place. We weren't worried about Terrorists. Indeed, terrorists would have provided a bit of diversion. I bet he would die of appleplexy if he though the Farmers now used it. Now you have to hire a licensed outfit to use it for you. Of course City folks didn't/don't need it. They were/are dangerous though and nitwits found out the hard way.
Not the original M80s, like back in the '60s. The BATF has reclassified them as HE (high explosives) and it's class D felony to be caught with one. There are wimpy bogus M80s and perhaps some illegally imported one's, but it's not like 1964 when you could legally buy a gross of the real deal for about $10 in any one of a dozen states.
nb
The term "askeered" is the local yokel synonym for "afraid".
nb
M&ms come in synonym or cinnamon?
Last time I looked, they came in a bag. ;)
nb
How in the hell did we ever survive our childhood? I seem to remember being able to purchase WWII surplus hand grenades.
TDD
Gracious. Not sure I'd ever have a use for one of them.
Booby-trap the garage to take out dobads or to protect your crops. 8-)
TDD
I suspect it was due to the fact we hadn't learned to drink, yet!
I know it was as a young drinking adult I began to get careless. Had two firecrackers blow up in my fingers cuz I'd been drinking. One incident was straight out of a National Lampoon movie, where I lit the firecracker with my cigar stub, then tossed the cigar!! I'm older and wiser, now, and luckily still have all my digits, but if either one of the aforementioned episodes had involved a real M80, I have no doubt my nickname would now be Lefty. ;)
nb
Only as paperweights, with the charge removed, or inert 'training' grenades. (Other than ones idiots snuck home as souvenirs, of course.) Way too tempting for kids playing soldier, even back then.
'Here, hold my beer' 'Watch this!' 'Oh, I've done this a hundred times before'
Anybody remember the others? Foxworthy had a several-minute bit with them on one of his old standup routines.
And yeah, as I remarked on here before, it is a small miracle that I still have all my limbs and digits, and both eyes and both ears, and they all still work, sorta. I try real hard not to do stupid stuff any more- I don't heal up near as fast or well as I used to.
Against stinging insects in general, I keep a household spray bottle handy with a mix of 1:15 soap to water. I use dish soap like Dawn or something similar. Water alone will not kill them, they are adapted to outdoor living and rain. However soapy water drowns them quickly. Hit with this spray, they die FAR faster than with Raid, and I don't have to worry about poisoning the kids or the dogs.
But I haven't wanted to waste expensive dish soap on nests in the ground. I just throw in a cup of tide or similar laundry detergent to each bucket of water. =================== Be careful of using laundry soap near plants, though. Many have high enough levels of alkali and chelating agents to cause damage.
Soapy water wets them and drowns them. Plain water doesn't, I guess they must have some way of shedding it. I don't really know the physics of this, but I have done it a number of times and can testify it works. ================ The surfactant in detergents lowers the interfacial tension between water and their body surface.
Never heard of M&Ms in that flavor. What color are the simaron ones?
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