[Rhodes22-list] Stuff that works - pest control solutions

[John Lock]

I am all for wasps and spiders... as long as they stay out of my  
boat.  That's why I refrained from just poisoning the crap out of them  
to get rid of them.

Interesting side story - I've got a stack of pool noodles stored in my  
boat house for swimming in the lake.  Got them out to use recently and  
noticed that they rattled inside, like they had rocks in the center.   
There is about a half-inch hole running thru the center of these.  So  
I knocked it against the dock to shake out whatever was in there.

Out comes a batch of hardened red mud - mud dauber wasps had built  
their nests inside the pool noodles.  Not so unusual, but what was  
unusual was all the desiccated spider bodies that came out also!   
Apparently these wasps prey on spiders and store in the mud nests for  
food when the larva hatch!  Maybe I should have enlisted more mud  
daubers to deal with the spiders!

Cheers!
John Lock
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
s/v Pandion - '79 Rhodes 22
Lake Sinclair, GA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On Jul 28, 2009, at 15:00, Michael D. Weisner wrote:
> John,
>
> Wasps and spiders are fierce predators.  They eat other insects,  
> including
> ants!  Man always screws up nature and then complains about it ...
>
> Mike
> s/v Shanghai'd Summer ('81)
> Nissequogue River, NY
>
> From: "John Lock" <jlock at relevantarts.com> Tuesday, July 28, 2009  
> 2:28 PM
>> Last year I had a couple of pest problems that many people responded
>> too with helpful suggestions.  Here's what my results were -
>>
>> 1) Problem - spider webs in the rigging (especially masthead fly)
>> Solution - WD40.  I had the mast down early this spring to fix  
>> several
>> things.  Before raising again, I sprayed WD40 liberally on the
>> masthead, Windex, VHF antenna, and diamond stays.  So far (5 months
>> later) not a single web!  Still get them down lower where I didn't
>> spray, so we know the spiders are still there.  But they don't want  
>> to
>> (or can't) start webs on the WD40 treated portion.
>>
>> 2) Problem - paper wasps building nests under the cockpit coaming
>> Solution - clothes drier sheets.  Middle of last summer I stapled a
>> bunch of drier sheets into the wood backing up under the coaming on
>> both sides.  No wasp nests have appeared in almost a year now.  I see
>> some more wasp activity now, so I suspect it's time to renew the
>> sheets.  But that's a cheap and effective control.
>>
>> Now if only I could figure out what to do about the ants coming  
>> aboard
>> from shore....
>>
>> Cheers!
>> John Lock
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> s/v Pandion - '79 Rhodes 22
>> Lake Sinclair, GA
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
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