It's been driving me crazy that every time I go in my garage, dirt daubers
are flying in and out. I sprayed a couple of mud nests that I found,
but they must have a few more that I haven't found yet. They scare the
heck out of me, because I can't see that they're not wasps until they
stop moving, and lately a couple have even flown right into me and gotten
caught in the folds of my shirt for a few seconds on their way in or out.

What sort of bait might entice them into a hornet trap?

--
jamie )

"There's a seeker born every minute."

On 20 Jun 2003 14:52:42 GMT, (jamie)
wrote:

It's been driving me crazy that every time I go in my garage, dirt daubers
are flying in and out. I sprayed a couple of mud nests that I found,
but they must have a few more that I haven't found yet. They scare the
heck out of me, because I can't see that they're not wasps until they
stop moving, and lately a couple have even flown right into me and gotten
caught in the folds of my shirt for a few seconds on their way in or out.


"Dirt daubers" AKA "mud daubers" ARE wasps. However, they rarely sting
anything except their prey, so they are pretty harmless. They are
solitary wasps, so they do not have that self-sacrificial "protect the
nest" gene that the social wasp workers have. They may just be looking
for a place to build their nest.

There are generally beneficial insects that prey on caterpillars,
spiders, or a variety of other critters and I would recommend leaving
them alone. Why do feel that you need to eliminate them? Would not
simply keeping your garage door closed solve the problem? (Assuming
you have a garage door.) Shoo them out of the garage before you close
the door if you are concerned about accumulating bad karma.

If you want to prevent these insects as well as paper wasps from
building nests under the eaves of your house, paint the underside of
the eaves blue. (Really!) Apparently the wasps think it's sky or
something and won't try to build there. I guess you could try painting
the entire inside of your garage blue.

Elliot Richmond
Freelance Science Writer and Editor

Elliot Richmond wrote:
There are generally beneficial insects that prey on caterpillars,
spiders, or a variety of other critters and I would recommend leaving
them alone. Why do feel that you need to eliminate them? Would not
simply keeping your garage door closed solve the problem? (Assuming
you have a garage door.) Shoo them out of the garage before you close
the door if you are concerned about accumulating bad karma.

I want to be rid of them, because they scare me flying around in there,
especially flying into me, when I'm doing the laundry. I can't keep
the back door of the garage closed, because my elderly cats have a
fenced area of the yard and the shade of the garage to hang out in,
when they want to be outside.



If you want to prevent these insects as well as paper wasps from
building nests under the eaves of your house, paint the underside of
the eaves blue. (Really!) Apparently the wasps think it's sky or
something and won't try to build there. I guess you could try painting
the entire inside of your garage blue.

Elliot Richmond
Freelance Science Writer and Editor


--
jamie )

"There's a seeker born every minute."

On 20 Jun 2003 17:56:22 GMT, (jamie)
wrote:

I want to be rid of them, because they scare me flying around in there,
especially flying into me,

Jamie, let me wade in here too as Elliot's post was most educational.
Mud daubers are a minor nuisance, mostly due to the little hives they
leave to raise their your in.

They are, as you say, only a scare, and nothing more. So I would say
just stop being scared of them as they are almost totally harmless.
I think I caught one in my hands once and it stung me very slightly
due to the compression I placed on it. I say stung but I do not
recall any pain with it, just the thought that it had stung me.

You can keep a fly swatter around and whap them as they fly by. When
they fly into the garage they are slow due to carrying insects to put
into the nests or mud to make the nest. Leaving, they are much more
agile. A tennis or badminton racket would work better. If you kill a
few I suspect you would start ignoring them.

Rusty Mase


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You also might try to find the source of mud and eliminate it. If you water
your landscaping regularly, the daubers look for bare or muddy spots to get
their mud from. Mulching any bare spots may deprive them of building material.

Certain types of these daubers build their nest in small existing cavities
rather than on the surface of walls and such. I've had lots of problems with
them building their nests in air hoses and other various tools. Once had a
nest in my table saw motor that kept it from operating.


Gary Brady
Austin, TX

We bought this at either Home Depot or Lowes:

http://www.victorpest.com/wasp_home.htm

We use it to deter them from building where we enter and exit the house, but
encourage them elsewhere on the property. They eat caterpillars so are a
beneficial insect.

There is some other spray for flying insects Lowes sells along with the other
sprays for flying insects, but I cannot recall what it's named. It works well,
also. It has a similar product, an essential oil.

The site I gave to you sells it, but it is MUCH cheaper if you buy it at the box
stores.


On 20 Jun 2003 14:52:42 GMT, (jamie) wrote:

It's been driving me crazy that every time I go in my garage, dirt daubers
are flying in and out. I sprayed a couple of mud nests that I found,
but they must have a few more that I haven't found yet. They scare the
heck out of me, because I can't see that they're not wasps until they
stop moving, and lately a couple have even flown right into me and gotten
caught in the folds of my shirt for a few seconds on their way in or out.

What sort of bait might entice them into a hornet trap?

I work for a local city in the area and we have a great pest control
contractor. They once told me to spray the eaves of the house with a
mixture of dish washing soap of 10 parts water to 2 parts dish washing soap
to deter the wasps from building. They don't like the phosphorous left
behind by the dish soap. After getting rid of the wasps you might want to
spray using that solution to deter them from building again.

However I agree with the group that dirt daubers are a beneficial insect for
your garden. Although I love butterflies I don't want the caterpillars to
come and destroy my garden. Therefore I promote the dirt dauber nests.


"animaux" wrote in message
...
We bought this at either Home Depot or Lowes:

http://www.victorpest.com/wasp_home.htm

We use it to deter them from building where we enter and exit the house,
but
encourage them elsewhere on the property. They eat caterpillars so are a
beneficial insect.

There is some other spray for flying insects Lowes sells along with the
other
sprays for flying insects, but I cannot recall what it's named. It works
well,
also. It has a similar product, an essential oil.

The site I gave to you sells it, but it is MUCH cheaper if you buy it at
the box
stores.


On 20 Jun 2003 14:52:42 GMT, (jamie) wrote:

It's been driving me crazy that every time I go in my garage, dirt
daubers
are flying in and out. I sprayed a couple of mud nests that I found,
but they must have a few more that I haven't found yet. They scare the
heck out of me, because I can't see that they're not wasps until they
stop moving, and lately a couple have even flown right into me and gotten
caught in the folds of my shirt for a few seconds on their way in or out.

What sort of bait might entice them into a hornet trap?

Far as I know, dish or laundry detergents no longer use phosphates. I could be
wrong.

On Wed, 25 Jun 2003 07:33:19 -0500, "starlia" wrote:

I work for a local city in the area and we have a great pest control
contractor. They once told me to spray the eaves of the house with a
mixture of dish washing soap of 10 parts water to 2 parts dish washing soap
to deter the wasps from building. They don't like the phosphorous left
behind by the dish soap. After getting rid of the wasps you might want to
spray using that solution to deter them from building again.

However I agree with the group that dirt daubers are a beneficial insect for
your garden. Although I love butterflies I don't want the caterpillars to
come and destroy my garden. Therefore I promote the dirt dauber nests.


"animaux" wrote in message
.. .
We bought this at either Home Depot or Lowes:

http://www.victorpest.com/wasp_home.htm

We use it to deter them from building where we enter and exit the house,
but
encourage them elsewhere on the property. They eat caterpillars so are a
beneficial insect.

There is some other spray for flying insects Lowes sells along with the
other
sprays for flying insects, but I cannot recall what it's named. It works
well,
also. It has a similar product, an essential oil.

The site I gave to you sells it, but it is MUCH cheaper if you buy it at
the box
stores.


On 20 Jun 2003 14:52:42 GMT, (jamie) wrote:

It's been driving me crazy that every time I go in my garage, dirt
daubers
are flying in and out. I sprayed a couple of mud nests that I found,
but they must have a few more that I haven't found yet. They scare the
heck out of me, because I can't see that they're not wasps until they
stop moving, and lately a couple have even flown right into me and gotten
caught in the folds of my shirt for a few seconds on their way in or out.

What sort of bait might entice them into a hornet trap?

On Wed, 25 Jun 2003 12:45:20 GMT, animaux wrote:

Far as I know, dish or laundry detergents no longer use phosphates. I could be
wrong.

That is something to research! My laundry detergent states it is free
of phosphorus but my dish washing gel is 4.5% phosphorus which is
pretty high so I collect it and use it in the yard and garden.

So I need to take my reading glasses to the store next time and do a
little label reading.

Rusty Mase


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