Ground hornets! [emoji2962]

[WinterDeere]

I can not remember the last time I was stung by a bee. Neither a honey bee, nor a "Bumble"bee.

It's the yellow jackets and the white face hornets EVERY DANG TIME!

If I recall correctly, the different types of insect stings and bites take different relief treatments. Something about acids and bases. I'll need to leave that to the chemist.

Same. Our mailbox is completely surrounded with flowers that attract so many honey bees and bumble bees that accessing the daily mail means literally stepping into a swarm of them, and I never get stung. Totally different animal, than wasps or hornets.

We used to have a lot of holly around our patio, and the wasps loved that. Never understood why, but I pulled it all out a little over a year ago, and that really cut down on the wasps pestering us on the back patio.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

We have Bell Hornets...big dam things! One stung my Mother years ago she said it was like a hypodermic needle!

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Yeah, I need to go mow my bottomland not excited about the prospect of hitting a ground nest. I did that 2 years ago and got zapped a handful of times.

 

[WinterDeere]

We have Bell Hornets...big dam things! One stung my Mother years ago she said it was like a hypodermic needle!View attachment 919605

We have had just a few Giant African Hornets get into our house, in the dozen years we've lived here. I still remember the first, somehow got brought in with a rug that had sat rolled up on the porch for a few days after delivery. I'm unrolling the rug, thankfully in bedroom slippers rather than bare feet, and I step on something the size of a thumb. It was one of those hornets, a little slow and docile due to being out in the chilly fall weather overnight.

I've heard they rarely sting, but at least one account said it felt like firing a framing nailer into his leg, the one time he got stung by one of them.

We have a lot of cicada killer wasps, as we have a lot of cicadas. They're big and scary, but also nearly totally harmless to people.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Our racoons dig them up and eat the larvae

 

[Dftodd]

I was out walk behind roto-tilling when I went over a ground hornets nest. The problem is that you don't see them coming, and by the time you realize what's happening, you've been stung half a dozen times. You were lucky to get by with 3!

I'm now allergic to bees because of a ground yellow jacket nest.

I got into them in the back corner of my yard push mowing.

I was mad, fighting with the wife, so I was trying to work off some aggression and wasn't paying attention to my surroundings.

Ended up with 32 stings on my legs.

Then I had to go get my wife while she was probably madder then the yellow jackets, and get her to drive me to the clinic for a shot since my ankle had already swollen to the size of my thigh

That was a wonderful day

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

When I was 13 in the woods playing "Superman" pushing over about 8" dead trees when these bald faced hornets attacked me. As I ran home I was swatting them with my T shirt and got about 12 stings.
They held on, biting & stinging. Very aggressive! Lucky I didn't go into shock.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I used a gallon of gas figuring if a quart was good a gallon was gooder. I'm betting they were dead within minutes but lit it anyway.
The next day I threw a shovelful of fresh horse biscuits down it then a scoop of red clay packing it in tight with the tractor.
They haven't been back.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

I'd rather burn diesel than gas, lasts longer. When I had a year of yellow jackets building ground nests near my home, burning wasn't an option. I'm now sold on a gallon of water with Dawn mixed in. Pour in hole after dusk, the Dawn stops their ability to breath. And it's non toxic to plants...

 

[masseyrider]

I was aboot 15 when Pa and I were pulling old peach trees.
Back then the trees grew much larger than the ones grown around here nowadays.
My job was to wrap the chain around the stump and he pulled with the tractor.
I didn't notice the yellow jackets until he gave one tree a tug.
They came boiling out. I managed to run and only got a few stings.
Pa didn't realize what had happened until they already got to him.
Stuck on a running tractor tied to a tree he couldn't just jump off and run.
He got it bad.
For a couple hours I tried to talk him into go to emergency but by then the swelling started to go down.
I went after dusk and sprayed the stump and area with a hand sprayer with about a gallon of gasoline.
Looked like an atom bomb going off, but no more yellow jackets.

 

[masseyrider]

I'm not that dumb of a guy, and I thought I took the proper precautions, but take it from a guy who spent over a week in the burn unit... ALWAYS use diesel when burning.

While in the burn unit, I read a book by the owner of Chic fil-A (who is a lot smarter than myself), and he used gas as well that put him in a burn unit.

I sprayed them with aboot a gallon but ran a thin trail about 50-60 feet to light it from.
The initial woof of flame surprised me with how strong it was but no personal damage.

 

[Dftodd]

I'm not that dumb of a guy, and I thought I took the proper precautions, but take it from a guy who spent over a week in the burn unit... ALWAYS use diesel when burning.

While in the burn unit, I read a book by the owner of Chic fil-A (who is a lot smarter than myself), and he used gas as well that put him in a burn unit.

I tried to convey similar advice about using diesel fuel to start fires instead of gasoline to my neighbor.

Every year for 10 years while we lived across the street from him. I even offered him my own diesel on a couple occasions

Every fall going into winter, wife and I would be watching TV and then all of a sudden we would hear a "whooommmp!!" followed by the pictures on our walls shaking.

I would just look at my wife and say "Merle must be burning leaves again"

Then I would go peak out across the road to see if he was thrashing around on the ground or not

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

My grandfather next door had a 5 gallon metal pump sprayer he kept filled with gasoline back when it was 100% gasoline. He used it for bees and starting fires. It was like watching The Wizard of Oz. He would spray a wasp or hornet nest, never got stung.

 

[DarkBlack]

As someone who gets stung every year, since I can remember, and have been stung literally everywhere on my body except my eyeballs.. I just keep a stock of at least 1 can of Spectacide wasp spray on hand. I buy the 2 packs , that are about $3.50 a can. Cheaper on sale. Works overhead or on yellow jackets underground. Not much more expensive than gasoline, diesel,or dish soap , and a lot more convenient

 

[DarkBlack]

THE SCHMIDT INSECT STING PAIN INDEX​

This index cracks me up.
Describing each, as if he’s describing fine wines

The Schmidt Insect Sting Pain Index: North America | Reliant Pest Management

Explore the world of stinging insects through entomologist Justin Schmidt's pain index and discover the secrets behind different insect stings and their varying pain levels.

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