I lost another tomato to mice.
I was in stop and shop and the guy was putting out corn on the cob from a mesh bag.
I asked him for it and he gave it to me.
I will use that as a barrier and it was free.

Here, the bear has returned. My pears are gone.

Rabbits and squirrels are having a field day, too. On the plus side, I'm just starting to harvest tomatoes. It could be the best tasting year ever.

The deer seem to have stopped eating my pepper plants.

Whwoz wrote: ↑Mon Aug 08, 2022 7:18 am @GoDawgs , depending upon how well you get on with the people you get your pallets off, they may have something else that would serve the purpose in the form of heavy plastic slipsheets. These sit on top of the pallet but under bags of products to protect against the possibility of bag damage from nails and the like. If they use them to there is the possibility that they throw out or recycle some damaged ones that you might be able to score. They may or may not be UV sensitive, the ones we currently use at work are, older ones were treated to protect against UV damage. Solid top plastic pallets would be the bees knees for you, but to expensive for me to send over unfortunately.

If you can get some that are non IV treated place on pallets and cover with cardboard to protect.

I appreciate that input. The pallets come from the nursery where I used to work and are free. They come in stacked with bags of fertilizer, cartons of liquid stuff, etc and are all wooden ones. Some are really sturdy while others are rather flimsy but there are enough on the burn pile that I can be picky. I'm glad to have this resource as it's close by. Not much to choose from out here in the country.

There are sometimes plastic pallets at one other place but they said they have to return them and can't sell them.

Last night I went out in dark to water the struggling lettuce. I wet down the long edge of the 30 ft bed, twice. Then I get bit by something on the left arm. I couldn't see what, but it wasn't a fly or mosquito. About a minute late my arm was swelling up. I'm looking at that and walking back between the beds and something gets me on the back or the right knee. Then again. I ran in the house to the bathroom, and could see a raised sting area on my forearm. Then I look behind me at my knee, and a yellow jacket flies out from under my shorts.

They really screwed me up, both arm and leg are throbbing all day, and hard. My watch won't hardly close on the last hole.

I looked and quickly found the hole today. In and out at a rate of about four every ten seconds.

About an hour ago I paid them back with "Real Kill". After the first dozen or so, I couldn't see anymore but there was an audible humm of angry yellow jackets in there. I tapped the wood and kept tapping and spraying as they came out. Hopefully I got them all. It was dead quiet at least.

2016 the raised beds were built, from unhewn arbor vitae logs. The last few years I've been stripping the bark as it wants. First time I had a problem like this.

@JRinPA I am so sorry that this happened. Yellow Jackets are no fun at all. The next time that you see your Dr. please mention your reaction to the stings. It is quite possible that you are now allergic and will need an EpiPen on hand. I am allergic but I did not become allergic until I was in my mid 40's. The more times that you are stung the less your resistance becomes and eventually you become fully allergic.

Sorry to hear that you had to go through that, @JRinPA. Hopefully you will heal quickly. I had something like that happen in an underground yellowjackets nest, when I was weedwacking, and got 23 stings. Fortunately, I am not severely allergic, but the still hurt like he## and swelled up some. I watched, from a distance, to see where they were entering and exiting, and at nighttime, I went and dumped some 20% vinegar down both holes, and never saw them again. But I do keep an eye out for them, after that incident!

I feel for you, JR. I've been stung too many times to count. With the first sting, I know exactly what it is. So, I hightail it out of there, usually with about 1 to 3 stings total. I've never been stung above the knee. I barely get any swelling, It'll itch throughout the day, and by the next morning everything is back to normal like I wasn't stung at all.

I'll get an underground nest in my yard about every 5 years. The lawnmower usually finds the nest, its vibration angering the yellow jackets from about 5 to 10 feet from the nest entrance. This area has the perfect environment for them. Below the 3 to 6 inches of topsoil is sand. It's real easy digging for the chipmunks,who have a large maze of tunnels. The yellow jackets will move into one of the holes. Above ground nest I usually find, as I'm always on the lookout for them. The other day, I visited the mailbox of the abandoned house next door, thinking that the summertime fill-in mailmen might put some of my mail in it. With the mailbox door down, there is now a small yellow jacket nest in it. I'll take care of it after the first frost.

I used to go scouting for bean poles and tomato stakes in the nearly woods during the summer. Not anymore, because if there is one yellow jacket nest out there, I will somehow come across it.

Oh no. So sorry. We have some wasps flying around, even have had some nests nearby (about ten years ago)... but mostly the yard is filled with bumble bees and other bees. They are very docile, and I have to pass them in action when I go to check my tomatoes.. but they are so enamoured with the oregano flowers that they don't even notice me. (or, it may well be they know I am a part of the eco system and don't perceive me as a threat)

Never have been stung by a wasp in my life (once by a bee, and once by a bumble bee.. both were painful, but nothing too life threatening).. but I have lived for several months in a room that turned out to be a habitat for 'hornets'... some large Asian wasps ... The nest was cleverly built outside the window and the wooden shutter... the shutter was stuck.. a carpenter came to fix it, was stung, and had to go to the hospital... we had no idea there was that killers' nest, until that day...

There’s an ant or flightless wasp that stings me all the time, but I cannot find an identity. Falls out of live oak trees.

20% vinegar. I'll have to remember that. I think I got them all with the spray, and I had full confidence in it working, but I have been reading claims of just soapy water working. I had a couple flashlights, one locked on the hole, and another on my head. I kept scanning to make sure they didn't come out another hole. There is plastic mulch over top so it was possible, I thought, they had a top vent underneath it that I couldn't see, or another exit along the logs that I missed. I guess I will dig up the remains of that nest when I dig up the sweet potatoes there. Maybe I'll replace the soil near there for good measure.

There were always lots and lots of yellow jackets and white faced hornets around when I was growing up due to pear and plum trees. I got stung a few times. They always hurt. The plum is long gone and the yellow jackets have been under control for years now, after an old fellow came to take a huge nest from the eave/attic (sold them for antivenin I seem to recall). Seems like a long time I went without any stings until the last few years. Bumblebee ground nest under squash at the comm garden, three years back. I got whapped by yellow jackets a few times two years back while carrying in a ladder stand through the woods, ground nest. I had some leafy camo on that helped on the defense. I think I got stung on hand or face, my brother was slower and got it worse. He may have had short sleeves. Got stung (twice?) by a hornet when I walked under a low hanging nest outside the comm garden. Maybe I am getting less resistant, or just older and slower, I don't know. I was bit by a horsefly last week...well actually that was probably a yellow jacket too, now that I think of it. Same area, day time, but I didn't see it and figured it as a horsefly. In a few minutes I had a hard area a few inches across on my calf. That was just one sting/bite.

It looks like my left forearm was hit once really big, then at least three more pricks, little red holes. That big sting, it probably had it in there a few seconds. Then the follow up stings. Just my figuring. There were at least three behind my right knee, too. When I felt the first one in the dark with headlamp, I had no clue. I thought it was a big bug, like a wheel bug maybe. Thought I saw something flash by in the light beam. I was not expecting it at all, to get stung at 11pm while watering by sprinkling can.

My left hand was inflamed this morning. I think it is coming down a bit now. I can get another notch back on the watch. The original big sting/ welled up area on my forearm is still raised but now looks like some herpes pustules...nasty little buggers.


After 48 hrs
At least it wasn't a big wheelbug. I had just seen this big mama the other night. Why can't all bugs just be nice ones that keep their herpes to themselves? Woohoo, finally posted that bug porn! semi-legitimately I might add!

Wow, JR, you had yellowjackets sting you at night? I've done a lot of nighttime yellowjacket kills, and the only way I can imagine getting stung is if you're under the nest and they fall on you. I usually use a dust/powder in those holes where you can't physically see the nest. I've also found that my go-to wasp sprays that you would get in the supermarket (Raid, etc.) don't really work anymore (they've changed the ingredients, I don't know if it's some EPA req't or what, but they don't smell the same). The last time I had to spray a hornet's nest they just laughed at the supermarket stuff, I had to order something online that would knock them down.

And I've never heard of/seen a wheelbug, and I hope they don't come here!

@Setec Astronomy you probably do have wheel bugs. I see them all of the time and they are good guys.

They are fairly large brown bugs with what looks like a gear sticking up on their back. They are voracious insect eaters and I have heard that they may even eat spotted lantern flies. They do not bite us unless we try to pick them up.

brownrexx wrote: ↑Sat Aug 13, 2022 7:56 am @Setec Astronomy you probably do have wheel bugs. I see them all of the time and they are good guys.

They are fairly large brown bugs with what looks like a gear sticking up on their back. They are voracious insect eaters and I have heard that they may even eat spotted lantern flies. They do not bite us unless we try to pick them up.

It's getting to be wheel bug time of year. They usually show up here sometime in September, surely by October. I haven't seen any yet.

It's orb weaver time or at least the start of it. There was one huge web strung between two trees down at Mt. Brushmore (brush pile), right in my cart path so I had to use a long branch to knock it down. I'll now be keeping a long stick handy to wave around in front of me as I toodle through on the mower pulling the cart full of branches etc. Those things can sometimes be hard to see and I sure don't want to get a face full of web! Ewwwwwwwww!

@JRinPA , try applying a paste of meat tenderizer powder. Make sure it's one that has papain as an ingredient. Papain is the ingredient that dissolves protein and since sting venom is mostly a protein, the paste neutralizes it and lessens the pain.

Years ago I had gotten stung good on the forearm by one or two saddleback caterpillars that were on the underside of a leaf on the plant I was pruning. I had never seen those things before and the pain was like fire shooting up my arm. It scared me enough that I called Poison Control at the closest hospital and after I described the caterpillar in detail, they told me what it was. They advised using duct tape to remove any remaining bristles and then apply the tenderizer paste. We keep a bottle of it on hand all the time for stings and bites.

It's getting hard to find tenderizer powder that contains papain. Adolph's used to have it but no more. We finally found one of the cheaper ones (Spice World, I think) and it has papain in it. Just mix the tiniest bit of water with the powder, just enough to make a thick paste and apply it to the bite or sting. Amazingly, when it dries it hardens pretty good so it doesn't fall off. A bandaid helps too.

GoDawgs wrote: ↑Sat Aug 13, 2022 10:06 am ... Years ago I had gotten stung good on the forearm by one or two saddleback caterpillars that were on the underside of a leaf on the plant I was pruning. I had never seen those things before and the pain was like fire shooting up my arm. It scared me enough that I called Poison Control at the closest hospital and after I described the caterpillar in detail, they told me what it was ....

@GoDawgs, thanks for the help! lol We were out clearing some overgrowth and found these pretty little caterpillars on the underside of a leaf. I took a pic and thought I'd try to ID it later. Then, I was reading your post, did a Google, and viola! Thanks for ID'ing this little (not so) cutie, haha.

rdback wrote: ↑Sat Aug 13, 2022 11:41 am @GoDawgs, thanks for the help! lol We were out clearing some overgrowth and found these pretty little caterpillars on the underside of a leaf. I took a pic and thought I'd try to ID it later. Then, I was reading your post, did a Google, and viola! Thanks for ID'ing this little (not so) cutie, haha. [/size]

Saddleback Catarpillar IMG_20220812_152809833_HDR~2.jpg

Oh yeah, that's them! See those bristles all over those v-shaped structures on each end? That's what does the stinging. That's why they recommended using the duct tape to remove any bristles left in the skin. Nasty beasties!

My arm just brushed the underside of a large Aucuba leaf and when I got stung I flipped the leaf over only to see these guys. It really freaked me out especially when those shooting pains started up my arm. That papain plaster took care of the shooting pains in about 5-10 minutes. Fortunately at the time I was working at a small nursery whose owner's parents' house was right there next to the business. I immediately went to his mom who was also a nurse and she got some tenderizer out of her pantry ASAP.

I'm glad those aren't found in this area! Or if they are, I haven't seen any here.

pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 13, 2022 2:02 pm I'm glad those aren't found in this area! Or if they are, I haven't seen any here.

I have never heard of them either and that suits me just fine!

All my peppers have been sucked underground. Any trailing tomato parts as well. Anything in bins has been mowed by the new ground squirrel that is helping the gophers kill off everything.