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butterflies + wasps
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Posted by jillp_grow florida (My Page) on Thu, Jun 11, 09 at 13:17
The wasps were picking up my caterpillars, and carrying them off,it's hard to watch! I found a solution. When I see a wasp, coming around ,I catch him in my kid's butterfly net , and stomp on them. I know I can't protect the cats all the time , but it's satisfying to get rid of some wasps!
I tried making my own wasp trap , but our paper wasps don't seem to be attracted to sweets. Any better ideas for wasp destruction, let me know. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: butterflies + wasps
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| I have a big wasp problem in Riverview, FL also. I get the big wasps with the yellow bands on the abdomens and the big brown wasps. All the time they are scouring my milkweed, passion vines, pipe vines and cassia. I bought a bug vacuum from Skymall and it works pretty well. Mostly I have been using a tennis racket. I ty to hit down on them so they hit the ground, then I stomp on them. An earlier post talked about how the person was watching them carry away their cats over and over again. That wasp would have done that one time and met his maker. I am not growing a wasp garden. Good for you. Supposedly there is a 2% chance that an egg will evolve into a butterfly. I want to increase their odds of survival and do what I can to help. |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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- Posted by rjj1 Norman OK Zone7 (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 11, 09 at 14:31
| You certainly have the freedom to do as you wish. But I'm not totally comfortable with killing all my wasps. If I'm checking for cats to collect and one gets too close, I'll snip it in half with my scissors. But they play a role in the balance of nature. I cage my cats and let the wasps feed on other things I might not be as concerned about. randy |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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| I use one of those bug zapping tennis rackets. You have to be careful about what you are stomping. If you stomp a yellow jacket, it releases a pheromone which tells its cohorts in the immediate area to attack you. Especially not good when the pheromone is on you. KC |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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- Posted by tdr4 MS Zone 9 (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 11, 09 at 19:02
| I put my black swallowtails in a net butterfly enclosure that I bought. My husband made a screened enclosure with no bottom that I put over plants(Rue right now). I have left the GF alone on my passion vines. Do wasps eat them? |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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I raise my butterfly caterpillars in netted cages, and let the wasps eat tent caterpillars and other plentiful little moth cats. But then I don't really like killing any critter, even wasps.
Sherry |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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I agree with Randy. I planted a lot of milkweed for monarchs, and the
wasp seem to get them all in early summer. They also get the bad
caterpillars, like the tomato hornworm, cabbage loppers and leaf
rollers on my cannas. I am raising a few monarch's in my sunroom.
I have 4 cocoon's right now. But I am not willing to kill wasps that help
me in other area's of my garden.. |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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| Well let's be clear here. The larger wasps such as the paper wasps, yellow jackets, (social wasps in the family vespidae) feed on the caterpillar itself and often take them back to their nests to feed their larvae. These are not the parasitoid wasps that lay eggs on or in the caterpillars. One thing you could do is follow the wasps back to their nest and destroy the nest. This might help decrease the amount in your area. Just be careful. My husband accidentally mowed over a yellow jacket nest last year. Luckily it was near the pool and he dove in as a means of escape. He still suffered about ten stings and a dislocated pinky finger. Good luck,
Elisabeth |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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| I know wasps are necessary and I like them (I used to raise paper wasps when I was kid and I still like watching mud daubers). BUT, if they are trolling around my stinging nettles, the wasps are fair game. OTOH, yellow jackets/hornets are very territorial and will attack in force, which can make them dangerous. I've had two yellow jacket ground nests next to my house and one in my house wall in the last four years. Thankfully, I dealt with them before they dealt with me. I've had two neighbors who were not so lucky. They both got chased after mowing over the nests. And I disagree with roper2008 about tomato hornworms. They are NOT bad caterpillars ;) For years, I used to raise tomatoes just for hornworms. But I quit doing it in 2002 when I bought my second house, mostly because I just wasn't getting any hornworms. Last year, my son brought home a tobacco hornworm. I was sorta ashamed to be going around to the neighbors asking for tomato leaves in order to raise their plants' enemy. So this year, I have some tomato plants going, just in case. |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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Elisabeth-
I had to go back and read your husband's plight, as I read it with an extra "r" in there! The visual was hilarious, however misconstrued- LOL! |
RE: butterflies + wasps + fire ants
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Thanks to everyone , who responded to my question yesterday .I have tried enclosures for the cats , and it was going great until the fire ants got inside, and started eating everybody! Then we built a mote around the flower pot ,that works, too, but it's difficult to enclose and keep a mote. I moved them into the screened room , hope this saves some.
Does anyone know of a butterfly safe type of fire ant deterrent ? |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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| Zebra do you still have seeds to share ? |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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If anybody wants Common Milkweed seeds, or Butterfly weed seeds.
I should have tons of pods later this summer. I don't know if you need
to chill them to get germination. I know some butterfly weed seeds are
harder to germinate.
Linda |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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mmqchdygg,
Yeah, when he came in dripping wet, I had to hold it together. He is known for the dumbest accidents. He is not allowed to use power tools without supervision and he willingly agrees, as much as he loves them. Let's just say he has been left hanging from a branch of a tree more than once when the ladder fell. I often here "Ow!!" from across the house, when he is working on a home project. The latest is when he was switching out an electrical socket and I realized all had been quiet for a while. I panicked and went to check on him. He was fine but remarked that he did turn the power of because he had been "bit". Sigh... |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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| Thanks for the chuckle, Elizabeth! Sandy |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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| Yes Jill. I still have seeds to share. What are you looking for? |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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| I'd like to get some ribgrass plantain seeds , thanks |
RE: butterflies + wasps
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Jill,
E-mail me at zebralongwing@verizon.net and we can make arrangements to get you the seeds. Dave |
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