Monday, September 05, 2005

Mission accomplished!

PestilenceOh... and my wasp control expedition could not have gone smoother.

Firstly, I performed a quick reccie during the day. Lots & lots of wasps. The hole leading into the nest is huge. Couldn't get too close.

So then I spent the next few hours thinking about how best to do the deed - which basically involves sneaking up on the cave entrance at dusk, when they're all settling down, and quietly depositing a tablespoon of a broad spectrum insecticide called Carbaryl into the entrance.

It all seemed a bit... wussy... so in the end, I filled up the pump action, high pressure, 20 litre weedsprayer with high octane petrol, flicked the BIC & got myself a 10metre jet of flame & advanced on the nest. There were thousands of them buzzing around me, the noise was deafening, the dog headed for the hills. It was me and them. I could hear the screams from the watching neighbours. Or was it me screaming!?

Actually, I used a long shovel & as per the instructions, I deposited about a cup of the stuff. Then I fled.

Came back later, at night, with my 2,000,000 candle power torch. The nest entrance was white as snow, and at the back I could see it was carpeted with... dead wasps! I thought this stuff might take weeks to work.

Apparently, it won't kill the grubs though, and, I don't know how long it takes filthy wasp grubs to mature, but I have that long to dig the whole nest out & burn it. But if they mature before that I suppose I can hiff another load of carbaryl down there.