Mud daubers

[svanarts]

I found a nest rebuilding my elevators, I found a nest on my compressor pulley, I found a nest INSIDE the motor which is causing it to arc, I found a nest inside my toolbox. Whether you are building or flying, what does a guy do about mud daubers? Anybody have some really neat ideas for keeping them away?

[jim_geo]

You're talking about yellow jackets or wasps right? Go to a feed and seed store or even a garden supply store and get a wasp trap. They work really well and are non poisonous.

[svanarts]

These are wasps but they build nests out of mud rather than paper. I just hate 'em! I don't know if the traps would work on these guys. What they do is build a nest out of mud, then they sting a spider, stuff it into one of the holes in the nest, and lay an egg on it. They're just creepy! I was hoping there were enough farmers on here that could give me a tip or two. I guess I'll start doing some research on the net.

[captain_john]

I got an idea... us e your compressor more often!



We don't have them around here. We don't have much mud. This place is mostly sand. Sand, sand, sand... dig deep, find more sand.

CJ

[svanarts]

Yeah, and watch the airplane MUCH more closely. I've moved the compressor to my house and will have to open the electrical motor up to clean more nests out. I checked around on the Internet and there is no deterent for mud daubers. There are 3 different varieties and I have them all in my hangar. At least I got the paper wasps under control this year so I didn't get chased out of the hangar. Mud daubers aren't aggressive at all. You can knock their nest down right from under them and they'll just fly away. They can sting, just takes a lot to get them to sting. The only deterent seems to be vigilence.

There is a brilliant irridescent blue variety of mud dauber that seems to prefer to target black widow spiders, THAT wasp is most welcome in my hangar!

[captain_john]

Well, Black Widow Spiders are yet ANOTHER THING we don't have out here!

You can keep all that bug crap in those warm climes! I like the winter kill!

CJ

[aparchment]

I'm with you John. I'm not a fan of creepy crawlies of any sort. Here's to a climate that kills all those little suckers.

Antony

[JohnR]

We've got mud dobbers at our farm which is 90 miles south of where we live but not here. I thought we might be close to their northern limit but it could just be the soil type. I hadn't thought of that. We do have a lot of sand here and not the black dirt they seem to like. There are lots of the blue ones at the farm and they really like the building rafters. I did not relalize they killed spiders. Seems I can always learn something on here.