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September 10, 1998 - Yikes! It's yellow-jacket seasonGA • The Suffolk Times • September 10, 1998 Yikest, It's yellowmj*acket season How many of you have settled down to a picnic outside when you start to realize that there are some pesky "bug- gers" flying about trying to make things miserable for everyone? At first you think FOCUS there are just one ON or two and they'll soon be gone, but NATURE no, they're there by Paul to stay and, to Stoutenburgh make matters worse, you identi- fy them as yellow jackets, those notori- ous little black- and - yellow wasps that can really give a painful sting. Sooner or later they seem to buzz about your face — so close sometimes you can even hear or feel them moving about. You've been told not to swat them or disturb them, but then what do you do? It's pretty hard to ignore something that follows your food right to your mouth. They become so threatening you throw care to the wind and swing your hands about in hopes they'll go away. There are just too many goodies like fruits, sweet drinks, delicious ham- burgers and hotdogs for them to leave. It's a feast these yellow jackets haven't seen since they first crawled out of their underground hives and taken up the task of providing food for the colony. There's really little you can do to dis- courage their raids on your picnic table but use a fly swatter to zap them. We eat out every night it's possible and part of the tableware is a fly swatter that usually comes into use sometime during the meal. Yet there's one thing to be said about yellow jackets and that is that they are particular about what they eat — much more so than the house fly — no rotten meat or manure piles for them. Overripened fruit, plant nectar, insects of all kinds and, of course, part of your picnic meal are their delight, so when you see a yellow jacket walking over your jam jar don't think it's been contaminated and throw it out, for the feet of the yellow jacket are golden slippers compared to the common housefly. Yellow jackets build their colonies in the ground, in buildings, in openings in the eaves, and in the siding of build- ings. The two nests we've discovered this year include one that Barbara found accidentally by working around a nest in the ground. She was quickly informed she was walking on the entrance to "their home" by the hive guards who are always on duty at the entrance. The sting she received lasted for two days and was very painful. If they had built in any other place but where we walk and work, I would have left them alone, but seeing we have grandchildren around and they go out in the garden, the yellow jackets had to go. I did them in by applying a lethal dose of wasp and hor- net killer spray at night to their hive below. After I ap- plied the potent spray, I cov- ered the entrance with a shov- el of dirt and I haven't seen a trace of them since. Sorry about that. The other place I found them was in the low overhang to the shed where I keep my tractor. I almost thought I could live with them there, but to get my tractor out I sit high on the seat, making my head only a few feet from their entrance. This plus the noise and exhaust from the tractor convinced me to take no chances; I'd have to do them in just as I had the oth- ers in the garden. I waited until nightfall to do the dead- ly deed. When I thought I'd applied enough spray I plugged the entrance with a wad of cotton and left. The next day there were still a few flying about so I decided on a second round of the dead- ly stuff and that did the trick. Actually the scraps they gather at our picnic table are only a small frac- tion of their daily gatherings. Their mainstay are flies, mosquitoes and other insects, along with fruit and other organic matter. This they carry back to the nest to feed the young, who wait in their cells, hanging head - down, for their share of the catch. Once the young grow to a certain size, they encapsulate themselves in a cocoon within the cell, where they await transformation from the larval All others perish as soon as the freezing weather of winter takes over. The hive will never be used again. In the spring the pregnant female emerges to seek out a nesting site either in the ground or in a protected spot in a building or dead tree, etc. By herself she gathers raw materials for building the first few combs. The building materials of all "paper wasps" are the chewed - up remains of old wood and grasses. This, combined with their saliva, makes a paper covering, which on the outside is waterproof and on the inside soft, strong and durable. In this new starter nest the queen lays her first few eggs. When they hatch, the work load shifts to the new workers, who then create new cells, feed the young and expand the hive. The queen, now almost twice the size of the workers, starts to lay more eggs that produce workers so that by the end of the summer a siz- able colony has been created. This expansion of the hive goes on in geometrical propor- tions. No wonder we see so many of these pesky yellow jackets about our picnic tables in late August. Remember, wasps do not store food and winter -over like honey bees. The honey bee has his own reserves that it feeds on all winter long as the hive keeps moving about inside, keeping warm by feeding on stored honey. Should the win- ter be one in which the bees move around a lot and feed vigorously, they can use up the food supply, resulting in the hive actually starving to death. Otherwise the hive lives through the winter and starts reproducing in the spring with the first flow of nectar. This is not true of the yellow jackets, since none but the queen lives over the win- ter. Before we leave the subject of yel- low jackets and honey bees, there is another fellow we should mention, but this one is not as well known, for it sel- dom visits your picnic table. It is the big (approximately one inch long) white -faced hornet. That's the one that builds the big, gray, basketball -size nest in trees and bushes, often quite close to your home. I get calls from people who are con- cerned about these menacing - looking nests near their patio or back door. Have no doubt about it, they can sting, but if left alone they usually pay little attention to you. Their intent is catch- ing insects, feeding their colony and enlarging the nest. Like the yellow jacket,- the queen's only job is to start the colony and then just lay eggs, eggs and more eggs. The nest, like the yel- low jackets', is never used again. Most of our stinging bees, wasps and hornets have little interest in you. If there is concern that they might create a problem for you, eradicate them by using one of the many commercial sprays specially made for that purpose. Otherwise leave them alone. They'll be gone by winter and won't be back to use the nest again. But be careful. Do your spraying at night when all the pesky "buggers" are inside. Suffolk Times photo by Barbara Stoutenburgh Yellow jackets are pests around our picnic tables. They build their hive nests in the ground and In buildings. Once winter comes, all die except the queen, who win- ters -over In the ground. The nest Is never used again. i M.9 �9w i AM. �W� W% a .NOW � >�IQ i I-= M=0WW1% >oHVrV 75 years ago Sept. 7, 1923 News from Southold: Southold is in the agonies which usually accompany any effort to increase school facilities. We need more room, must have it, and though --the neces- sity is potent and generally recognized, the supplying of it moves slowly. Individuals build houses larger than they need most readily, but buildings for public use seem to drag. The new wharf house might be used. The Shiloh Baptist Church, on the North Road, is a growing institution and its members are very enthusiastic, an element not so active in some of our older churches. Local gleanings: J.W. Burns of New York Life Insurance fame was the lucky holder of the winning tick- et at the Orient block party, and won the cow. But out of consideration to the cow, decided to leave her to the kind care of the Tabor family. 50 years ago Sept. 10, 1948 Real estate for sale: Price $3500 for old home on north edge of Greenport Village that has real value. Also modem bungalow on Sterling Street that is not cheap but the value is there if you want something good. Also, five - room home on Wiggins Street that is "a buy." New use for radio: The models of portable radios or so- called battery sets are extensively advertised for the stage to the full -grown adult yellow jacket. The cocoon then splits and a new worker emerges. Most of these are sterile females, the only ones that sting. This whole process starts from the surviving queen who, after mating, lives in the ground throughout the winter. use of vacationists, but their use as a safe - deposit box is something entirely new. Several days ago one of these popular portable sets was left at one of the local radio repair shops to have new batteries installed. When the repairman took out the bat- teries to replace them, what was his surprise to find two 100- dollar bills carefully spread out under the batteries. When the set was returned to the owner and he was also handed the 200 dollars, he was greatly surprised, as he had forgotten all about hiding the money in the radio for safe keeping. 25 years ago Sept. 6, 1973 Mattituck news: The East End Mining Company's proposal to deepen and widen Mattituck Creek for a gravel and sand operation has been completely opposed by the citizens of Mattituck. There will be another meet- ing for the public concerning this problem. When the date is announced we will be glad to inform you. Traveler sold: The Long Island Traveler - Watchman is being sold to Edward Wood, president of the Island Broadcasting System (WRIV and WALK), it was con- firmed yesterday. "Everything's completed but the legal- ities, which will be finalized in the next couple of weeks," said Mr. Wood's wife, Pat, who is associated with him at the Riverhead radio station.