The other day I was stung by an angry yellowjacket. Then it and its buddies started chasing me as I ran to get into the house without further damage. After seeing groups of yellowjackets on the hummingbird feeder and in the bird baths, I emptied them in hopes of discouraging the wasps.

JoAnne Skelly

I saw numbers of wasps on plants around the yard and realized populations had soared. I reinstated my campaign against these nasty buggers. I went out and bought four cylinder-type reusable traps. In the spring, we had used disposables traps, but they were out of date and had quit working. We didn’t realize they only last two to four weeks, and that is if they never run out of water, which ours did repeatedly.

Now I’m paying the price for not keeping the traps current. I’m wearing my complete bee suit to go outside during the day, even to get into the car. I look ridiculous and getting in and out of the suit is tedious. 

Whatever chemical is the bait in the new traps really works. To show how many wasps there are here, two of the new traps filled a quarter of the way in just a couple of hours. That’s a lot of insects! One trap is under the bedroom window, and I can watch as the wasps get stuck in the trap and die, which is rather rewarding. These new traps last two weeks, but I have marked my calendar to refill them with the 10-week replacement cartridges I purchased. 

Other pest news: My husband is battling rats and mice in our RV with every deterrent known, from traps of all types to lights and sound devices. The critters do a lot of damage to the wiring and it’s not much fun to have a wood rat looking out at you from a cupboard. He has sealed every entry point he can find and they are still getting in. 

A friend is dealing with coffin flies that she suspects are coming from the neighbor’s yard where there are “mountains” of unscooped dog poop. Fortunately, they are not getting into the house but cover the outside of her garage and get into her art studio. I told her we had accidentally purchased a fly trap that we thought was a wasp trap and it worked great on luring and capturing flies. She’s using fly strips.

The next invasion I’m noticing is grasshoppers. Isn’t gardening and outdoor life a delight? 

— JoAnne Skelly is an Associate Professor and Extension Educator, Emerita, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. She can be reached at skellyj@unr.edu.