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Insect versus man-Massive yellow jacket nest keeps woman afraid and indoors(Alabama)
Ledger-Enquirer ^ | 26 July 2006 | Brian McDearmon

Posted on 08/22/2006 8:21:29 AM PDT by Marius3188

FORT MITCHELL, Ala. - Brian Province and Don Simmons have made money killing critters for a long time.

When they got a call last month about an unusually large yellow jacket nest at 53 McLendon Road in Fort Mitchell, Ala., they expected something roughly the size of a license plate -- the biggest they had ever seen.

What they found was a gray, papier-mâché-like mass the size of a car hood attached to the bottom of Annie Garvin's mobile home. That nest is only a few feet from a fig tree in her backyard.

Garvin's mobile home -- one of few on her street -- sits on a small grassy lot in a row of new homes a couple of miles off Highway 165.

Before she noticed the nest about three months ago, the 74-year-old woman would walk around the outside of her home at least twice a day for exercise. Sometimes she would go back there for a snack.

"I'd be out there eatin' figs. I'd go out there and eat them off the tree," Garvin said.

She hasn't eaten a single fig this summer. In fact, she doesn't even know if there are any left on the tree.

"I'm not going out there

foolin' with it. Not while they're around there," she said.

Shock and awe

When the two exterminators first arrived on the scene, "... both our mouths dropped," Province said.

Together, Province and Simmons have more than 20 years' experience working for different outfits. Now, they're joint owners of PSI Services, a Columbus contracting company that also provides pest and wildlife control services in Alabama.

The nest they found could house as many as 200,000 yellow jackets, the duo estimated, although they stress they aren't entomologists. They just kill the bugs.

"This is the largest one either one of us has ever seen," Province said, standing just a few feet behind the mobile home, where the nest hung beneath the sagging floor.

And that was just the tip.

Most of the nest, they say, is below ground. Judging by the chunk attached to the home, they estimate it could be 20-30 feet long.

All that is visible of that section is a basketball-sized hole in the ground under the home.

Province held out his right hand, forming a circle the size of a peach pit with his index finger and thumb. "Usually an entrance hole for a yellow jacket nest is about this big," he said

The battle begins

The floor above the nest had been damaged years ago, so Garvin's adult children, Steve Garvin and Joyce Joycecq , cut a slit in the carpet and tried to poke the nest off the home by pushing a branch through the particle board. It didn't work, but one yellow jacket got inside and stung Annie Garvin on the side of her nose.

They pushed a funnel into the floor. Down went bug killer, then a deadly mix of bleach and ammonia.

The yellow jackets remained.

In a last-ditch effort, Steve Garvin duct-taped several pieces of wood together and attached a metal fork to the end. The siblings climbed into Joyce's car and rolled down a window, covering the opening with a vinyl screen. Steve manned the improvised yellow-jacket-nest remover; Joyce took the wheel.

They drove the car forward to the mobile home's edge, scraped off a large chunk of nest and accelerated down the street. The yellow jackets buzzed the car for four blocks.

"They were swirling around the car. They were like little pellets attacking the car," Joyce said.

Joyce, who lives in Columbus, took Annie Garvin to stay at her house for three days until the yellow jackets calmed.

"Nothing we did seemed to be doing anything to them," Joyce said.

They gave up and called PSI.

Province sprayed the nest on July 14 and again on July 16.

Province said he expected to finish off the rest today with a final spray. After the colony is wiped out, he and Simmons plan to put the nest on display at Do it Yourself Pest Control Products -- a Columbus shop with which they do business.

"We want this nest bad," Province said.

Overgrown yellow jacket nests like the one at Annie Garvin's home have been appearing throughout southern Alabama and Georgia this year.Entomologists are pointing their fingers at the weather as the cause of the phenomenon.

Inside the nest

Here's how it's supposed to work: Only queen yellow jackets in a colony survive the winter. The queen sleeps until spring, then looks for a place to begin a new nest and lay the first eggs of the colony.

"What we think is going on here is they're not dying off," said Dan Suiter, associate professor of entomology at the University of Georgia's College of Agriculture campus in Griffin.

That means colonies from last year added to their nests through the winter and into this year. Many ended up with multiple -- sometimes dozens -- of queens.

Mild winters are nothing special around here, but entomologist Charles Ray, a research fellow at Auburn University, said all it takes to destroy a colony is a few days of near-freezing temperatures.

"We never had -- growing up in the South -- what you would call a cold snap," he said.

Although Ray hasn't found time yet to visit Garvin's nest, he said Province and Simmons' 200,000 estimate is extremely high and would make it larger than any nest he has ever examined.

Although experts believe they have a handle on what is causing the giant nests, Ray said the mystery is far from solved.

"There are still more questions than answers," Ray said.


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: alabama; holdmuhbeer; insect; nest; pests; theyreeverywherethey; yellowjacket
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To: wbill

i run a line of sevin dust around the foundation of my house every year, never have a problem with crawling indoor pests. used it around the entrance of the yellow jacket nest i found too. that suff works awesome.
now if i could just get rid of the dang bats i'd be all set.


61 posted on 08/22/2006 9:01:57 AM PDT by absolootezer0 ("My God, why have you forsaken us.. no wait, its the liberals that have forsaken you... my bad")
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To: lafroste

I'd swear by it. I use it on about 1 acre. I leave the rest of the property alone, if you go outside the perimeter I create you can tell the difference. If you swamp a yellow jacket nest with it, they are toast. I also spray the sides of my house and barn and the eves on both. Keeps the wasps from nesting and kills any that have already nested. They like to swarm under my apple and peach trees too this time of year. After spraying under them, all gone. Oh yeah, and it gets rid of mosquitoes. I have bug zappers that pretty much stay empty as long as I keep this stuff on the yard. Lasts about 3-4 weeks for mosquitoes. Yellow jackets gone for good, unless a new brood comes in and I have not sprayed in a while.


62 posted on 08/22/2006 9:03:37 AM PDT by southlake_hoosier (.... One Nation, Under God.......)
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To: lafroste

Has one of them ever stung you? I've heard they're not very aggressive toward people, but I bet a sting would hurt like hell.


63 posted on 08/22/2006 9:04:41 AM PDT by lesser_satan (EKTHELTHIOR!!!)
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To: RandallFlagg

Cool pic! Looks like it's ready to drop some major kung-fu on some poor sucka's ass...


64 posted on 08/22/2006 9:08:33 AM PDT by lesser_satan (EKTHELTHIOR!!!)
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To: hellinahandcart
Wow - you sure had a narrow escape!

When my son was an itty bitty, about three, he was "helping" me wash the car. I turned around, and he had stepped off the driveway and down a little slope and was just standing there, watching - but with a little cloud of yellow jackets circling in and out of a hole about six inches from his left foot.

I don't even remember starting to move -- I was just suddenly at full gallop down the hill, yelling "Don't move! Yellow jackets!" (like he knew what they were), snatched him up under my arm and just kept running. Neither of us got stung fortunately. He started crying because he was scared of my yelling and didn't know what it was all about. I THINK I successfully explained it to him at the time -- he says he doesn't remember anything about that little adventure.

65 posted on 08/22/2006 9:10:34 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: sinkspur

Thank you for the information!!!! I would hope these giant nest are the exception than the rule....


66 posted on 08/22/2006 9:16:51 AM PDT by Kimmers
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To: Marius3188
Yellow Jackets YUK...I was watering a plant area in an area by the front of the house...a place I always watered. Not realizing a small yellow jacket nest had been formed behind a group of plants. When the nest was hit by water...here they came...I got stung so bad by one on my upper leg it took weeks to heal. Ouch ouch ouch...

I perfectly understand why she stayed in doors.

67 posted on 08/22/2006 9:16:51 AM PDT by shield (A wise man's heart is at his RIGHT hand; but a fool's heart at his LEFT. Ecc 10:2)
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To: absolootezer0

I use sevin dust on my tobacco plants and I have a question. I'm tired of blowing $200 bucks a year to have some guy spray my house seasonally. I'm going to start using sevin on the foundation, but what would you suggest for the indoor areas? I have kids and pets, too.

I get the occasional beetle and spider creeping around on my carpets and my cats are too dumb to eat the things; they just play with them until they get under a couch and wonder, "Where'd it go?!"


68 posted on 08/22/2006 9:17:13 AM PDT by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
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To: lesser_satan

I just LOOOVE mantids. I have secret spots where they congregate that I can't wait to introduce my Sons to next year. They're like alien cats.


69 posted on 08/22/2006 9:19:21 AM PDT by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
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To: shield

My mother was cutting weeds in the yard at dusk (after they were all in for the night so they werent seen coming and going) and hit the entry hole with the scythe. They barrelled out of that hole and got into her sweater and she couldnt get away from them!

A miserable night for her, and by empathy, us.


70 posted on 08/22/2006 9:21:56 AM PDT by Optimist (I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here.)
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To: AnAmericanMother

Oh MAN! I can see me running like a maniac with my three-year-old Son screaming. 'Course, knowing him, he'd be giggling all the way.
Along with my Wife.
My Five-year-old Son.
The neighbors.
The cats.
etc...


71 posted on 08/22/2006 9:22:10 AM PDT by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
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To: RandallFlagg; Blueflag; Kimmers; sinkspur; lafroste; shield; AnAmericanMother; sauropod; wbill; ...

Man, either this thread is infiltrated with liberals pretending to be conservatives and trying to make us all look like stark raving nuts.

Or this thread has a few people who haven't figured out that bees, yellowjackets included, aren't hellion monsters, but creatures whose only method of defending themselves is a stinger.

If someone started mashing your house in you wouldn't just sit there smiling sweetly either. You'd likely go after them.

I have no problem with killing creatures that are a threat to human life, which these yellowjackets obviously are.

What I find repulsive is the putrid way some want these creatures to suffer during the killing. Wierd.

I'm conservative, but I believe in respecting living things. I would find ways to get rid of yellowjackets as humanly as possible while taking care of my own safety.


72 posted on 08/22/2006 10:02:34 AM PDT by USA Girl
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To: AnAmericanMother

Covered it already. Don't want wbill jr. getting into it, for the same reasons. :-)


73 posted on 08/22/2006 10:08:09 AM PDT by wbill
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To: USA Girl

Wait until you step on a nest and get stung a couple of dozen times. The things chased me around my house, twice.


74 posted on 08/22/2006 10:11:55 AM PDT by wbill
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To: USA Girl
I'm conservative, but I believe in respecting living things. I would find ways to get rid of yellowjackets as humanly as possible while taking care of my own safety.

I don't get rid of them. Wifie's rose bushes do better when there are yellow jackets or other wasps around. (Or a praying mantis or two).

Wasps are beneficial insects. The only reason to kill them is when they're a danger, as they certainly were to this lady if she had disturbed this huge nest.

But a little nest up on the rafters of the house or the overhang on the back deck? Not on your life!

75 posted on 08/22/2006 10:12:36 AM PDT by sinkspur (Today, we settled all family business.)
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To: Kimmers
This is just plain creepy. What is the purpose of these pests other than make our lives a living hell. No, I am not talking about democrats but there are similarities....having no purpose, swarming in large irritating groups, likes to run your fun etc.

Believe it or not, yellow jackets are beneficial insects. They eat pest bugs, which is why they usually hang around places where pest insects gather (trash cans, etc). The problem (of course) is that they are very agressive, and smashing one releases a scent that causes others to attack.

76 posted on 08/22/2006 10:20:28 AM PDT by Hacksaw (Deport illegals the same way they came here - one at a time.)
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To: USA Girl

USA Girl --

Despite your concern, I love to find creative ways to KILL yellow jackets. They are aggressive, unwelcome co-inhabitants of the biome.

Personally, I prefer fire, poison and suffocation.

I put them in the same class as roaches in terms of value.

and BTW, they don't have the cranial capacity to understand a human emotion like 'suffering.'


77 posted on 08/22/2006 10:20:36 AM PDT by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitor)
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To: EagleUSA

We had a nest outside the back door with a four-inch entrance and lived peacefully with them all summer. Their flights looked like a very busy military base - outbound high, inbound low. Then I had to look for a clean-out valve and I sneaked out one night in winter clothes, masked, goggled, gloved, booted, and discovered a dozen gleaming-eyed sentries around the hole. Poor boogers didn't stand a chance against Raid's chemical warfare - I didn't even need protective clothing.

And some daft raccoon or skunk dug out the nest and ate all the poisoned adults and larvae. Ick.

Mrs VS


78 posted on 08/22/2006 10:44:52 AM PDT by VeritatisSplendor
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To: RandallFlagg

the biggest part of getting the bugs inside, is not letting them in in the first place, and keeping up with everything.
sevin also comes in a liquid form the you can spray around windows, doors, attic spaces, and most importantly, basements.
just make sure you get everything dusted/ sprayed early in the year and that'll take care of 99% of it.


79 posted on 08/22/2006 10:45:14 AM PDT by absolootezer0 ("My God, why have you forsaken us.. no wait, its the liberals that have forsaken you... my bad")
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To: All
Here is a yellow jacket fact sheet from Ohio State University.
80 posted on 08/22/2006 10:48:32 AM PDT by Hacksaw (Deport illegals the same way they came here - one at a time.)
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