bumplbea said:
I had similar experience one summer with yellow jackets. I mowed over a nest in the pastures unknowingly. Next thing I knew I had several stinging YJ crawling all over me and stinging over and over. Tried to out run them on my tractor.
I've 'found' yellow jacket nests running those noisy string trimmers and as you said mowers... I leave the equipment behind. Come back for the gear after they mellow.
As long as I leave them alone... they don't get radicalized.
I can be out pulling unwanted plants and find a nest... come back in 5 minutes to get the plants near the nest without getting stung or even riling anybody up.
Unfortunately... I also had the experience of a lady trying to sell her house... Damned determined to kill unwanted garden residents...
I'd find a nest, she'd spray toxic shit...
I'd come back next month, find them again, she'd spray more toxic shit, repeat, repeat... And every time I came back, the number of stings escalated.
If she'd left the poor things alone, I wouldn't have ever gotten stung after finding them the first time.
At my previous garden... I'd find a nest in one of my raised beds...
I experimented with death and destruction at first...
A scoop of fire ants added to the nest... Some fireplace ashes mixed with water... A brush pile stacked on top of the nest and lit for a bonfire experience...
Eventually I felt too bad about what I was doing... and experimented with live and let live...
Found it amazingly easy to garden around them.
If I'm not screwing with them... I can stand over the nest... one foot on either side, and they will fly between my legs as they go about their normal business!
So, yeah... beneficial insects... leave alone, get left alone in turn.
