Just a reminder, once you've checked the brakes and tires and hitch and other the other important items before that big ride, check the ceiling of your trailer for hornet nests! Every spring I have 1/2 dozen small nests to knock down. And if we haven't used the little stock trailer for awhile, we have to get out the spray. Just wanted to help.
Posted 2006-05-17 2:02 PM (#41838 - in reply to #41789) Subject: RE: Trailer Ready? Check the ceiling.
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 479
Location: central sierra nevada foothills
A big AMEN to that! Just found 2 starting in the back of mine, and I've been in and out of that trailer redoing the tack/sleeping area for the last month now!
Posted 2006-05-17 4:32 PM (#41846 - in reply to #41789) Subject: RE: Trailer Ready? Check the ceiling.
Veteran
Posts: 167
Location: Monroe, WA
Ooooooh yeah..... it's a nasty time of year for those little pests! While you are looking, check the vents and windows too - I've had a ton of nests in little nooks and crannies. Under the tongue, inside the channel is a good spot too. Rule of thumb, if it's sheltered from weather and has an opening or entrance facing south, look there.
We are selling our dump truck - been sitting four years, and it's chock full of the darn things! In the headliner, under the dash, inside the box structure and radiator housing..... what a project.
I do have a nifty instant-knockdown spray recipe, though, that doesn't cost six bucks a can! In one of the GOOD trigger spray bottles that adjusts from spray mist to a strong stream (cat trainer bottle) put about half a cup of dish detergent, a cup of gas and fill it up with water. Agitate gently (it FOAMS), then set to long distance stream and let fly. This will immediately knock 'em down, and they will not be getting back up to rejoin the battle, either. Works on paper wasps, hornets, yellowjackets, and those awful BIG buggers with the long legs, whatever the heck they are called - BIG wasps.
If you wait til dusk when the air cools down, you can go out and jacklight the nests and get most of them, no stragglers to come back at you like happens in the daytime.
Posted 2006-05-18 6:58 AM (#41862 - in reply to #41789) Subject: RE: Trailer Ready? Check the ceiling.
Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
Location: Kansas
Don't forget under the neck of your gooseneck either. NOT a nice surprise when your hitching up. Good hint about the dish soap in the gas. My husband got swarmed just doing the gas trick.
Posted 2006-05-18 9:44 AM (#41877 - in reply to #41862) Subject: RE: Trailer Ready? Check the ceiling.
Veteran
Posts: 167
Location: Monroe, WA
Ouch! hope he didn't get "got" too badly!
The dish soap sure does make it stick, and it foams enough to make it really stay on nests and soak in, or not drip right off overhead surfaces - great for shooting ten feet up in the barn rafters! I think the really good spray bottle is half the battle, though, as you can shoot accurately with it, and adjust it to a wider pattern for those swarm situations, like when you have to be under some trailer or truck part and can't get out quickly! '
Gotta remember to go out tonight and get that big paper nest under the mailbox before out letter carrier gets it!