den: (Default)
den ([personal profile] den) wrote2002-03-05 12:40 pm

Lawn Dick update, and bees

There were three new stinkhorns yesterday, and there are four new ones this morning. I can only see two new eggy structures they grow from, so I think I'm down to the last of the crop. I'm a bit upset about that.

I checked out the compost bin through binoculars yesterday and decided the bees seemed more at home than you would expect for insects after fermenting mango bits. Last night I lifted the lid and could see by the light of the moon a small mass of the insects huddled in one corner. I shot in a blast of Mortein Fast Knockdown and ran. This morning there is a pile of dead bees in one corner. Hanging above them was the honeycomb. It's about as big as my hand, has cells on both sides and is maybe 1cm thick. If I hold it up to the light I can see the floors of the cells on this side are supported by the 3-way intersection of the walls on the other side. Clever bees!

But my compost bin is not for you. There are too many kids in this area.

[identity profile] nimma.livejournal.com 2002-03-04 07:18 pm (UTC)(link)
There were three new stinkhorns yesterday, and there are four new ones this morning. I can only see two new eggy structures they grow from, so I think I'm down to the last of the crop. I'm a bit upset about that.


Don't worry, I bet you'll get a new crop next fall.

[identity profile] bfly.livejournal.com 2002-03-04 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Um. Gosh, I almost hate to ask, but... what is a stinkhorn?!

Too bad you couldn't find a handy beekeeper to come move that honeycomb for you. I don't think I'd like to share my compost bin with them either, though!

What is a stinkhorn?

[identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com 2002-03-04 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Scroll down my journal a few days, and be disturbed by a fungus.

[identity profile] tropism.livejournal.com 2002-03-05 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Best thing to use to take out populations of bees or wasps is a can of wd40 and a lighter. The fireball singes their wings right off, knockin' em out of the sky, with only the briefest of contact.

Poison sprays have relatively thin streams; a wd40 fireball has a nice spread-out Cone of Death.

Oh, yeah, carburator cleaner works really well too. ;)

[identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com 2002-03-05 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I use Aerostart on Wasps. It's 95% ether.