Amalie Robert Estate BONUS FEATURE: Yellow Jacket Warfare!
Hello and Welcome,
This is the one you have been waiting for. August marks the opening salvo of yellow jacket warfare. Growing wine in Oregon’s Willamette Valley presents unique challenges every vintage. And if nothing else goes awry, then it falls to the agricultural equipment to add some indelible ink to the vintage. And yes, we have those tattoos, but they are on the inside where only we can see them.
But the one thing that is constant is the annual onslaught of yellow jackets as we round the bend into The Great Cluster Pluck. Those blighters are out there. You see a few from time to time during the summer. Maybe even find a nest to spray. But what you do not see are the countless battalions dug into the ground. Brood X has got nothing on the yellow jacket.
Save the date! Please join Dena and Ernie for a pre-harvest open house! This will be your ONLY opportunity to taste vintage 2024 while it is still on the vine! We know, pretty cool, huh?!
We will be outside, under our protective shade canopy, near our 35 acre yellow jacket viewing area. You can request an appointment beginning Friday the 13th through Sunday the 15th anytime from 10 am through 3 pm. Request a tasting appointment with your preferred day and time.
iPinot® Pinot Noir 6-Pack Digital Offer
iPinot® Pinot Noir - a reserve level wine without the reserve level price. iPinot® Pinot Noir is created from reserve quality barrels of wine selected for our “Hers and His Reserves” - Amalie’s Cuvée and Estate Selection Pinot Noirs. Once the final “Hers and His Reserve” wines are blended, we have a few reserve level barrels of wine left to blend. We blend these cellar worthy barrels of wine together to create iPinot® Pinot Noir - a reserve level wine without the reserve level price.
Experience cellar worthy, Willamette Valley iPinot® Pinot Noir by Amalie Robert Estate. We are offering select vintages of iPinot® Pinot Noir for our 6-Pack Digital Offer!
BONUS FEATURE: Yellow Jacket Warfare!
Nobody likes yellow jackets. And we mean NOBODY! Entomologists may find some fascination with them, but by and large, they are not interacting with the yellow jacket environment in an uncontrolled manner. Really, nobody takes a side of smoked salmon into a tent to see how fast and how many yellow jackets show up. More likely they are stuck to a pin board for close observation. Nobody likes yellow jackets.
But winegrowers are resilient people, we find ways to adapt, and at times, even thrive. Specific to the yellow jacket, the goal is not to get them all. The goal is to get them all and derive as much pleasure as possible from the experience without taking any casualties. Epi-Pen at the ready.
As many people would be, we are often tempted to go right for the launch codes. Be done with it once and for all, but this is not actually realistic. There will always be the underground nest that survives, so we begin at the beginning with a more measured approach. Many of the following tactics can be modified to backyard applications. We are not saying that you should, but you could.
The easiest way to get rid of unwanted yellow jackets is to simply give them away. This is often done in conjunction with a yard sale. It is a best practice to promote the free giveaway AFTER people have arrived.
Yellow jackets are not cute and cuddly like kittens or puppies, so promoting the giveaway before the event will most likely result in fewer people showing up. You can either have the yellow jackets pre-packaged, or they can collect their own. It is a GOOD IDEA to check your Homeowner Association (HOA) agreement, and homeowners liability insurance provisions, limits and deductibles. PRIOR TO such an event.
Next up is the traditional yellow tube trap. We oftentimes will skip the cotton ball and synthetic attractant, and pack it full of raw salmon scraps. We hang these on our south facing, metal end posts the night before. Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!
When the sun comes up, the salmon warms naturally from the sun’s rays and the radiant heat of the metal end post. The unsuspecting yellow jackets are drawn to the smell of rotting salmon. Once inside the trap they take a piece of the salmon and fly to the upper chamber. It is there where they will meet their demise. But not right away, with the heat of the afternoon sun it takes a bit of time…
As we approach The Great Cluster Pluck, we up our game. Dena cleans the traps and reloads them with the 10 week, super potent yellow jacket attractant. Now, this is something to see. The 10 week super potent yellow jacket attractant is so potent when first deployed, it will fill that yellow tube in a matter of minutes!
They come from all around, seemingly hundreds of them all trying to get into that trap at the same time. You can hear them from some distance away, that is part of the allure of this tactic. By mid-day the sun has exacted its toll on them, and the trap hangs silent. It has been a good day.
Thinking Ahead: The holidays will be here again before you know it, and it is never too early to sketch out your “naughty and nice" list. With just a little ingenuity, and maybe some new packaging, the 10 week super potent yellow jacket attractant can be re-purposed into a summertime automobile air freshener. The thoughtful gifter will include a hook so it can hang from the rear view mirror. Small enough to be a stocking stuffer, this gift will certainly make an impact. Again, not saying that you should, but you could.
Occasionally we will get the opportunity for hand to wing combat. This usually happens when we have bins of freshly harvested Pinot Noir at the winery around mid-afternoon. A nice September afternoon will see temperatures in the upper 70’s to maybe mid 80’s. This is perfect weather to draw them out into the open – unaware and unprepared.
Pyganic is our weapon of choice. This is an organic spray that is approved for all manner of food processors. We just nonchalantly wander about the harvest bins, maybe marking down the bin numbers, when a yellow jacket will land on the side of the bin. Not unlike Captain Kirk pulling a phaser, Ernie sets a wide spray pattern and lets it fly! Now the fun really begins.
Pyganic will disable the yellow jacket’s means of propulsion, among other debilitating effects. If the initial blast is accurate and sufficient, the yellow jacket will fall from the air within a few seconds. Ernie used to shoot competitively, and he rarely misses. The next part may take some time, but it is SO worth it!
A gentle tap from a boot will render a slight crunch. This is the exoskeleton of the yellow jacket losing structural integrity. With the scene now set, we back off and wait. Usually, it doesn’t take long for an inquisitive yellow jacket to arrive and try to consume the fallen insect. With great stealth, another tap from the boot, yields a second crunch and another disabled yellow jacket with more in tow. This can go on all afternoon. About now Dena is calling for Ernie to get back to work, but it was fun while it lasted.
If you find yourself depleted of Pyganic, but just happen to have a can of aerosol hairspray and a lighter, you can project power. Just be sure of your target and beyond, there is no “edit undo” with pyrotechnics.
Now let’s say you have discovered one of these underground bunkers of yellow jackets. And let’s say you have tried to drown them with a hose, which seems logical, but in fact is relatively ineffective during the day. And that is because they were all out foraging at the time and have quickly returned to swarm YOU.
Note: Nighttime applications of copious amounts of water applied directly to the nest will yield significantly better results, but bear in mind yellow jackets are water resistant – they come from the factory that way. Instead, you may just discover you have an installed population of gophers.
Now if this discovery happens to be around the 4th of July, then you will have several pyrotechnic devices at your disposal. It may be the case where one of these IED’s (Improvised Explosive Device), attached to a VERY long stick will fit nicely into the hole containing said yellow jacket nest. Correctly placing the IED in close proximity to the nest and igniting said device after daylight hours, then seeking appropriate safety is an exercise left to the reader.
As a primer to this tactic, we recommend watching reruns of the animated cartoons Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. While the cartoons show their age, they never fail to exemplify Murphy’s Law. And that is what you will be up against. Forewarned is forearmed.
If satisfactory results still elude you, what to do? Click on over to eBay and look for one of these. This will take you beyond the hairspray application, however it is a significant upgrade in accuracy as well as range and delivery. https://www.boringcompany.com/not-a-flamethrower
Drone technology has advanced quite a bit in just the last couple of years. For those situations where close physical proximity is not an option, consider using a drone. The last thing you want is to fall off a ladder and be swarmed by these little devils.
Many drones can be retrofitted not only with cameras to record the event for posterity, but also with many forms of accelerant and corresponding ignition systems. Note: your local extension agent may be able to assist in sourcing one of these units. Also note that your city, county or state may have specific laws and associated permit requirements. Not to mention the aforementioned HOA. Probably a good idea to review your homeowners policy for limits of liability and terrorism/acts of war exclusions. At this point, your insurance agent should be programmed on speed dial.
Finally, if none of these remedies fit your application, it may be time to consider a move to a new neighborhood. Conversely, if you have tried many of these tactics and they have met with moderate success, but strong disapproval from your neighbors, HOA, or county officials, that may also signal that it is time to consider a move to a more rural setting.
LIMITED APPLICATION: While only practical in a very limited set of circumstances we include the following tactic for COMPLETENESS ONLY. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/publications/documentary-histories/wwi/june-1917/illustrations/sixteen-inch-turret.html
If you choose this method of yellow jacket eradication, you will need to achieve three goals. First is sourcing the projectile. This image is of a 16” diameter projectile that is designed to be fired from a Word War II battleship. This particular projectile is from the USS Alabama.
The weight of this Mark 8 armor piercing projectile is 2,700 pounds, and it leaves the muzzle at over 2,300 feet per second (1,568 miles per hour). They are accurate to ranges of up 21 miles. This is an unprecedented amount of firepower.
The second is propellant. These projectiles transfer a tremendous amount of energy to the target. Do NOT underestimate the amount of propellant required to achieve this result. The next step up in escalation is the Photon Torpedo, and that is STRICTLY PROHIBITED!
Finally, you will need to find a delivery mechanism. And this is impracticable. These 3 gun turrets are few and far between, not to mention targeting systems. And then there are the logistics of getting one where you can use it. The alternative is moving the yellow jackets to it, but that presents an additional set of logistical challenges.
Maybe best to leave this method to Mr. Wile E. Coyote, Genius.
Kindest Regards,
Dena & Ernie
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