I do dumb things pretty often, but my latest screw-up was remarkable--breathtaking, even--in its stupidity. When I got home from work today, I went out on the deck to water my plants. There was a swarm of yellow jackets out there that descended on me almost immediately. I swatted one away and then noticed a can of Deepwoods Off on the table. I picked it up and sprayed it up in the air at the yellow jackets. The nearly instantaneous results are below.

Word to the wise, keep Deet away from your plants.

Sorry to hear about this Matt.

Hope it still recovers, and it very well may with a little extra care.  In a month or two hopefully it will look as good as new.

And at least the yellow jackets didn't get you.  That could have been a far more serious problem.

Best wishes.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

Thanks, John. A couple of leaves still have some green to them so I'm hoping for the best.

Oh Matt thats something what it did to them leaves hopefully it does not reach thru soil into the roots near the top of soil if there are any.

Yes them yellow jackets are mean and seems with each passing year there are more and more of them. I dont mind the honey bee's and the ole fashion bumble bee they dont seem to go at ya like them yellow jackets.

The plant should be fine. The Off probably had a oil or solvent base, which is not good for vegetation. Similar problem if you use oil based paints when painting tree bark.

I usually let bugs be, but these guys were really aggressive. As soon as I opened the door to the deck, two or three of them were right in my face. I think they have a nest in the gutter above my deck. They may have won this round, but tomorrow morning I'm coming back with a can of Raid.

I can't say that I'd classify spraying a mob of aggressive, stinging insects with a can of insect repellant as "breathtaking stupidity", even if there did happen to be an unfortunate side-effect. I suspect that under the circumstances, most everybody would have cut loose with the Off--I certainly would have.

I mentioned this in past when i had pussy willow tree growing right near fig trees on patio. The pussly willow tree attracted them and that season when figs were at ripe stage and being picked i woke up one morning to go get some and was floored as i saw my trees covered with yellow jackets munching on the figs, there were several at least on each fig and each tree several of them had over a hundred figs on each tree. There were many hundreds of these pest easily.
Oh no they were not going to ruin my hard work and leave me with a mess, i turned on the hose and scattered them with many falling on the ground and some coming at me .
Imagine me a small fella with my hat in one hand - hose in another swatting and spraying and dancing on top of the fallen ones on the patio. I was lucky i did not get stung , after wards i hosed them off patio and the trees had many hanging half destroyed figs on them opened up.
That season i got my share and they did too. I hung some bee traps in that tree and was happy when that winter a sleet storm split that tree and i cut it down. Here is pic of tree that April as it was snowing and several hours later sleeted and took it down. I was glad actually as now i get some yellow jackets but nothing like before.

Those 2 newly introduced alien black/tiger Asian mosquitoes are a real
pain in the butt  ... I cannot go outside in daylight (noon!) without being bitten.

So I'm happy to say that a month later, all of the fig trees I "offed" have bounced back. Here are two pictures of one of my unknowns that suffered foliage damage.

This tree was actually kind of stunted to begin with. It rooted really well, but after it put out four or five leaves, it didn't really do anything for two months. It definitely got the worst of the Off. All of its leaves dropped.

The first picture is from July 16, six days after my fight with the yellow jackets. You can see a couple of small leaves popping out. Unfortunately, a couple of days after I took that picture, a friend's dog chewed off the tip of one of the two branches.

The second picture is from today. The tree's more vigorous than it ever was before I poisoned it with bug spray. And the branch that got chewed up--it formed two new branches.

That tree wants to live, in spite of you and the dog. Good luck. Gary

That's great it lived and came back so well.  I guess the dog thought it needed to be "topped".  What a strong little tree and it looks so healthy now.

noss

 In the late summer/Fall , Yellow Jackets are looking for anything to store. Sweet fruits or pieces of hotdog near your patio. Yellow jackets live in nest, below ground.
 The "paper-nest" wasps live under your eaves,etc. They are not as numerous or aggressive.
  Be wary of Yellow jackets!  Fred

Was the dog a doberman "pincher"?