killing wasps?

[Farmer17]

The wasps are starting to show up around the house outside and I've been wondering about the best way to kill em". The Raid aerosol wasp spray sometimes works but the wasps usually fly away before the stream hits them, and I used my electric tennis racket that works great on flies but it just doesn't quite have enough volts and amps to kill a wasp reliably. I had one of the pump action SXS shotguns that shot table salt and it didn't work very well even on flies but I think the Bug A Salt brand is a little more powerful. Was thinking about my Wrist Rocket slingshot loaded with Sea Salt or fine sand but I can't seem to find it. Anyone know of a good method to kill wasps? I know the .22 RF snake shot would work in my suppressed .22 pistol but don't want to go to that extreme yet.

 

[Prohunter]

Dawn dish detergent mixed kinda heavy with water.

 

[Rpg]

I’d stick to the wasp spray.

 

[Prohunter]

Or,if you aren't worried about screwing anything up,gas works great.

 

[olfart]

I've used .22 rat shot in a revolver for wasp nests inside of goat sheds, but the best overall wasp eliminator I've found is a gallon milk jug with a small slot cut in one side. Mix about a teaspoon of boric acid in a quart of apple juice, add a half slice of bacon and a small piece of cantaloupe, and put it all into the milk jug. Be sure to put a twig or string in the slot in the jug for the wasps to climb out. Then hang that on a corner of the house. It takes a few days for the cantaloupe and bacon to start decomposing, but when that happens so does the magic.

 

[Jerry in SC]

I call my termite guy for the second story wasp nests and in ground yellow jackets. I use the foam spray for any small nests in range.

 

[James K]

Wait until evening when they are asleep on their nest and hit em with the spray. They'll drop pronto.

 

[Phenix]

The wasps are starting to show up around the house outside and I've been wondering about the best way to kill em". The Raid aerosol wasp spray sometimes works but the wasps usually fly away before the stream hits them, and I used my electric tennis racket that works great on flies but it just doesn't quite have enough volts and amps to kill a wasp reliably. I had one of the pump action SXS shotguns that shot table salt and it didn't work very well even on flies but I think the Bug A Salt brand is a little more powerful. Was thinking about my Wrist Rocket slingshot loaded with Sea Salt or fine sand but I can't seem to find it. Anyone know of a good method to kill wasps? I know the .22 RF snake shot would work in my suppressed .22 pistol but don't want to go to that extreme yet.

If there are getaways from the spray simply go back later for Round 2.
After the nest is contaminated with the after effect of the spray the few survivors will stick around long, and move somewhere else instead.

 

[tripledipper]

Wife is using cheap stuff, Eliminator Wasp & Hornet Spray, works as well as more expensive sprays. You have to knock the nest down or they will come back again. They are building nests like crazy here.

 

[Bekeart]

In the electronic shop
1) Badminton Racket - Swing thru - Wasp usually crashes.
May need to step on the crashed wasp.
2) Squirt Bottle filled with cheapest alcohol - Spray on flying wasp.
Gets the wings wet - aerodynamic instability - step on crashed wasp.

Bekeart

 

[Daniel R.]

Hard to beat this stuff if you can hit ‘em with it.

 

[Frailer]

Dawn dish detergent mixed kinda heavy with water.

Indeed. I learned this trick from a veterinarian friend. Dish soap and water in a “Super Soaker”-style water gun works great.

Detergent breaks the surface tension of the water, which allows it to enter the wasps’ spiracles, killing them.

 

[Culina]

For instant death, carburetor cleaner used to work, its probably been reformulated to be safer and more environmentally friendly but 25-30 years ago it worked great. I actually have to make a second attempt at a nest behind and undercut under an eaves, I will just spray the whole area tonight with one of those pesticide containers you hook up to a garden hose, it doesn't drop them dead instantly but I suspect within a day or two I won't see any. If that doesn't work, I have some poison I can mix up with some cat food.

 

[Bevo84]

Wait until evening when they are asleep on their nest and hit em with the spray. They'll drop pronto.

 

[Hilldweller]

Hot Shot works great for me. We get ‘em every year, mostly on the eves.
I’ll spray the nest and they’re gone the next day.

 

[GaryS]

When I worked at my father's salvage yard we used spray windshield de icer. That stuff that came in spray cans and was essentially aerosol alcohol. Worked great.

Now I use Raid Wasp and Hornet spray. It works almost as well. I also have one of those electric fly swatters and have hit a few with that. They aren't as good at avoiding that as flies are.

I keep a can of wasp and hornet spray in a pocket on the outside of my range back. Both here and back in MA wasps seemed to like to nest under the shooting benches.

 

[Bevo84]

Mount a tac light on the wasp spray can

 

[45Smashemflat]

Brake cleaner and contact cleaner also work, but kinda pricey. Dish detergent works well, as mentioned already. Keep in mind that if you drop a lot of them, even a dead one can sting a bare foot if you step on it right.

On a different note, the larva make great fish bait.

 

[jeffrefrig]

Why do you want to kill them?

 

[Jimbo41]

Why do you want to kill them?

Ran over a yellow jacket (ground hornet) nest yesterday with a push mower, they attacked and got me on the leg. At dusk, a shot of spray to kill the guards followed by a quart of 2% permethrin seemed like a proportional response.

 

[Prohunter]

We dig the yellow jacket nest up with the excavator, if they are in a bad place,then hose them down with a 50/50 mix of gas and diesel. Light up the flame thrower and let it rip.

 

[M29since14]

Why do you want to kill them?

Are you kidding? Flying, stinging insects are dangerous to humans and to pets. There is no reason to tolerate them around an occupied structure or surrounding grounds. I don’t like to kill anything “indiscriminately” but sometimes it is necessary for safety. (In the case of honey bees, whenever possible, they should be relocated.)

Wasps, hornets, etc…

OP, if you have a method to propel it, white silica sand might be the “fine sand” you are looking for. You can buy it at masonry supply businesses, and sometimes find it in farm and department stores being sold as playground sand. I don’t know what device you might be using, but being the stinging-insect coward I am, I don’t want close to those little monsters.

 

[Exaviator]

Wasps have no natural predators, only humans so we have a duty to exterminate them, whatever the method that you choose.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Wish I had some of you boys handy when I lived down in Texas.
Never could get rid of the fire ants in my backyard.
I tried everything that was legal and several things that probably weren’t, they just kept coming back and hitting me on the leg.
I’m a big fan of burning wasps. That’s probably not necessarily the best way to get rid of them, but it’s the most fun.

 

[ZGrand]

If the nest isn't too far away, I shoot the wasps with a Bug-A-Salt gun. It doesn't kill them (or if it does it doesn't do so right away), but they fly off. Then I knock down the nest.

 

[Phenix]

Wait until evening when they are asleep on their nest and hit em with the spray. They'll drop pronto.

I have done it that way at times, and it works.

 

[Top Strap]

The wasps are starting to show up around the house outside and I've been wondering about the best way to kill em". The Raid aerosol wasp spray sometimes works but the wasps usually fly away before the stream hits them, and I used my electric tennis racket that works great on flies but it just doesn't quite have enough volts and amps to kill a wasp reliably. I had one of the pump action SXS shotguns that shot table salt and it didn't work very well even on flies but I think the Bug A Salt brand is a little more powerful. Was thinking about my Wrist Rocket slingshot loaded with Sea Salt or fine sand but I can't seem to find it. Anyone know of a good method to kill wasps? I know the .22 RF snake shot would work in my suppressed .22 pistol but don't want to go to that extreme yet.

I have done it that way at times, and it works.

When I find a nest, I wait until its dark and hit them with 409 spray it appears to suffocate them by filling their ventricles. Cleanup is easy.

 

[Phenix]

Wish I had some of you boys handy when I lived down in Texas.
Never could get rid of the fire ants in my backyard.
I tried everything that was legal and several things that probably weren’t, they just kept coming back and hitting me on the leg.
I’m a big fan of burning wasps. That’s probably not necessarily the best way to get rid of them, but it’s the most fun.

Try some diatomecious earth powder. Works on pretty much all crawlers. Food safe too.
Works particularly well on ants. At a microscopic level it looks like powdered glass. When insects with exoskeletons get it in their joints it’s death by a thousand cuts every time they move.

 

[toddimusnimski]

Last Summer I had yellow jackets coming and going constantly to a home they made behind our 2nd floor siding. I put soapy water in my shop vac and borrowed enough sections of pipe to reach that high. Threw on a pair of earmuffs and fired it up, with the nozzle resting near the opening, sliding it around as needed. I stood out there off and on over the next couple weeks, catching most as they returned to the nest; some as they were trying to leave. It's a very satisfying feeling to move the tube to catch them in mid-flight!

I was far enough below that they didn't bother me. Just prior to Spring I sealed up all the openings I saw and haven't had any issues since.

Todd

 

[BourbonCowboy]

Wait until evening when they are asleep on their nest and hit em with the spray. They'll drop pronto.

This!

I've already gone through most of a case of spray this year, but I only use it at night.