Wasps!

[Stevens]

We have been living in this location since 1985, I have never seen so many wasps, yellow jackets, in the area these are the ones that make the small open paper nests you usually find in shrubs or under the house eaves. The ones that live in the ground are not common here I guess the water table is too high for them. I have been spraying the nests when I find them and yesterday sprayed the bushes and hedges with an insecticide in a garden sprayer I'm hoping that at least will drive them away (sorry neighbors).
I guess the weather or some other conditions have been very good for them.
Any suggestions or specific insecticide sprayable in a garden pumppup sprayer?
Thanks
Steve W

 

[USMCHEROS]

When we had the wasp problem under ground we did the gas trick with a cement brick covering the hole where they coming in and out of. Day later no more wasp flying around!

 

[Brian41]

We had them pretty bad for years and used the sprays but only good where I found their nests or could get to them. Places like under my deck I couldn't get to with the sprays very well.
I finally tried traps I found at Home Depot. They have two different funnel type openings for different types and a bait is added. I caught quite a few and my problem went away. I have just one baited trap outside right now and have hardly seen any at all this year.
We still keep sprays handy for the occasional wasp we see but nothing like before.

 

[shouldazagged]

Problem with insecticides for wasps is that they kill bees too. Around here the honeybee situation has been so bad that the other day when I saw a couple working on clover blossoms I was excited enough to call my sister the gardener.

 

[WuzzFuzz]

For those wasp paper nests under the eves or anywhere you can see, I've always used WD-40. I like it because if you use that little red extension thing you put in the end of the sprayer, it will shoot out a straight stream, not a spray...That way I can aim it right on the nest....providing the aren't the nests way up at the peak under the eaves.

Bumble bees have their nests in the ground somewhere, they're harder to find.

If you have good water pressure, and a good hose nozel (sp) that you can get good pressure out of, you can knock down nests under the eves, or at least I can and do.


WuzzFuzz

I agree about trying to use the insecticides. You'll end up killing some of the good bugs and bees.

 

[mwtdvm]

Red/yellow and red.black paper wasps

Back in the day(late 50's-60's) I used to knock down the wasp nest and use the larvae for bream bait. The wasps were the smaller red/yellow variety. I did this a lot and never saw the red/black ones we have now. These critters are cut from a different cloth. When you even get close to their nest, you see them crouch and get ready to launch. I have gotten too close on occasion and been nailed. If I see them starting a nest. out comes the wasp/hornet spray and they get drenched. The yellow/red ones are still around but out numbered by about 5-8 to one by the red/black ones. Are the Red/black ones imports or just too mean to die?

 

[kwselke]

I've used many a can of pyrethrum wasp spray on the critters. Buy the kind that shoots a solid foam stream 10 to 20 feet. Dose the nest from a shady spot well away from the nest, most of the wasps will drop instantly and the remainder will die when they land on the nest. If you use a fogger type spray you have to get close and are likely to get stung.

 

[bp231986]

Flamethrower.......

 

[bettis1]

As a boy I found that a palm full of FFFg and a newspaper wad in an 1842 H. Aston gave me great satisfaction following a surprise sting.

The fact that I've moved on to more mundane solutions is more an indication of my age than my maturity.

Bob

 

[Old Seabee]

Wasps

I use a plant duster with 7 plant powder , works on bore bees & others when it gets carried into nest

 

[Stevens]

One of these might make it fun.

Amazon.com: BUG-A-SALT Fire Your Fly Swatter: The Original Salt Gun: Patio, Lawn & Garden@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Ph%2BqAq32L.@@AMEPARAM@@41Ph%2BqAq32L
Steve W

 

[Roadtrash]

Mix a little dish soap with water and spray that on the ones you can reach. This will coat their wings and they can't fly and they will fall to the ground rather than fly at you like with some sprays. Then you just step on them while they are on the ground.

Of course with this method be sure to wear shoes or things might get a bit on the painful side.

 

[RonJ]

They tend to nest in my shed. That is when I use those 20 ft wasp bombs.
Out on the deck when they get too close I use a super soaker. Get their wings wet, then crush 'em.

 

[arch stanton]

I've been told to nail 'em after dark or first thing in the morning because they all come back to the nest at night when the humidity rises and their wings get soft.

 

[gdnagle]

Problem with insecticides for wasps is that they kill bees too. Around here the honeybee situation has been so bad that the other day when I saw a couple working on clover blossoms I was excited enough to call my sister the gardener.

Yea wasp suck, all type of bees and wasp have a straight stinger except a honey bee, and can nail you many times, don't ask how I know, a honey bee will only sting once they have a barbed stinger. Rips their insides out in medical terms. Yea honey bees are taking a beating right now, lost all of mine and lots of others have also, seen a lot of open hives past few years, 1/3 of all crops are pollinated by bees. Honey bee will be in a hive so spraying them on the house or shed usually isn't a problem epically in the morning or evening when honey bees are in the hive, and wasp are on their nest. , if honey bees are in you house you need to get them out, you can call a apiary and usually they will remove them for free.
Low powered BB gun will do their nest in and you can have fun at the same time, but if you don't kill them they will start to rebuild.

 

[2152hq]

We get a lot of the ones around that build the open paper nest.

They like to build nests behind the decorative window shutters on the sunny side of houses alot. Under the eves on garages and tool sheds ect. Under decks. The nests seem to appear over night almost.

We always wait till night to spray the nest,,any bee, hornet, wasp nest.
They seem to come back to the nest at dark, no flying around at night I guess. So they're all inside there for you then.

The over the counter arisol stuff that shoots a stream about 15 or 20 ft works good. Just soak that nest down and every one of them in there (at night it should be all of them) should be a gonner.
Any thing that does perhaps escape but comes back and contacts the soaked mass will also be killed so leave it up for a day or so.
It will dry out fairly quickly though as the chemical evaporates in the summer heat.

It's an almost non-stop process to keep up with them sometimes. I imagine they run in cycles like everything else. Some years there are more of them than others.
But you don't want to be faced with a nest complex as big as a stove on (or in) the side of your house one day.

 

[Teddydog]

I talked to my pest guy one morning when I saw him around. I showed him a paper wasp nest that he hadn't found on the back of a fence post. He calmly walked over and flicked it off with his bare finger!! Said the paper nest guys aren't very aggressive and will just build again. He doesn't like to spray them.

The in-ground mo-fos are an entirely different story though. They get the napalm. At a rental house, our dogs came in all stung up on their noses. Found the yellow-jackets were coming from a hole in the ground under the deck, so we called the property manager. He hosed it down from the top of the bank about 15 feet away. Next day he came back and dug it up and it was about the size of a soccer ball!

Rob

 

[RonJ]

I was getting my mower out of the shed and didn't notice the paper nest near the door. Next thing they're swarming around my head. One landed on my upper lip and stung me on my lower lip. Not aggressive? I beg to differ. I used ice packs and Benedryl to bring down the swelling. I looked like the elephant man for a couple of days. Only slight hyperbole there.

 

[kamloops67]

shoot down nests with a paintball gun, i have some 68 cal foam projectiles that punch right through both sides of a paper nest,8 rounds of deliberate shot placement while a hostile enemy force attempts to overrun your position. you need nerves of steel haha
this is my ultimate wasp combat gun, shown with a 1911 for scale

 

[RonJ]

Do they make colorless paint balls?