Wasps have set up a nest under our wood deck, unfortunately right at an area where we have a doorwall we come in and out of. My wife got stung this past weekend.
There’s no access underneath the deck, other than the thin spaces between the wood slats. There’s only a few inches between the deck and the ground underneath, so I figure I can spray between the slats with foaming wasp killer and try to fill up enough area to get to the nest.
Complications: I’ve observed the wasps coming in and out through several of the slat spaces in maybe a 2 or 3 foot wide area, so they haven’t given me a good clue exactly where the nest is underneath. I don’t want to alert them and get swarmed before I get to them.
So I’m thinking at night maybe I quickly spray the foaming wasp killer on several of the slat spaces one after another first, to make it so they have to fly through the killing foam to get to me. Then I spray down into the space and try to fill it with the foam to get to the nest.
Or I take a big wide board or something to cover the slat spaces and make it hard for the wasps to fly out, and move it aside to deal with one slat space at a time. But I don’t think that will stop the wasps very well.
Should I try to bundle up, beekeeper style, wear a heavy coat and snow pants and gloves? It’s been 90 degrees every day lately, so even at night I’ll get very hot very quickly doing that.
when you say there is ‘no access’ do you mean you can’t reach or crawl in there, or do you mean there is absolutely no gaps anywhere?
If you have just one small hole or space on the side, or underneath, you can use a spray or even a water hose to knock it down.
It might even be worthwhile to construct a hole somewhere or take a board off temporarily to get access. Otherwise, wait until winter to kill them off. But you may have the problem again later.
I think your approach is generally correct (well, the safest thing to do is hire an exterminator but I’m assuming you’ve already decided against that.)
First of all, the liquid non-foaming stuff is better for direct application to the nest. Get that as well as foam. I prefer Wilson products.
Attack at night. Bundle up - who cares if you’re hot for a few minutes, better than being stung - and ensure the area is well lit so you can quickly see the nest and destroy it. Your advance foaming idea is excellent. Do that, open it up, look for the nest, blast it. If you’re looking and can’t see it, and a wasp comes out, retreat. Give them time to go back to sleep.
The 1/8" to 1/4" spaces in between the wood planks are the only access.
Taking out wasp nests is generally a chore I’ve taken care of myself, but I can usually visually ID the nest.
I am leery of removing a board-- I feel like the commotion of it will get them swarming, and I imagine being unlucky enough to choose the very board that the nest is attached to (well, that would take care of the problem, but likely at a price )
Take out one of the deck planks; you’ll have all the access you need. Do this at night, and bundle up as best you can. If removing a plank agitates them, then get the plank out, retreat, and wait for an hour (or 24 hours if need be) for them to calm down.
You said you have a few inches between the deck and the ground, so duct-tape this thing to a broom handle, trigger it, and use the broom handle to shove it in there next to their nest.
A wasp fogger…this is a very intruiging idea, thanks!
I’m thinking I could get some plastic sheeting and duct-tape it to a large area of the deck, both to stop the wasps from coming out easily and to hold in the fogging gas, then poke a hole in the plastic at a strategic location and go to town.
If you can drill a hole in one of the sides, I’d suggest doing that and then letting a fogger/bug bomb unload into the area. If possible, throw something on top (plywood, tarp etc) so all the spray doesn’t just waft out.
I’ve done that when my shed is full of bees. I have a one inch hole drilled in the side where I can unload a few bug bombs into it and come back a few days later.
Also, regarding the foaming bug spray. Keep in mind it’s more like watery shaving cream than Great Stuff. That is, even if you can get it to stick in the area between the boards, it’s going to drip down a few seconds later. While it may be good for coating the outside of a paper wasp nest, you’re not going to fill up the space under a deck. IOW, it’s not expanding foam, it’s foaming.
ETA, however much wasp spray you think you need, get like two or three extra cans. IME, wasp nests take multiple tries, often across multiple days, to fully eradicate. They’ll typically try to rebuild at least once or twice before giving up…and that’s assuming you actually hit the nest with the spray as opposed to just spraying near it and killing whichever ones get exposed to the spray.
This is a bit different because it’s under a deck, but I’ve always just preferred a can of Raid or something similar that lets you spray the nest from 20+ feet away. Sure, I usually spray it and then leave the area, but I’m already far enough away that an attack/swarm isn’t usually an issue.
I’ve never had a problem at night either, but then I’ve always taken out nests I can see, and take them out quickly. This is a hidden nest (nests?) under a deck which could be, I’m guessing, anywhere in a 3’ x 3’ square area. I did a little reading about wasps at night, and though they do go dormant, they will apparently attack at night if given time to ‘wake up’. And they’ll likely hear me coming before I can get to them.
It might be worth calling in an exterminator. This is what they do day in and day out so they’ll have the tools and knowledge to do it safely and completely. Plus, for them, getting stung is an [expected] occupational hazard. For the $100-$200, maybe look into letting them take care of it.
One of the bee people in my area offers to come and do this type of thing for something like $100. They also offer another plan for $300 where they preventatively spray your house with something and guarantee no new flying insect nests for the entire season (and will come back out if you find any). The nice part about that is that if they find any nests while doing that, they’ll deal with them. Any time I spot a nest that I decide is too big for a couple cans of raid or in a place where I can’t easily get at it (ie up on the roof), I call them, pony up the $300 and I’m typically nest free for the next few years.
The last nest I dealt with was easy to approach. After sundown I set up a ladder nearby then sprayed the nest, wetting it down pretty good. Then I moved the ladder into position and slid a heavy trash bag around the nest. Cut the tree branch, then sprayed directly into the bag.
I left the black bag sitting for a few days, then was able to remove the nest.
No idea what I was thinking, I eventually tossed the nest in my dumpster at work.
Nuke 'em from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
But seriously, maybe call an exterminator? It’s a one time cost and you can get their expertise about how to do it yourself in the future if (more likely when) they show up again.
As an amateur, dousing the gaps between slats with wasp/bee spray either during the day or after sundown (sunrise/sunset are bad times) has generally worked, though they do eventually come back. Uncomfortable or not, long sleeves/pants (no real need for bulky clothing) and keep as much distance as possible. Have that evacuation plan in place in case they get riled.
I’m currently dealing with yellow jackets in my basement. They were coming in where my AC lines enter the house. I Great Stuff’d the inside on the house first, as best as I could, it’s in a blind area so I can only do so much. Then I Great Stuff’d the outside, but it goes through the siding, so all I can really do is put as much foam around the hole as I can as well as spraying some under the bottom slat of the siding and hoping it gets near the hole.
This is all on top of spraying just about every bug killer I could find at it.
Over the last week or so, I haven’t seen a single bee anywhere near that hole, but I still find 5-10 a day in my basement. Most of them are just about dead, usually just limping around on the floor under the single lightbulb I’ve been leaving on (since it seems to attract them, I find the majority of the dead ones right under it).
I’m thinking the hole is successfully sealed off on the outside and what I’m seeing are the ones that got trapped inside and I’m hoping there’s enough poison remaining in that area (some of it was powder/dust) that that’s why I’m finding them all dead.
You’d think I’d stop finding them, but twice a day I go down there and vacuum up a bunch more half dead bees.
At least it’s not many and they’re staying in the basement. I get worried that I’m going to get home from work one day and have to call Orkin and get a hotel room for a few days. But of the 100 or so that I’ve found, I’ve only seen 2 or 3 flying.
The problem there is that a lot of their expertise, in addition to experience and being more comfortable around nests is that they have access to chemicals you can’t legally buy without a license.
I had an infestation of yellow jackets last year. The hardware store foaming spray didn’t work at all so I called an exterminator. He sprayed five nests with a heavy duty backpack powered sprayer. One nest disappeared and one sent hundreds of yellow jackets into my basement swarming around the windows trying to get out; I did the raincoat bundle up thing with a can of wasp spray to kill them. The other nests remained, one under the porch and two in holes in the lawn – $379 down the poop chute in hopes of a quick fix.
You can buy professional level insectides. Here’s what worked:
You will also need to buy a duster to use the stuff. The website has several different models. You puff the dust into cracks, crevices, holes, etc. It kills some on contact and the others pick up the dust as they crawl in, killing the entire colony. Apply it just as it’s getting dark, when the bees are mostly inside the nest.
I have been buying pest control and lawn stuff from this company for years; always quick shipping and they are very good at responding to questions and advice.
Just a couple of weeks ago wasps set up housekeeping in the hollow plastic slats of the picket fence surrounding the front yard right next – of course – to the gate in and out. Every time the gate was used they’d be jarred and come out annoyed so we hustled through the area while I tried to figure out how to get rid of them.
A couple night attacks failed as I wasn’t about to crawl along the ground aiming the spray upward into the slats so I called a wasp and bee expert. He had a tank with a nice, long wand on it so he could safely do a proper job without getting dangerously close, then doused the area with another, repellent spray so the wasps who’d been out and about when their nest was destroyed would go elsewhere.
This might actually be the ticket, even better than the fogger because where they are under the deck is near the house and I wouldn’t want the fogger stuff to get into the house. Also I like the fact that it keeps the area clean of wasps for a long time.
When I was a kid, we had yellow jackets in a big stone wall behind our house. My dad (a plumber) brought home a big propane tank, hose, and wand. We woke up before dawn and he propped the torch wand up by their ingress/egress site and lit it.
We sat in the yard as the sun came up. Yellowjackets began flying out, each one getting singed by the flame and dying. It was pretty cool. A few hours later and there was a huge pile of crispy yellowjackets.
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