# What would you do? (Hornet nest) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2019, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474 "2019-08-10T22:15:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/61 "2019-08-13T17:24:52Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > OMG that was an amazing event!!! With our luck being what it is sometimes you can see where ---------------- 😃 I had just gotten home from irk, flipped the TV on, and it was that story. And literally the first thought in my brain was “I wonder if”. I knew it was the wrong township but ------ this is the internet after all. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/62 "2019-08-13T18:49:43Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > I use Onslaught insecticide, it takes a while it’s not a knock down spray but it does the job. I also use it to bait yellow jackets when they start getting aggressive for meat. Last year I must have killed every nest within a quarter mile. Aren’t you afraid you’ll kill all your local pollinators? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/63 "2019-08-13T19:57:41Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > The only good hornet/wasp/yellow jacket is a dead one. They are pollinators, and also predators on other insects that do much more genuine damage. That doesn’t mean you have to allow a nest to stay under your front steps or over your kitchen door. But this general hate on a huge number of mostly-beneficial species is not a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/64 "2019-08-13T21:16:28Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Aren’t you afraid you’ll kill all your local pollinators? The standard way of using such stuff to kill yellowjackets is to apply it to meat, e.g., cat food, and put that out where they can get it. Bees won’t be interested in it. Local pets, wildlife, etc. might be so it has to be really isolated from them. Which is really hard if there’s squirrels around. (And even if you don’t mind some dead squirrels, there’s the things that eat the dead/dying ones you need to be mindful of.) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/65 "2019-08-13T22:05:28Z")
Yellowjackets are also pollinators. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/66 "2019-08-13T22:31:45Z")
If you must get rid of hornets, best way to do so is just with a giant (preferably transparent) trash bag. Envelope the whole nest with it, break off the stem/neck of the nest, and tie the whole bag up. And then double-bag it. (While wearing long sleeves, long pants, gloves, something for facial protection, etc.) Then you can just put it in a dumpster or something. ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/67 "2019-08-13T22:48:36Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Then you can just put it in a dumpster or something. Or wrap it in an Amazon box and leave it on your doorstep overnight. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/68 "2019-08-13T23:08:28Z")
[Video of a guy burning a bald-faced hornets nest.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rho50JrK1I0) This guy is a beekeeper and doesn’t use poison, and is usually pretty tolerant of wasps. but baldies have to go. StG ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/69 "2019-08-13T23:36:42Z")
We once had a thread (deleted) by a poster (banned) about eating a wasp nest. I wonder if a hornet nest is any better? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/70 "2019-08-31T14:04:56Z")
[I took my time, but I won in the end.](https://imgur.com/a/ShOKU4I) ---
**Author:** ![Drummond\_Bays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@Drummond\_Bays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drummond_Bays)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/71 "2019-09-02T23:02:00Z")
WD 40 and a bic lighter. With careful discretion as to what the nest is built on. In the case of a tree, a one-second fireball won’t cause any real damage, and won’t be any risk of a fire. Eliminates the hive in a literal flash. They will never rebuild at that spot, either. I once got to take a propane tiger torch to a 4 1/2’ mega hive on a rooftop. Bwahahahahhaha, that was fun! ---
**Author:** ![Drummond\_Bays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@Drummond\_Bays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drummond_Bays)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/72 "2019-09-02T23:03:06Z")
Ahh, too late! 8P ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474/73 "2019-09-03T05:34:24Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > [I took my time, but I won in the end.](https://imgur.com/a/ShOKU4I) Cool deal; and a trophy you can mount on the wall! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-hornet-nest/838474.md?page=3)