The subject heading says it all, I guess. We have a smallish wasp’s nest right outside the front door. My WAG would be to spray the hell out of it with bug spray and then knock it down. However, I don’t want to screw with angry wasps based only on a WAG. So, what’s the best way to get rid of a wasp’s nest?
Wait until late at night, at least 1 hour after sunset. Then spray away. I generally use short bursts rather than a steady streem, as it gives the spray some time to soak in. After that leave it alone for a day, then take it down.
The reason to do it at night is to catch the all the little buggers sleeping, Otherwise someone will escape and rebuild.
IMHO, the best way is to hire a profesional. wasps are not to be trifled with.
Here’s a method I’ve used for years. Never been stung.
- Knock the nest down with a very long stick.
- Squirt it with lighter fluid.
- Apply match.
Well, I keep bees and deal with wasps quite often. I’m with Wring. If you don’t know what you’re doing get a pro.
I would not recommend spraying at night. You might piss off the wasps and they might get there revenge on you and yours before the poison gets them.
What I do is put on my coveralls, bonnet, and gloves. Then I grab a hefty bag. I spray the inside of the bag with pesticide and fasten it over the nest (waiting until night.)
If it’s on a branch, I just pull it over both sides and duct tape it up. If it’s on a wall or ceiling, I just tape it in place. I have enough pesticide in the bag there’s a layer of liquid in the bottom.
A day or two later I’ll tap on the bag to make sure there’s nobody alive in there, and then just remove it.
This technique has the added benefit of not disturbing the nest and risking the wasps wrath.
Sometimes though I’ll just knock the whole nest into a bag, seal it up, and stomp 'em, not bothering with the pesticide. But I do put on the outfit first.
Holy cow, hockeynut, you’re a lot braver than I am.
A couple of years ago I had a wasp’s nest over my front door. Here’s what I did:
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- Got some horrible poison.
- Used a funnel to put it very carefully into a supersoaker squirt rifle.
- Hi, Opal!
- Stood on the sidewalk and blasted the nest from a safe distance.
- Jumped into my car and drove away.
- Came home four hours later.
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Result? Wasps dead. Doormat too toxic to describe. Anyway, that’s the coward’s way to do it.
Two excellent methods. Get a shotgun, load it with the shells containing the smallest shot you can get, stand back around 10 feet, aim and fire. Poof! No more nasty little stinging things and you can fix the new hole yourself without being bothered.
Second, a propane weed burner. Light it up, stand back several feet and fire. Whoosh! Toasted wasps! You can use your garden hose to put out the fire easily.
seawitch I hope you trashed the super soaker after you were done.
The other issue is the poisons themselves can be dangerous. And, you may not have some thing appropriate that can be purchased ‘over the counter’ as it were. Scylla’s got a farm IIRC, and so would have access to stuff not readily available at the corner grocery, I’m assuming (although his recommondation to don special clothes is very good).
Of course, I’m allergic to bee stings (and by the way, only developed it after I became an adult, which is another reason I’m suggesting getting a pro.
We don’t get those huge, bazaar nests here but we have mud daubers and paper wasps, along with yellow jackets.
The safest way to handle an underground yellow jacket nest, in my opinion, is to drop a grenade in and run like hell, or call the Pest Control and let them drop a grenade in and run like hell.
The wasps I handle with a can of spray that has a long reach. I spritz 'em and run. Wait about 20 feet away, creep back in, spritz the nest again for good measure, check to see if anything is still flying, go inside, drink a beer, then come out and knock the nest down with a stick.
Our nests don’t get much bigger than 5 or 6 inches and look like the top of a toadstool made out of honey combed paper.
Mud daubers: I wait until the bugger leaves the mud nest then knock it down, or I’ll wait until it goes inside and spray it directly in the entrance and hurriedly leave. I don’t know if the 'daubers sting or not, but they have a heck of a long needle poking out of their business end.
I’ve had plenty of dealings with wasps and if you can reach the nest fire is your best option.
Here is what you do:
Roll up some newspaper longwise in a loose cone shape.
Light the end and let it get a large flame burning.
Quickly approach the nest and stick the flames right into the nest.
If you do it quick you won’t get stung because the wasps trying to get out will hit the heat and drop to the ground.
To tell you the truth most of the wasps are going to instantly drop to the ground because their wings burn up fast.
It’s kinda gross seeing the wasps rolling around on the ground but better than running in and out of the house as you try to make poison spray sorties.
I’ll second Who?26. The pyrethrin-based wasp sprays work for me every time. Give the nest a good shot of the stuff from ten feet away, then back off about thirty more feet, just in case you missed a wasp. Very rarely, a wasp will take off from the nest before dying, but I’ve never been stung by a wasp while using this stuff.
Wring…
Hey, I kept the supersoaker. Who knows when the neighbors are going to start acting up?
If it’s not on the house I’ve always used a paper cup full of diesel fuel during darkness. It’s not a real fire hazard like gasoline, it’s cheap (we’ve got it in bulk), and it kills everything and usually disintegrates most of the papery nests and seems to seep into ground nests quite effectively.
In college we had the opportunity to make an evening of it once. My roommates and I had tired of dashing past the guardians of the front porch, so one night one of my roommates and I got a couple of syringes and some poison (I think it was Raid, in a spray can).
We inspected and locked the screen door and loaded the syringes from a pool we sprayed into the can cap. Then we took out the nest, mostly AA gunner style. After we’d finished off the all of those who rose to defense (the high point of the event - aerial gunnery an’ all) we took down the fortress with a sustained light artillery bombardment, at least until my roommie nailed himself in the eyeball with some of the stuff (he was still alive 11 or 12 years ago).
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
Napalm the lil’ bastards. 
If you want to have all the wasps in the nest, wait until night. If you attack during daylight, some will be out foraging and you won’t get them all. I’d be careful about burning the nest when it’s hanging in place. My grandfather did that decades ago… set the nest on fire, and of course the wasps started coming out. Their wings burned off, but they survived and fell to the ground - MAD! - being night time, he wasn’t sure where he was standing and was too busy looking at the burning nest anyways, and the angry wingless wasps started crawling up his pant legs stinging as they went; not fun. If the nest isn’t too big and you can cut it down, all you need is a jar with a tight-fitting lid, like a canning jar. At night snip and drop the nest into the jar, lid on tight. Watch the angry wasps for days on end, until they suffocate or starve - rather cruel, but very entertaining. Then after a couple weeks you have an un-contaminated nest to dissect… hey you can even count the number of wasps for that size nest and make a science day of it.
Seeing as it is now the off season, you might be able to borrow the CBC’s chicken cannon.
I definitely agree with wring. Besides the fact that wasps are dangerous, I admit to being phobic about them. When I had a nest somewhere in my garage walls last summer, I called a professional. Best $45 I ever spent.
Wasps…brrrrrr
Fenris
Build a housing project across the street from the country club.
<rimshot>