What's the best way to get rid of a wasp's nest?

Factual Questions
21

By all means if you’re even mildly allergic or phobic, call a pro. If you’re adventurous, however, you can us a cylinder of CO2 to freeze the little buggers. It doesn’t kill them, it just freezes them. A CO2 fire extinguisher works too, but you need a lot of them for a large nest.

Once frozen the whole nest can be picked carefully off your house/tree/whatever and placed in a coffee can. Which can be fedexed to someone you dislike intensely. When they thaw out they’re in a supremely bad mood.

Still, calling a pro is best.

b.

22

OK, I know all about this. And on accident found the perfect way to kill wasps.

Gum-out carburettor cleaner. You see, one time I was working on my old Honda, trying to tune it up and clean some gunk that always accumulated in the primary venturi. It was a hot Summer day, and the wasps were buzzing around like mad. Our carport was filled with the nests, to the point where it was quite hazardous to even park in it.

So there I was, spraying down the outside of the carb just for good measure, when one of those damn lethal little stinging helicopters buzzes right past my ear. Of course, I panic, and back away quickly, squealing like a little girl. And I spray the Gum-out directly on the wasp as it flies towards me.

Then I let out a scream as it hit my leg, bounced off, and dropped into the grass. The thing was dead within half a second - in fact, it was completely dead before it hit my leg.

So I got a big can of the Gum-out, and tried going after some more wasps. I found that any incidental contact at all, the the things would die in less than a second.

So I got brave, got the little plastic wand attachment, and went into the carport and sprayed each nest in turn.

No wasps ever emerged alive. Some would drop out dead, but typically the nest would dissolve into a shapeless mass of paper and dead wasps. Wasps that would land on the nest would die instantly as well.

I was most pleased, and my mother was amazed that all the wasps were gone within 5 minutes.

Is Gum-out the best thing to be spraying around? Well, it is highly volatile, and does not leave a flammable residue as much as other items. And when you are dealing with the little buzzing helicopters of death, I say praise God and pass the Gum-out!

Una

23

We’ve always used water and bleach mixed together. Kills the wasps and the nests. Doesn’t take long either.

24

I have LOTS of experience with this. I own a housepainting company, and we probably kill close to 100 wasp nests every summer on houses we’re painting. Hanging ones, ones built behind shutters, fascia, in chimneys, in the ground, mud daubers (hell YES they can sting.) We’ve never been stung while doing it; it’s just part of the job.

danvanf’s method works every time. I carry a case of the wasp killer that shoots a jet of spray from 20 feet away in my truck. I was swarmed by bees & stung badly when I was a kid, so I really enjoy nuking the little buggers. :smiley:

If there is a big beehive on the house, or in the walls, we ask the property owner to have it removed before we start work, though. I don’t want my employees or myself stung to bits on the job.

25

Thanks for all the info (also the link – guess I should’ve done a search, huh?). You scared me to death, I do NOT like bugs of any stripe and especially not bugs with stingers. So, I decided to call in an exterminator. However, when my husband was leaving for work this morning, I mentioned it to him (he comes in through the garage, and so had not seen the nest) and he went out to take a look. [serious studliness]“That little thing? Get me a towel, I’ll take care of that.” I brought him a towel, he draped it over his hand, reached up and grabbed the nest and pulled it down. He used his hands to crush the nest through the towel, then stomped any wasps that fell out with his foot. Of course, it was a pretty small nest (about 3 inchs across), but still! [/serious studliness]

26

I prescribe FIRE, and plenty of it!

But then, that’s my cure for everything…

— Dr. Hibbert

27

I am not sure if they make them for waspes, specifically, but I have a Yellow Jacket trap at home. I have found it to work phenomonally well.

We had experienced a pair of relatively mild winters, and the YJ’s were out in force. When they built a nest under my front patio, I had to look for a way to get rid of them.

The trap did it. Within a few weeks, it wiped out the whole colony. I hung the trap from a tree in the front yard, and literally had to empty it every three days. It would FILL with the buggers that fast. I think that it likely wiped out more than the one colony.

I’d look at hardware/home improvement stores. If you’re in an area with lots of wasps, I’m sure that there would be some kind of option available to you. Heck, if it could kill off the occasional rogue looking for a place to raise a family, that couldn’t hurt either.

28

Jess, be vigilant. They’ll probably try to build there again.

Wasps love the overhang over our front door. I just keep an eye on it, and a broom by the door, and I knock down a nest as soon as I see it–usually when it’s just a few cells in size, and nobody’s home.

29

If the wasps are of the mud dauber variety you can prevent them from coming back by rubbing a bar of soap over the site of the previous nest.

30

My parents’ house had wasps, and they and I had an agreement. I left them alone, and they left me alone. But, assuming you and the wasps can’t get a treaty in place, like other posters have said, fire works.

31

Springtime! Time to go look for wasp’s nests! I take a can wasp and hornet spray, and circle my house every spring, looking for new nests under the eaves. If you get them when there’s only one or a few wasps, it’s usually not a big deal.

This is an interesting pair of sentences. :slight_smile: