I got a nest of some sort, and I need to deal with it this evening. It’s in a terrible spot where a couple of folks have been stung and the family is revolting.
OK. The location is in the peak of the basement exit stairway. From that side I can see the softball sized nest. All I can see from there is the side of the nest. The entrance to the nest is in a space in the trim boards on the outside. I see them coming and going, but the geometry is such that they must be making a 90 degree turn about 3 inches from the nest.
So, if I shoot the entrance, I won’t get much inside the nest. If I shoot from the inside, I can hit the whole nest but there is no visible orifice. I don’t know how well the spray will penetrate from the side of the nest.
Due to a lucky quirk of the house, I have an exterior door between the nest and the house, so I should be able to close them in.
My thought is to first hit the entrance to the nest and then go round and hit the side, with the idea that they would be trapped in there
Is there a way to bounce spray off of a wall onto the front of the nest?
If so, I’d wait until night, and then empty an entire can of foaming wasp spray onto the nest and cross my fingers.
Or, if you are daring, knock it down with a jet of water, and then spray it.
Oh I sympathize, so’s mine. Uh, sorry. Seriously, though, I’m not sure you’re putting enough thought into this: do you know whether you’re allergic to stings, do you have protective clothing, have you ever taken out a nest before, etc.? Here’s a very detailed strategy for getting rid of wasp/hornet nests.
At night, spray the hell out of the nest from the inside, spray the outside the next morning. Repeat for a couple of nights if needed. Use the long distance shooter spray, it throws a lot of liquid and can saturate the nest quickly, and you don’t need to get close enough to worry about protective clothing and the like (but it’s still a good idea to cover up).
Give yourself every advantage and use hot water. I had the advantage of living in the desert and having a garden hose sitting in the sun all day. But the scalding water managed to take the fight out of the wasps for a few minutes, which was all I needed.
One entire can (value size!) emptied into the nest from the inside. I didn’t wait around to see the results, but it was absolutely pouring off the side when I was done. Of course, now the curiosity is killing me…
And I don’t know how anyone makes it to my age without knowing whether they’re allergic. My yard is stinging insect central, and I get stung a few times each year. Funny how the fear of being stung is much worse than actually being stung
If they are yellowjackets and for some reason you don’t get them all (the queen) they will vacate at some point and will not return. Those wasps do not nest in the same place twice.
There is a wasp and hornet killer available that drops them instantly. It is called Wasp-Freeze. It works by freezing them. Comes in an aerosol can and has a wide spray pattern and a very long reach. You will have to go to an exterminator supply place to get it. Amazon might have it. Wait until the evening when all of the wasps are home, then gas them all…instantly. The stuff at Lowes and Homo Depo is useless. They just fly off…mad.
Shop vac with a half-inch of soapy water at the bottom of its catch-bin. Set the end of the hose by the nest entrance, and walk away for an hour or two. Best to do this in the middle of the day, when they’re active. Any YJs coming or going will get sucked in; the soapy water will take care of any that don’t get killed during their violent trip up the vac hose.
All the suggestions are appreciated. The shop vac idea would have helped with a nest a few years ago which was inaccessable, and as a result i had to drill holes in the sheetrock. I won that battle, but at the cost of having to repaint the kitchen. Did I mention I live in the worldwide capital of stinging insects?
Anyway, this morning the nest was a melted mess, and there is no sign of the bastards.
FWIW, I am generally live and let live, but when they come into my house and get all sting-y, I get kill-y.
I had those assholes try to build a nest above my garage door. The first time, it was about golf ball sized so I just took a shovel and smushed it along with the 2 or 3 pricks who were building the nest. a few days later, the shitheads were trying again in the same spot, so I went and got a can of wasp & hornet spray, and gave it a good blast. within ten seconds or so, the bastards went into a wonderful seizure and dropped to the ground.
For a nest in a hard to reach or awkward area, I’d shell out a few bucks for a professional to deal with it.
I’ve used the “bag it and drown them” method for free-standing nests hanging from a branch before.
Way it works is this: take a burlap sack out at night when the wasps are all inside the nest. Fix up a large bucket of water, and a heavy stone. Carefully and slowly raise the sack over the nest, them tie it around the twig the nest was on. Once the bag is tied the wasps can’t get out. Then, cut the twig and place the nest-in-the-bag in the water. Put the stone on top to keep it submerged, and leave it there overnight.
Next morning - put the sodden nest in the sack full of dead wasps in a garbage bag and dispose of it.
I’m in southern NH, which probably isn’t particularly bad in general, but my yard just seems to be a perfect habitat for wasps and yellow jackets. I actually got rid of the shutters on my south facing house because every single one of them would fill with nests.
We found this nest because the basement door hadn’t been used in a few days, and the nest had grown to where the opening of the door damaged it- which made them very unhappy. It seemed like after that they were more aggressive- though that’s probably not actually true.
In any event, there is now an entire population that considers me the greatest monster in history. And I am OK with that.
I live in a brick house. About ten years ago I noticed a lot of hornets swarming around the wall over the front door. Then I noticed them going in and out of a small hole in the masonry. They apparently had built a nest within the brick wall, above the door. My husband squirted an entire can of bug killer into the hole, but they were still there. So I resorted to plugging up the hole. The little bastards who were trapped outside continued to swarm around the location for a few days, but eventually they were gone. So to this day, within my front wall is a hornet cemetery.
We have a block wall that is covered in Cat’s Claw. One year, I started to notice a lot more paper wasps than normal buzzing around the pool, so I went out at night, and found 6 (!) nests buried in the foliage. I went the next day and got two cans of the foaming wasp spray, and then waited until night, put on my combat gear (jumpsuit, wool hat, goggles), and obliterated them one-by-one. Score: Me - thousands, them: zero.
I really hate those bastards.
