Wasp Attack

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Help! I've been invaded by ground-nesting and extremely aggressive wasps! One nest in my herb garden--I've been stung repeatedly when trying to cut fresh herbs and another nest in the parkway at the base of a telephone company connection box. Stung repeatedly when mowing. The ones in the herb garden look like common yellow jackets, the others don't have the yellow stripes. Both are exceptionally aggressive.

Any suggestions to eradicate them? Preferrably without killing the herb garden (or making them unsafe to eat). My dad used to pour in gasoline and throw in a lit match... I'd consider that in the herb garden, but not by the phone company connection box.

Al Letellier_9

wasps

I had the same problem with yellow jackets in our office AC unit...called in an animal/insect control guy who dusted in a little powder that the bees loved and took into the nest....next day, no bees.
Just like a heating problem....call in a pro...those stingers hurt !!!

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Brad White_9

Soda Pop

Or whatever you call it out there...

Open a bottle of Coca-Cola, Fanta Orange, Root Beer. Not the diet stuff but loaded with sugar.

Leave the uncapped bottle out there. The buggers climb in attracted to the sweetness and CO2 then drown. Their teensy weensy cries for help attract more and down they go.

Give it a shot.

And being a WASP myself, I am not offended, BTW.

Mark Hunt

WHEW!!! For a second

I thought you were going to tell him to pour diet Coke down the hole and then shove in some Mentos.

Woulda' been number one on YouTube for weeks!

Edit: Wasp killer

Mark H

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Mike T., Swampeast MO

Thanks gentlemen. I'll try the soda during the day and Sevin dust them at night (using a flashlight with a red filter lest I disturb them). Did some searching and the Sevin dust is supposed to kill them and I don't mind too much using it in the garden.

I'm used to dealing with obnoxious bugs and critters of all sorts but these are absolutely out to get me. Have been stung on at least 6 occasions in the last two weeks often with multiple stings each time.

Brad White_9

Pyrethrins

are really cool. One hit in mid-air and down they go.

You can play Spitfire to their Messerschmitts... nothing like air to air combat while you are at it. Tally Ho!

For stings- straight ammonia on the sting (think it stings now??) then follow with a paste in water of Adolphs Meat Tenderizer or a slice of raw papaya. It is the enzyme papayin which neutralizes the venom, so not any meat tenderizer will do. Look for papaya as a principal ingredient.

At least it seems by now you will not need an Epi Pen.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Oh wonderful! A spouting column of enraged and highly aggressive stinging insects that chase me through the yard...

BTW, did anyone see the Mythbusters episode where they were testing to see just what it is about Diet Coke the gives such a grand display? I missed after testing plain carbonated water then carbonated water with artifical sweetner (aspartame?), but it still didn't seem as impressive as the real thing. My guess was that it was the combination of that plus the phosphoric acid (and possibly the caffeine as well) that does the trick.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Actually, a bunch of black wasp stings helped me once. I had an acutely pinched spinal nerve a few years ago that gave me a new definition of pain and left the back of my right hand and a "stripe" up my arm dead numb.

Unknowingly stuck my hand into a hidden wasp nest. Pulled it out covered with wasps and wondered, "Why aren't they stinging me?" then realized that I just couldn't feel the stings. Over the next month or so, the nerve came back to life with obnoxious pain that gradually crept along the nerve all the way back to my spine. As the pain left each area the feeling returned! I'd say I have at least 90% return of sensation. Both the neurosurgeon and neurologist who worked on me during the pinched nerve episode are at a loss to explain.

Mark Hunt

Saw some of that episode


missed the results though.

My next-door neighbor HAD to try this for ourselves this summer.

The girl at the shop-and-go thought we were, and I quote, "cool".

5 64oz. bottles of diet coke and 5 packs of Mentos later(not to mention the summer libations) and the yard was a sticky mess.

The bees seemed to like it!

Mark H



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Mitch_4

MIKE!!!

Can't say I like your cure man....

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_1

not recommended - but it works!

Danged yellow jackets. Huge nest discovered while trying to trim along roadway. Discovery included a less than delightful notification from an unfriendly horde.

Take pressure sprayer. Add one quart of gasolene. Pump it up. Hold ligter (ignited) at tip of nozzle and - voila - a flame thrower! No more bees. Disclaimer: Do not try this at home.



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Brad White_9

Flame Throwers...

Just like they used on Beewo Jima!

Sorry, had to get that out

m dewolfe

wasps

ok...Take you shopvac and just add a little bit of seven powder to the bottom. Slide the nozzle over near the entrance and then sit back and have one cold beer....voila...no more bees. takes about twenty minutes. I did this a few weeks ago and it was great...mark

jp_2

odd you say that

I noticed the wasps a pain in the butt today, hope the pop bottle works, they bug my hummingbirds.

EBEBRATT-Ed

A few years back I was weed wacking and walked over a yellow jacket nest. They went up inside my pants.Got stung 5-6 times and dropped the weed wacker and ran into the house to check out the stings.

Here I was with 4-5 yellow jackets flying around in the bathroom and me with my pants off. I got outta there and trapped them in the bathroom returning with the bee spray.


Speaking of the bee spray does most of the stuff you by now seem less potent than in the past???

Ed

Rob_32

wasp control info

I just eliminated a small yellowjacket nest in the end of a landscape timber last week, after being stung for the second time and having my first-ever mild allergic reaction to a sting.

Two useful links:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2075.html

http://www.pestproducts.com/yellowjacket.htm

I used a spray can of Shoo Fly hornet and wasp killer, after dusk, sprayed the whole can right into the hole. No more wasps. Nest fell out the other day. Dead larvae, the whole bit. I believe it's pyrethins as Brad mentioned.

http://www.shoo-fly.com/aerosols.html the can was next to the similar Ortho product at my local hardware store. Shoo-Fly had more toxins....

Not sure how any of this stuff might affect herbs. Probably not good.

Darin(in Michigan)

Wow Man....

Yea. I don't get nearly the buzz off of the new stuff that I used to. Hey, bug dope is expensive and the company pays for Wasp spray

garret_8

professional chemicals

We had a major yellowjackets problem a few years back.. they'd set up a nest in behind the fascia boards on our brick house, and who knows where else in there.

I tried a lot of things over the next few weeks, including all of the available to the public sprays... I probably had 500 yellow jackets up there... ugh. Anyway, after a few weeks of doing much nothing much except driving them into the house, I stopped in at a professional exterminators shop to get help.

They suggested I try something stronger, and sold me some mystery spray I had to (literally) show ID and sign federal paperwork to get (environmental stuff I think). Wow, that's some serious stuff... sprayed it behind the fascia and in about an hour, no more bees. Just lots of ver surprised and very dead bee corpses.

scott w.

yellow jacket in the house

Had a nest of yellow jackets in the soffit overhang under the second story at my mothers house. The bees were going in and out on a mortar joint. Decided I would just plug the hole and smother them. They would eventually die, right. WRONG!

The bees decided to make their way into the house and ended up in my mothers bed and she ended up getting stung several times. Then I found out sevin dust will kill yellow jackets. Just took a cup and filled it half full and threw it on the opening. It stuck enough to the brick, the bees tracked it inot the nest and they were gone in 24 hours. This worked also for the nest in the yard that I ran over with the mower. Just poured some over the opening. The bees did the rest

garret_8

Yep, same situation here, and same (stupid) attempt to fix it. I wasn't going to tell that part of the story.

First genius idea I had was to seal up the space between the fascia and the brick with spray foam insulation... neede to be done anyway for heat loss, so I figured what the heck.

What the heck indeed... I was right pleased with myself for the first 10 minutes, as sticky clumps of bees made their way out and fell to the ground. Then the foam dried, and the bees showed me how creative they could be...

Dozens got in the house.. amazingly no one got stung, we even had two or three huge queen lookin ones in the house. They didn't look pleased with their new predicament... I don't think they usually get out much.

mtfallsmikey

A Japenese beetle trap will work too

Found this out by accident. The hornets/yellow jackets were hitting on the hummingbird feeders, with the red sugar water inside. Put some of the sweet red water in the trap, set it beside the bird feeder. I truly love to watch them try to climb back out. BTW, haven't seen if any of you are allergic to stings. I always have my Epipen by my side.

ScottMP

How did it

work on your mother in law ??

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John_102

Check with your county extension agent

Here in SC, Clemson University has a great resource - two entomologists do a weekly noon-time radio call-in show, fielding bug questions from around the state & a bit beyond. It's hilarious & educational. Not quite CarTalk, but close.

The university Home & Garden site website is http://hgic.clemson.edu/ and there is a toll-free number, too. Lots of data sheets on insects, plants, etc.

One thing I learned from the bug guys is that yellow jackets are inclined to use the nesting site year after year....

Good luck.

Empire_2

Home Depot has your answer,........

The product is called "Sevin". It is a power based insecticide designed to stick to the critters and lower their body temp and kill the entire nest. Can be applied with turkey baster or the like. I personally will never buy any spray for it only temporarily kills the outer bee's.

Mike T.

Harold

I ususally just mix some Malathion in a garden sprayer, wait for nightfall, stick the sprayer into the hole, and spray.

Just did one last week. Tried the wasp sprays three times (because I had it there) without success. It would not get into the nest. The nest was somewhere under a closed in step.

BillW@honeywell

Bee Bopper....

Available at most safety equipment suppliers and many distributors. Kills stingers instantly, even those nasty black and white ones. Used about 1/8 can on a watermelon sized nest in one of the pine trees, swept up 3 dustpan-fulls of those monsters next morning.

D lux_2

If you want low cost no chem.

shopvac near hole sucks down and kills , Or maybe black powder would me more fun

John_102

Yeah, man!

I wondered how long it would take to get to explosives.... A bit like groundhogs.

Then there's thermo-nuclear. Of course, we have the cautionary classic film, THEM, to consider. A classic slice of sci-fi cheese.

Wasn't it here that the female lead asks the dashing scientist, "It this the end?" "The beginning of the end," sez he.

What a line! Right up there with "It was a dark & stormy night". Love it.

Unknown

disco

I moved the unused patio chair with wasp nest underneath, unknowily of course, and swarm of wasp got the best of me and jumped off the deck and telling my dog to get away as my neighbor watched me and said, " I didn't know u can disco dance" 9 stings resulted from this "dance"

Tony_23

Hey Mr. Bee...

> I wondered how long it would take to get to

> explosives.... A bit like groundhogs.

>

> Then

> there's thermo-nuclear. Of course, we have the

> cautionary classic film, THEM, to consider. A

> classic slice of sci-fi cheese.

>

> Wasn't it

> here that the female lead asks the dashing

> scientist, "It this the end?" "The beginning of

> the end," sez he.

>

> What a line! Right up there

> with "It was a dark & stormy night". Love it.





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Tony_23

Hey Mr. Yellowjacket...

Meet your friend Mr. Hummingbird.

Little C-4 Hummingbirds reminiscent of Caddyshack's squirrels

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JackFre

Yesterday, I was painting the facia board

on the house. 3 stories up on an extension ladder. I saw a wasp on the edge of the gutter. I looked right at him and about 2 sec later he flew the 6 ft between us in a "bee-line" shall we say. He hit me right in the left nostril. I swatted at him an jusmped as much as I could on a ladder. His stinger just grazed the inside of my left nostril. Way weird sensation. Not a full sting . My sinuses just went nuts for about 3 hrs. Bee is gone, nose is back to normal and facia board looks great. I was lucky...that far up in the air!

Douglas Hicks

Try one of the nasty little things between your motorcycle helmet and your head.. You look a bit strange riding down the road hitting yourself on the head.

When I was working in the woods, we poured gas/oil mixture around the bee tree, waited a couple of minutes and then threw some fuel right up under the nest. Waited a few more minutes and then cut the tree. Always worked.

We carry a can of bee/wasp killer in the vans, right at the back door, top shelf.

Sodium Hydroxide is used to cut grease in exhaust sytems, works real good on wasps. It will also remove your skin, probably not a good idea to use, but it does drop those flying bombers right down to the ground. The pressure washer takes the fight our of them.

We find that in hunting camp the wasp traps work very well. Do not do like my soon to be ex-son-in-law. He was thumping on a wasp trap we had in the back yard. He kept at it until he knocked it loose, the trap fell on the ground and broke open. I just picked up my granddaughter and walked away.. Left D/S to deal with the wasps.

Fire guy