Wasp Removal

[Berzerker]

With spring I had a few wasps take up home on the plastic garbage can by the garage just under the handle. They didn't bother me and I didn't bother them so I left them alone. The can they chose was for recycling and I haven't needed it much the past few weeks, but they stung me twice this week so I got rid of them. When I do need the can for pick up I dont want them attacking the garbage people so it was time for them to go.

But I dont like having poisons around and I didn't want to kill them, so I googled natural ways of removing wasps...and this worked. I put some folded up paper into a brown paper shopping bag and hung it on a nearby tree. They left... Apparently wasps dont build nests within ~200 ft of other nests and the paper bag tricked them into thinking they had neighbors. I didn't even do a good job disguising the bag, I made it roughly oval but it still looks fairly square and I set it in some branches cuz I didn't want its weight suspended or the bag might tear away from its anchor.

I removed their nest with a screwdriver and there was no sign of them. Amazing! Apparently this'll work just about anywhere, even if they're hiding inside the walls of a house. Just hang a bag nearby and they'll leave.

 

[Cutlass]

That's an interesting idea. I hadn't heard of it before. I wonder how many species it works on?

 

[Berzerker]

They gotta be territorial critters I guess, but there were several 'natural' ways to get rid of similar critters. If the bag didn't work I was gonna buy some mint oil (peppermint, spearmint, lemongrass) and coat the area around them. The bag was safer, I didn't even have to get close to their nest.

 

[Kyriakos]

This may have worked, but wasn't fun. Throwing acid on them would be more dramatic.

 

[Berzerker]

I'd probably earn a Darwin Award for that

I remember a case a few years back of some kids putting an explosive (maybe an M80 or barrel bomb) into a hornet's nest and they ran inside the house to watch out the window. The bomb blew up the nest...and blew out the window. The hornets went for them and one of the kids was killed.

 

[rah]

Never heard that one. I'll have to remember it. I usually just spray their nest in the evening when they are a tad more dormant. But that spray certainly costs more than a bag.

 

[Bootstoots]

Hitting them with sulfuric acid would definitely work better than an explosive. Insects are small and have no air-filled cavities, so explosives are a bad choice when dealing with them - as the surviving kids could attest. Sulfuric acid destroys cellulose-based matter and leaves plastic intact, which would seem to be perfect if you want to kill them gruesomely while leaving your can alone. But I'd never heard of the paper bag trick - very clever, and IMO much better than acid!

If I somehow had a supply of wasp pheromones, I'd love to spray them with those and watch them go berzerk and sting each other to death, or display any other behavior depending on the pheromone. Not because it would necessarily kill off the nest, just because it's fun to trick other lifeforms into behaving stupidly for my own amusement.

 

[Berzerker]

soapy water supposedly kills them

 

[Kyriakos]

Hitting them with sulfuric acid would definitely work better than an explosive. Insects are small and have no air-filled cavities, so explosives are a bad choice when dealing with them - as the surviving kids could attest. Sulfuric acid destroys cellulose-based matter and leaves plastic intact, which would seem to be perfect if you want to kill them gruesomely while leaving your can alone. But I'd never heard of the paper bag trick - very clever, and IMO much better than acid!

If I somehow had a supply of wasp pheromones, I'd love to spray them with those and watch them go berzerk and sting each other to death, or display any other behavior depending on the pheromone. Not because it would necessarily kill off the nest, just because it's fun to trick other lifeforms into behaving stupidly for my own amusement.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I'll go ahead and add the obligatory statement that this thread fooled me.

Anyway, its refreshing... and informative. Thanks Berz!

 

[Bamspeedy]

Is this only for black wasps or will it work on other bees like yellow jackets?

 

[JollyRoger]

Affirmative action usually just agitates the more harmless ones

 

[Berzerker]

Is this only for black wasps or will it work on other bees like yellow jackets?

these were black... I dont know if they're mud dawbers. They've been around here for decades (the mud dawbers) and never bothered us, but these critters were rather aggressive. I dont know about yellow jackets but I'd give it a try, doesn't cost anything. The website I was looking at suggested keeping bees around for pollination so dont run them off completely

 

[luiz]

The more dramatic way, which is favored by the Brazilian equivalent of rednecks, is burning their nest. Soak it with some flammable and then light it up. Kids used to do it back at my school, much to the despair of teachers.

 

[Kyriakos]

these were black... I dont know if they're mud dawbers. They've been around here for decades (the mud dawbers) and never bothered us, but these critters were rather aggressive. I dont know about yellow jackets but I'd give it a try, doesn't cost anything. The website I was looking at suggested keeping bees around for pollination so dont run them off completely

Wasps don't really serve a role re pollination, cause their body is virtually slick and thus it doesn't get stuff stuck on it. Also, most types of wasp are more closely related to ants, not bees

 

[onejayhawk]

Since the obligatory jokes about ethnic cleansing have been covered, try this. There are a number of inexpensive plastic things that can be inserted into a bottle to make a trap. This just uses the bottle itself.
https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-2-liter-soda-bottle-wasp-t-43290

 

[Berzerker]

Wasps don't really serve a role re pollination, cause their body is virtually slick and thus it doesn't get stuff stuck on it. Also, most types of wasp are more closely related to ants, not bees

i didn't mean to conflate bees with yellow jackets, only that bees should be left alone for their pollinating benefits

 

[Bamspeedy]

Wonder if honeycomb cereal would work.

i didn't mean to conflate bees with yellow jackets, only that bees should be left alone for their pollinating benefits

Except when they are building all their nests above my door or in my vents....

 

[Berzerker]

we had bees build a hive inside the house walls... we called a beekeeper to collect them. He brought his son with him, the kid got stung and turns out he's allergic

 

[Zelig]

we had bees build a hive inside the house walls... we called a beekeeper to collect them. He brought his son with him, the kid got stung and turns out he's allergic

My dad was a beekeeper and brought me along on wasp-removal calls.

Usual approach if the nest is somewhere we could reach was to suit up, and then use a shopvac with some water to suck up all the wasps you can find. Poke nest a bit to agitate them, and then suck them all up as they come out. Poke nest some more to break it up, pausing to suck up any wasps you see, until you've sucked up entire nest. Go dump out shopvac in an empty field/compost bin.