Best way to eliminate wasps?

[96 Buff]

Our house, and the ones in our immediate vicinity, have a ton of wasps. Part of this is caused by what's now year five in a drought along with mild winters. Hopefully next winter will be cold enough to cut the population down.

In the meatime, though, the number of wasps in our backyard makes it tough to use it, since they're all over the place. From what I can tell, we have both paper wasps and western yellowjackets. I know that, technically, the paper wasps are beneficial becuase they eat lots & lots of other bugs, but there are so many of them that confrontations are inevitable.

I've done the usual hunting for nests and take those out when I can. Does anyone know of a better long-term solution?

 

[andaval]

Sounds like you need some wasp-eating gorillas.

Growing up, we would always toss a cup of gasoline on the nest. Kills the larva and the adults in less than a second. It's really easy.

 

[Hellraiser97]

I used to spray carborater cleaner on them. That **** kills anything and kills it fast.

 

[tropheus]

I don't think I would recommend tossing gasoline on a wasp nest attached to a building or other flammable material???

whatever you do, do it right before sun down, that's when the wasps are back in the nest and the are hesitant to leave.

 

[dustin_c1]

Tell them you worship the devil. That irritates them to no end.

You can also throw a lot of loud parties. It works even better if you invite a lot of minorities and play rap music. Having 4-8 kids playing on your front lawn all the time will annoy them also. Just keep at it, sooner or later, they'll move out of your neighborhood.

 

[MirrOlure]

One thing you could do is install a bird feeder, and indirectly attract mockingbirds. They don't eat seeds, but they hang around with other birds, and they eat wasps.

For individual wasps, a tennis racket is lethal. You just swing it at them, and the strings cut them right in two.

Finally, in you can find the individual nests:

Make a torch (broom stick with newspaper taped to the end), light it, and slowly move it right up to the nest.

The wasps' wings burn instantly, and they fall to the ground and waller around until you stomp them. Then you just burn up the nest in case there are any eggs in there.

This concludes MirrOlures fun and organic wasp elimination seminar.

 

[NickDanger]

I was told that you can put out a jar of apple juice and borax they will meet their death of their own accord.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

Let them all sting you. Since they die after stinging, you'll knock the population down pretty quick.

Understand I only share this method with you because you're a Buffalo fan. I'd never divulge a secret like this to some undeserving Texan...

 

[WooHorn]

I would use one of those mosquito mister machines that sprays pyrethrum, althought they are expensive. Althought they don't publicize it, all of the tree huggers around here say that pyrethrum kills all insects, including wasps.

 

[DMLonghorn]

In reply to:

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[Clarence Iba]

Mormons.

 

[96 Buff]

Thanks, Sangre!

I do wish I could try the gasoline & carbeurator cleaner options, but since their nests are built on the houses, I doubt it'd be appreciated much.

Nick, I'll try the apple juice option for the yellowjackets. They're the most aggressive ones and scavenge for sugar later in the season. The paper wasps eat only other insects, though.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

96 Buff,
My pleasure!

Seriously, though, the pyrethrum (or any synthtic derivative thereof) is probably the best advice I've seen posted. That stuff will kill any insects it contacts, but its persistence in the environment is extremely short (hours or less), so you'd have to directly spray the critters and their nests to do the job right.

 

[tropheus]

what about a nest 35 feet off the ground???

 

[hornimal]

go to a hardware store and buy a couple of cans of the wasp killer that shoots that stream out of the can. I've used it before and it kills them on contact. it also soaks the nest and kills any wasps that may visit later. you can knock the nest down the following day and torch it to make sure the larva are really dead.

 

[KaiserSoze]

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[Holden]

A little more enviromentally sound method is hot, soapy (SOAPY) water. The soap coats their wings and will drop them instantly while allowing for a slow, painful death (you can speed this up of course while they wry on the ground w/ your shoes). Taught to me a few years back and works like a charm.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

Evil Beaver,
I know that, I studied entomology at UT. It was all part of the joke.

 

[Mrmyke709]

Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?

 

[accuratehorn]

Tom DeLay says fog the neighborhood with DDT.

 

[bub]

I enjoy getting wasps with a spray of dish soap. Dawn works great. This does not work beyond eye level. Squirt the whole nest down VERY quickly. They get mired in the gooey soap and slowly, painfully drown due to their spiracles being clogged.

Good fun too.

 

[FawltyTowers]

turn 'em on to Judaism

 

[Lat22]

I love all of the different exotic ways to kill wasps but all you need are a few cans of that Ortho Wasp and Hornet Killer that shoots a jetstream of poison that drops them on the spot. Not nearly as exciting as carb cleaner or fire, but more effective.

 

[Boozehound]

I'm gonna have to go with the commerical solution too. A 35' jet of wasp spray is much much easier than trying to douse them with diesel (my favorite non-traditional killer). Another good one for you sickos out there is spray glue. The glue doesn't kill them, but they slow down and eventually stop moving when the glue sets and they're stuck to their nest.

 

[bozo_casanova]

soapy water works great.

But you shouldn't do anything more than just thin out the population, because if you do you'll have a tent worm and bag worm problem in your trees later in the year.

I don't know where you live, but if you have a LOT of wasps, chances are you don't have enough spiders. If you thin out the wasp population some, the spiders should be able to control it.

 

[TexasSun]

I wouldn't say my way is the best, but it sure made for great entertainment during the long summers when I was young. The neighborhood terrors, myself included would go "bee hunting" with wiffle ball bats. Knock the nests down and go to town at the bees/wasps/hornets flying around. Pretty good practice for hand eye coordination and a great motivator to hit your target or get the crap stung out of you.

We did this for a couple of summers and got pretty good, until a hornets nest fell on Jason Humphries head and he had to go to the clinic with about 30 sting wounds to the scalp. Hey, better him than me.

 

[Lat22]

We used wiffle ball bats on them in the swimming pool. Hell, I still do.

 

[tropheus]

how bad do the stings hurt???

I say this because I've only been stung once and I was something like 3 years old. It is one of my first memories and I remember it hurting soooo bad.

Of course, my pain tolerance has gone up quite a bit since I was 3, but the memory is still enough to scare the crap outta me.

Anybody been stung as an adult? How bad did it hurt?

 

[sblazer]

just wanted to say Hi to the new board. heh

 

[96 Buff]

Tropheus, the pain is different for each person. I usually get hit 2-3 times per year since wasps & yellowjackets are so prevalent here. Last summer I went up on to my roof to make some adjustments to my DirecTV dish after a rather nasty windstorm. Well, little did I know that some wasps had built a nest in the open end of the dish's arm. Needless to say they were a little pissed at me torquing awau at their home so about 7-8 of 'em charged & 5 landed successfully on my arms. Wasp stings for me feel like someone takes a small sewing needle an jabs it into your arm very quickly. After that it's more of an annoyance dealing with the swelling. But again, everyone reacts differently.