I've been on the hunt for jackets since it started to get warm here. This time last year I had a swollen, painful knucle on my thumb. I was trimming the hedges and happened to catch a nest, right under a honeysuckle vine. Oh my god! It took me a few minutes to realize wtf had happened and then I was ready to kill the little suckers. We can get VAPE stuff here and woo-hoo does that stuff work (on anything creepy, crawly or fligh enabled). I've seen lots of small nests which I make sure to stomp then burn (how I was taught to make sure they're dead), but I totally agree about the timing. You need to get them all if you want to prevent a new nest a few days later.
"I've seen lots of small nests which I make sure to stomp…"
Just be careful when attacking a nest. Yellow-jackets secrete a hormone when injured that causes the rest of the hive to swarm the threat. Max stuck his nose in a nest in the woods last year and the suckers swarmed and followed him down the trail for at least 100 yards, trying like hell to burrow through his coat to sting him (he avoids that particular part of the trail now). Spraying is a safer way.
Tim_the_Soldier (aka thread killer and nun thriller) (mail):
Seriously, I use military-grade Raid/Napalm to kill those wasps. Too bad it won't work on all wasps - like Ann Coulter, oh wait, she's a hellbeast, not an actual living being.
Shep, I crush the nest AFTER I kill all the live ones. Stops the ability to return to the nest for any that I missed, as well as killing any larva. I may be "nuts" as Tim calls me, but I'm not that crazy. :D
But if you don't take out the nest, you'll have more than a few wasps.
Don't just remove/take it down. You must destroy it.
A few years ago I had a nest of Mud Daubers on my front porch. I wasn't too concerned until the mail carrier refused to deliver mail, then I sprayed.
That turned out to be a pretty scary project though, they didn't die right away and swarmed, so I ran into the house. They knew I was in there and were buzzing against the window. Then I had to throw some rags down under the kitchen door as a few were crawling under it.
When they calmed down (died eventually) I removed the nest and put in on my bench in the garage and forgot about it. The next summer, while in the garage I noticed a bee crawling out of the nest. I killed it and cut the next in half. It was full of live hatching bees. They were sealed off from the spray in little chambers.
My tool of choice is the 15'spray Raid. Saturate the nest and about a yard around it. Next day, knock it down and crush it.
My Fuzzy dog needs a fresh education on bees and wasps each year. She will snap at them, she will catch them.... and then I come home to the Nose That Inhaled Chicago.
I'm not flying there to kill them for you, Tim. Use the Windex.
Just be careful when attacking a nest. Yellow-jackets secrete a hormone when injured that causes the rest of the hive to swarm the threat. Max stuck his nose in a nest in the woods last year and the suckers swarmed and followed him down the trail for at least 100 yards, trying like hell to burrow through his coat to sting him (he avoids that particular part of the trail now). Spraying is a safer way.
I kill all the dead ones too.
Don't just remove/take it down. You must destroy it.
A few years ago I had a nest of Mud Daubers on my front porch. I wasn't too concerned until the mail carrier refused to deliver mail, then I sprayed.
That turned out to be a pretty scary project though, they didn't die right away and swarmed, so I ran into the house. They knew I was in there and were buzzing against the window. Then I had to throw some rags down under the kitchen door as a few were crawling under it.
When they calmed down (died eventually) I removed the nest and put in on my bench in the garage and forgot about it. The next summer, while in the garage I noticed a bee crawling out of the nest. I killed it and cut the next in half. It was full of live hatching bees. They were sealed off from the spray in little chambers.
My Fuzzy dog needs a fresh education on bees and wasps each year. She will snap at them, she will catch them.... and then I come home to the Nose That Inhaled Chicago.