Wasp nest in planter

[Vir Campestris]

Our thatchers did this. Finished them off nicely.

You really don't want angry wasps when you're up a ladder!

Andy

[stuart noble]

I spent a few days up a ladder working on brickwork next to a nest entrance. The wasps were slightly agitated for a few minutes at the beginning but then discovered that my hammer and bolster made good landing strips. From then on we just ignored each other

[Huge]

I've used this technique. Do it in the evening when the wasps are tucked up in the next.

[F Murtz]

I can not understand this preoccupation with wasps, just leave them alone, In over 70 years I have not been stung, (only by bees on rare occasion, usually where if I had been the bee I would have stung too) I have been near loads of them, even hornets and I just ignore them. There is one particular mud wasp which will hover 6" in front of your face on its trips for mud and if you do nothing it will just proceed on its business. The only exception I would make is if you have someone allergic to them in the family, then I might exterminate.

[Tim Streater]

Try having food outside at the end of the summer, when the wasps have finished raising the queens for next year and are bored. You want to bite down on a sandwich that has a wasp on it?

Hornets are considerably more dangerous than wasps. If they get the idea that you have any interest in their nest at all, you'll find yourself being chased a considerable distance.

[Mike Barnes]

I'm the OP and this whole thing started when SWMBO was stung several times. She's not allergic but she does have a strong reaction, and didn't take kindly to the sleepless nights or big red bulge covering one of her cheeks for three or four days.

I've had two unprovoked stings in the last few days, but for me it's just a few hours of mild discomfort.

However I understand that things are likely to get worse as we head towards autumn.

[Peter Crosland]

Get the professionals in. What you are contemplating is likely to result in you being serious hurt.

[tony sayer]

Do they still sell and or make Murphy's wasp destroyer?. If they do then sprinkle that over and around the entrance to the nest at night when they have bedded down, and thats about the last you'll see of them.

Used it several times over the years and very effective indeed;)....

[The Natural Philosopher]

alternatively put a wine bottle half full of water with some sugar in it near the nest.

Empty nest, full bottle of dead wasps.

[polygonum]

Back in the 1960s, I remember seeing jam jars (literally - not cars), with some jam/honey/other sweet substance at the bottom and a paper cap with a slot cut into it held on with a rubber band or string. They were, it seemed, everywhere. Wasps would fly to the cap, push their way through the slot, hit the stickiness and be unable to get out. Result could look like a somewhat amazing piece of amber being formed.

[Tim+]

I heard this was a DIY group.

Is killing wasps rocket science?

Tim

[Tim Streater]

Take a look at the pic posted by the OP - link above. The difficulty, ISTM, is not so much what to do and what to use, but that the entrance to the nest is unknown unless the foliage is severely cut back - and good luck with that.

[Bill]

In message , tony sayer writes

I use ant killer that contains Permethrin, or similar, this seems quite effective, its only downside is that it harms aquatic creatures. I've removed one wasps nest already this year that was in the eves above a lounge window, and a couple last year.

I once had a dozen, counted them, wasp stings on my back and although I had some amazing psychedelic dreams that night I really do not want a repeat experience. Wasps are the bully boys of nature and can sting for no reason, even if not provoked. I've recently had a honey, hive, bees nest removed and re-homed from a bedroom ceiling void and they didn't worry me. Wasps are a totally different kettle of fish though.

[Davey]

Permethrin is also dangerous to cats, I believe.

[Huge]

So, a win-win situation, then.

[Jethro_uk]

Many years ago, aged 12 I was on holiday in a Mediterranean country. My Dad was helping some friends on a farm pull out an old tree stump. They chained a tractor to it, started pulling, and the air went black, as a cloud of hornets came out. My Dad shouted at us to run, as he picked up my brother (aged 4) and pegged it too ... we found a little shack in the middle of the field for tool storage, and locked ourselves in. Luckily there were no windows, and the roof was on tight.

[The Other Mike]

Leave alone

Fit temporary deflectors of thin ply or plastic so they don't fly towards the occupied area

Wrap the planter in a large opaque plastic bag / sheet, seal with gaffer tape, provide just one small exit close to their existing one, maybe with plastic conduit, let them find the exit then use off the shelf powder (not foam) around the exit until no more activity is seen

[Andrew Mawson]

Make friends with your wasps :)

We have quite a few and they make the most amazing paper like structures in the projecting roof beams of our outbuildings. Admittedly once we did have a swarm of them and a chap came round and puffed some substance at them that gently put them to sleep for eternity

Andrew

[The Other Mike]

Had plenty around this year robbing out any remaining honey in some near empty bee hive brood boxes. Wasps are suprisingly docile away from the nest, probably less so than the bees and they clear off rapidly when the frames are moved even slightly, bees tend to need a nudge on the bum to get them to back out of a cell and fly off.

Had to kill a small nest of wasps in a shed that were exiting too close to a path, got stung when picking raspberries a couple of feet away before I knew they were there.

P.S. Wasps also pollinate soft fruits like raspberries, surprising for some to see bumblebees honeybees and wasps on the same cluster of flowers with no conflict.