Hi all,
We have a new wasps' nest just below our gutter. What's the best way of dealing with it?
(please no suggestions of letting them be - they're finding their way into the house, so the nest must go)
TIA
Believe it or not, 'Google' is not the answer to every question.
Nuke it from space, it's the only way to be sure.
flip
It's not new, it will have been started at least two months ago. The wasps are not interested in you even if they are in the house.
Call your local pest exterminator. If you're worried about wasps in your house there's no 100% safe way for you to deal with it yourself.
Mary
We had one last year.
"Big D Fly and Wasp Killer", in the red spraycan. Based on Tetramethrin.
I waited until it was nearly dark and hosed the Big D into the entrance hole. Nothing ever came back out of that nest.
BTW: I saw a short piece on the web a few days ago. In the UK, this will be the year of the wasp and hornet. Mild winter, many more survived.
Thank you Tony, I knew someone would have a reasonable reply. Any online suppliers that you know of?
Not really, a ladder is necessary.
Thing is, I'd really like to know how to do this myself. Like most of my diy, this isn't about cost - I know I can pay someone to do this. I'd just like to know that I can solve the problem if necessary.
Doors and windows.
Can you get to it without balancing on a ladder which you'll step back off when one comes at you? I'd ring the local council and see if they do freebies for this - some might do and it's always worth asking. They might do it for a small charge or a large charge or not have a clue what you're going on about depending on what your local council is like.
How are they getting into the house? Is it through windows?
Put on plenty of clothes and goggles so they can't sting you. You might be able to spray from a first-floor window or the top of a step ladder, as the foam travels in a straight line for some distance when it leaves the can. Might be safer than climbing a ladder up to gutter level.
Grunff presented the following explanation :
We found one out on the summer-house last weekend. I don't know the correct way to handle it, but what we did was spray wasp spray around and into the access hole until it became devoid of activity around it, then hooked it down and into an empty paint can. This then allowed us to burn it and the contents. The nest surprisingly weighed almost nothing, so needs to be done when there is no wind.
It was about 15 foot up, in the apex at the front and was tackled from the ground with poles - just in case we needed to get away quick.
engine:
Wasps unlike bees are not that aggressive when dealing with them - that may of course be a related a hive containing 50,000 bees whereas a wasp nest will only have a few thousand, if that. I have some powder I squirt into the entrance area - mine are always under the eaves on the wall head, but then my wall head is only 9 ft up.
I must admit I do like the idea of the can of spray that goes a long distance - must look out for that.
Rob
Agreed, we had at least one nest under the concrete cill of an upstairs window (wooden). I used a combination of powder, foaming killer and blocking up the access holes with silicone. Had to keep going back as either I only got one nest at a time or they had many alternative entrances. No sign of a return this year so fingers crossed.
It is not pleasant up a ladder with wasps but they were not particularly interested in me. If you are worried early in the morning as Simon suggests.
Peter
It might have found this
There was a wasps nest in the loft of a house I was rewiring a few years ago. The method of removal was to send a labourer into the loft with a bin liner who then closed it around the nest and sealed the bag. The bag was passed down the loft hatch and thrown into the garden. The neighbours kids got stung as there was a bit of was frenzy an hour later but no-one moving the nest was stung.
Adam
In article , Grunff writes
Murphy's wasp destroyer, if its still made .. apply after dark or as much as possible as they won't be so active...
Leave it they'll do your garden a lot of good by eating all manner of nasty bugs.
Ah, oh well. Wait 'till it gets cool and activity drops off and apply a liberal dose of wasp killer. Wait. Watch the next day or so for activity. When none, carefully cut down nest and slice in half, gently they are little more than brittle tissue paper. Wonder at the amazing construction, maybe share with your local primary school. Mug up on the life cycle and give a little chat about it and wasps. They really are not a serious threat to humans(*), they certainly don't warrant the paroxysms of panic some people go into at the merest sight of one.
(*) Apart from the very few people who have an allergic reaction to the sting.
No, but you are demonstrating a total lack of common sense. What did you do in the years before the Internet when there was something you needed the answer to. The country seems to now be full of a new generation of stupid helpless people that can't think or do anything for themselves - that's why you get that sort of answer.
Knock the house down, that should cure the problem.
Now that IS lazy, next you will asking for someone to go and buy it for you, drop it off, read the label to you and probably take the nest away for free.
Come on, make SOME effort.
Google!
No, sorry, only joking. I totally agree with you.
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