giant ground wasp colony

We have an absolutely huge colony of wasps on a strip of lawn. There is about a one foot tall mound of dirt that appears to be their main entrance, but they have literally hundreds of other entrances over a 30' x 8' area. At any given time during the day, there are dozens of bees all over that stretch of yard. When we have guests over, this is the area they usually park in. How can I possibly kill a colony this large, there must be thousands of wasps.

Reply to
Rob
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6-8 oz of Dawn dish liquid in a gallon of water is an immediate contact kill.

Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine, one need only own a shovel.

-- Aldo Leopold

Reply to
Tom Jaszewski

pine, one need only own a shovel.

Reply to
Rob

dynamite napalm bulldozer

hire an exterminator

all of the above will work just some have more extra results associiated with them.

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expressed are those of my wifes, I had no input whatsoever. Remove "nospam" from email addy.

Reply to
Roy

A generous pinch of insecticide dust or wetable powder, tossed at the mouth of an entrance hole early in the morning before they wake up, or in the early evening as they are almost settling down for the night. They will get the dust on their feet and track it into the hive and poison the nest.

Methoxychlor 50WP works well; I've used it a couple of times on huge inaccessable yellow jacket nests. Sevin 10% dust should be good too, but not as fast acting (keep sevin away from honey bees!) If you don't want to use chemical poisons, you can try rotenone dust but I don't know how well it will work.

-Bob

Reply to
zxcvbob

In article , snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com says... :) We have an absolutely huge colony of wasps on a strip of lawn. There is :) about a one foot tall mound of dirt that appears to be their main entrance, :) but they have literally hundreds of other entrances over a 30' x 8' area. :) At any given time during the day, there are dozens of bees all over that :) stretch of yard. When we have guests over, this is the area they usually :) park in. How can I possibly kill a colony this large, there must be :) thousands of wasps. :) :) :) Rob, the description you are describing sounds more like Cicada Killer Wasps. They are a solitary wasp that can nest in the same areas as many others. I have never known anyone personally who has been stung by them. Only the female has the stinger and she is usually only seen around the nest stocking it with food. If they are Cicada Killers, they will be gone in a few weeks until next year. If you feel you need to do anything for them any sort of insecticide labeled for ground wasps/bees works fine, just have to hit each individual opening. Digger bees would be another thought, but once again they are solitary in nature nesting along side others. They can be a long term problem, but you can encourage them to move on by keeping the area wet. If you happen to get a pic of the wasps/bees please post them somewheres fore viewing or feel free to email them to me.

Reply to
Lar

Get a large can of the hornet/wasp spray. This allow you to stand

10-15 feet away. About a half hour after sundown spray the mound.
Reply to
Phisherman

Well, I tried to take some pics of the bees themselves, but they refused to sit still. They are constantly in motion, and appear to be about 1/2" in length, and from what I could see when I tried to get close to them, they appeared to be greyish in color and perhaps even kind of fuzzy. Very strange looking for a bee, but I could be wrong since they move really quickly. I'm in the process of putting some high resolution, non bandwidth friendly pics of their home at

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thanks for the info on chemical killers, I have no issues with that. Is this the sort of stuff I could pick up at Home Depot or would I need to find some sort of specialty store?

Reply to
Rob

Using a "root injector" does work. And a drench is also largely effective. Colony entries are not "torturous paths" or labyrinths. Based on experience rather than "think".

Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine, one need only own a shovel.

-- Aldo Leopold

Reply to
Tom Jaszewski

In article , snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com says... :) Well, I tried to take some pics of the bees themselves, but they refused to :) sit still. They are constantly in motion, and appear to be about 1/2" in :) length, and from what I could see when I tried to get close to them, they :) appeared to be greyish in color and perhaps even kind of fuzzy. Very :) strange looking for a bee, but I could be wrong since they move really :) quickly. I'm in the process of putting some high resolution, non bandwidth :) friendly pics of their home at

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:) Posters, thanks for the info on chemical killers, I have no issues with :) that. Is this the sort of stuff I could pick up at Home Depot or would I :) need to find some sort of specialty store? :) :) :) "Lar" wrote in message :) news: snipped-for-privacy@netnews.comcast.net... :) > In article , snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com :) says... :) > :) We have an absolutely huge colony of wasps on a strip of lawn. There :) is :) > :) about a one foot tall mound of dirt that appears to be their main :) entrance, :) > :) but they have literally hundreds of other entrances over a 30' x 8' :) area. :) > :) At any given time during the day, there are dozens of bees all over :) that :) > :) stretch of yard. When we have guests over, this is the area they :) usually :) > :) park in. How can I possibly kill a colony this large, there must be :) > :) thousands of wasps. :) > :) :) > :) :) > :) :) > Rob, the description you are describing sounds more like Cicada Killer :) Wasps. :) > They are a solitary wasp that can nest in the same areas as many others. I :) > have never known anyone personally who has been stung by them. Only the :) > female has the stinger and she is usually only seen around the nest :) stocking :) > it with food. If they are Cicada Killers, they will be gone in a few weeks :) > until next year. If you feel you need to do anything for them any sort of :) > insecticide labeled for ground wasps/bees works fine, just have to hit :) each :) > individual opening. Digger bees would be another thought, but once again :) they :) > are solitary in nature nesting along side others. They can be a long term :) > problem, but you can encourage them to move on by keeping the area wet. If :) > you happen to get a pic of the wasps/bees please post them somewheres fore :) > viewing or feel free to email them to me. :) > -- :) > It is said that the early bird gets the worm, The nesting site looks like what I see with digger bees rather than a wasp colony. Here are a couple of pics of the bee found on the web.
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An insecticide dust would probably be the best control if you go that route, but you would need to apply it to every hole and new ones that will appear the next couple of weeks. Supposedly you can make them move on by keeping the area wet, but depending on how big an area it is, may not be practical. They usually nest in semi barren locations and planting ground covers, if desired, may discourage them from showing up next year.

Reply to
Lar

Thanks Lar, it looks like the first picture you posted. The yellow and black coloring in the second picture wasn't evident to me. Maybe I'll try setting up a couple of lawn sprinklers in the area and see if that helps. In the event it doesn't, can the insecticide be purchased at a chain store, or perhaps garden stores generally carry it?

route,

Reply to
Rob

In article , snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com says... :) Thanks Lar, it looks like the first picture you posted. The yellow and :) black coloring in the second picture wasn't evident to me. Maybe I'll try :) setting up a couple of lawn sprinklers in the area and see if that helps. :) In the event it doesn't, can the insecticide be purchased at a chain store, :) or perhaps garden stores generally carry it? :) Any garden center will the insecticide dust. Sevin will work well, but even if you happen to have or know someone with a flea powder that contains pyrethrin will work well too. You don't want to "clog" up the hole with the dust. Use gloves and scatter a small pinch at the opening. You can also but a dust applicator or use a small "baister" used in cooking, to puff the dust into the openings. With digger bees, one hole is one nest, they aren't connected. They do sting, so be wary.

Reply to
Lar

one hole is one nest?!?! oh my god........ the area is larger than I first thought, they've spread onto the other side of the driveway into the front yard (i noticed this as i was standing on top of the holes while staking the sprinklers into the ground :)). ok well it looks like i have some options, thanks for the education.

Reply to
Rob

From your description a few messages down you have small solitary bees that found an undisturbed place to set up housekeeping. Each female is a queen, each has their own nest. These are very gentle bees, what is the rush to kill them? Good pollinators too. Odds are you could mow right over the spot and never get stung. By the way bee and wasp is not interchangeable .

Reply to
Beecrofter

thanks, yes i thought they were wasps (i hadn't gotten too close to them), i now know they are not. the rush to get rid of them is that there are hundreds of holes, hundreds of bees flying around at any given time, and they are in an area where we frequently have guests with children parking (and they are now spreading into the front yard as well).

Reply to
Rob

How many times were you stung? I bet a whopping big zero.

Reply to
Beecrofter

Nah, I didn't see any bees in this area, I just noticed the holes around me.

Reply to
Rob

I've got them too. I got stung by one yesterday, already... Not as bad as honey bees, but defintely annoying little bastards.

They do seem to like barren dirt patches a lot.

Thanks a lot for the info. We didn't want to be using insecticide, as our dog goes out in the area (it's right by our front steps), so we'll see how well keeping it wet works. (ughh,, that means wiping mud off doggy paws though...)

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theoneflasehaddock

Reply to
theoneflasehaddock

I've got the same thing, less area than him. We noticed them yesterday, I have already been stung.

They don't sting as bad as other bees, but they do sting. Stop trying to spread misinformation.

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theoneflasehaddock

Reply to
theoneflasehaddock

The pictures are a big help. You have, as beecrofter said, a type of solitary bee which nests in the ground at this type of year. There are a handful of species, which most folks refer to generically as "digger bees" or "miner bees". They are generally harmless, and usually completely ignore humans. Usually you can walk right through the mass of bees hoving around and they pay no attetion to you at all. They are, however, true bees, so the females can sting. Usually the nesting season for them only lasts 2-3 weeks, then all the manic activity stops. My vote would be to live with them if you can, and if not, any of the insectcide solutions mentioned will work. You may need to treat several times over the course of the nesting season.

Keith

Reply to
Keith Copi

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