Wasps nest.

[Bill]

Hi, summer is here and so are the wasps. Lat year I had a nest under the bedroom window that had to be got rid of as they seemed to enjoy invading the bedroom at night, probably the light and warmth?

Any way this year they are under the garden shed, metal shipping container. They are far away enough from the house not to be a problem but I think that I just pi**ed them off by going into the shed to get the lawn mower. Their entrance is under the shed in front of the door, so when they came out in force to see who was pounding on their ceiling I had to go through them to get out of the shed. No problem this time and as long as it stays that way they can stay where they are. But if they become a nuisance then I'm looking for cheap ways to get rid of them. OK kill them.

The council do a good job at £40:00 a time but I'm a cheap skate and would prefer DiY methods.

I'm of the opinion that the underside of the shed is strong enough to withstand a small fuel/air explosion, but my wife's not so sure.

2nd idea is a CO2 extinguisher, I have a couple that are old and, although still weigh OK, have not been tested for some years. I am seriously wondering what effect one, or maybe two, of these emptied into the nest would do?

Any other DiY ideas?

Or should I just call the council again?

There is no urgency on this at the moment unless they object more fiercely next time I go into the shed.

[Adrian C]

Piss them off some more, which won't be good!

Nippon Ant Powder (or Poundshop equivalent) into/on the nest or scattered on takeoff/landing areas, or a wasp spray foam.

In a few days if done OK, they'll be dead.

[geoff]

In message , Bill writes

I was just going to post a "who are the wasp huggers" post as one crawled down my t-shirt and stung the back of my neck

Wasps are easy - just spray nippon powder around where they enter

that's it

all you need

nothing more

forget all the crap that certain others are going to post about sprays, potions and morris dancers

- Nippon powder

[Tim Streater]

The spray foam jobbie works well. I used it on a nest in our shed, having togged up first. I was expecting to have to stand fairly close and have it spray out slowly, giving time for the wasps to get pissed off and come boiling out to see what the f*** was going on.

As it was, I could have gone in the shed in the nuddy. The spray stuff is administered from about 2m away, so I was basically by the door (nest was on rear wall). Entire nest covered within 3 or 4 secs - it came out of the can like it was a flame-thrower.

Also, I was expecting the foam to harden and cover the nest with its own sarcophagus so I'd have to jack-hammer it off the wall later in the year. But when I peeked in a few days later, all the foam had vanished, as had the wasps.

[Dave Liquorice]

Glad to see that you are willing to let them live unless they become a nuisance, far too many people go for a full nuclear strike straight away.

Nippon powder as mentioned will work, liberal application around/in their entrance hole and they'll be dead in a few days. If you want something a bit quicker squirt 'em, with kerosene (no need for ignition) that will kill them in a few minutes but unless you can get directly at the nest and open it up you may not get them all, Nippon will.

[Jules Richardson]

Do you have line-of-sight to the nest? I find that the Raid aerosol stuff works really well and can blast the nest from around 8' away - if it's a big nest I usually hit it with something (last week's was a 12' section of guttering :-) and then come back at dusk with the raid when the wasps are less active.

(I assume Raid is available in the UK. It's about $5 here, which is what, around 3 quid or so?)

cheers

Jules

[Huge]

Yep.

Several different kinds.

[Piers Finlayson]

Is there some complicated reason why you hit the nest before "raid"ing it? Like pissing the wasps off tires them out for when you come back later?

(Or is it just so you can reach it? I ask beause I have a small nest to do the honours with and I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to wasps. However, I might just risk using some stuff from 8' away.)

[Tim Streater]

As with the foam stuff I described earlier.

[Jules Richardson]

It was a basketball-sized nest, so it was partly that I figured the raid would get to the inside of the nest better if it was broken open. Part of it was also observation that wasps seem to start rebuilding as soon as their nest is damaged, so yes I did wonder if it'd tire them out and make them less likely to come after me when I did blast them! The nest was about 10' off the ground, so I had to be reasonably close for the raid to reach them.

Whether that's sound logic, I'm not sure ;-)

For small nests I usually just spray them with raid - no breaking open or anything. Spray 'em at night and there always seems to be zero activity by the morning.

cheers

Jules

[John Whitworth]

I've always hated the buggers. The old "don't annoy them and they won't sting you" is rubbish. One stung me just behind the ear last year, whilst eating out of doors. I did absolutely nothing to wind it up. One minute I've got a sausage roll in my hand, the next minute I'm clutching my ear wondering what happened.

JW

[Jules Richardson]

I don't mind them too much myself, but my boy's allergic to stings, so better safe than sorry...

Funny thing is, I remember them in the UK feeding on rotting apples as a kid and then going a bit mental - is it true that they get drunk, or is that just a myth (and the effects are either imagined or due to some other circumstances)?

It doesn't seem to happen with the breeds of wasp we get here in the US - some types are more aggressive than others, but they don't seem to change behaviour throughout the year.

cheers

Jules

[geoff]

Yes, but not the industrial strength stuff which seems to be available where H&S is less of a problem

[geoff]

In message , John Whitworth writes

LAst year?

Try yesterday

walking across the garden to feed the fish, bastard just stung me

[geoff]

Err ... nowhere near fruit season yet

[Jules Richardson]

I didn't say it was - just curious about the whole "drunk wasp" thing, and whether it's fruit-related, or seasonal, or just imagination.

We get plenty of plums and apples in the garden here, but I've not seen wasps getting more agressive around the time they feed on fallen fruit - but the ones we have here are doubtless a different type (certainly a lot less yellow in them than the ones I recall in the UK).

cheers

Jules

[Jules Richardson]

Aha, that probably makes a difference. I've never known the stuff fail (although it is available in several types, and I think only one is rated for killing nests, rather than simply killing a few wasps).

(I have a can here somewhere, just in case OP wants to check availability there against the stuff I usually use)

cheers

Jules

[Roger Mills]

I don't think fruit makes them more aggressive - it just makes them more dozy, so that you're more likely to put your hand on one that is crawling on something, and get stung. You have to be *very* careful when picking apples which have been pecked by birds because there will likely be one or more wasps in each crater.

[F Murtz]

Leave them alone they do more good than harm.

[js.b1]

OP: Early on in the season, they can be quite placcid. Now, as we enter Aug-Sep, wasps are getting really quite aggressive. I assume you have checked to see if they are in fact wasps and not hornets (the latter can be more aggressive, chase lights and so on).

1 - Wait for late evening on a cool day - the bulk of the insects will be back at the nest at that point.

2 - If you can get close, use the spray foam, otherwise the various spray powders (Nippon, Rentokil).

They take the powder into the nest and are dead the next day. You need to get the powder in a position where they crawl through it re entrance to the nest.

Due to the time of year, tread carefully. Wait for night, approach slowly, use the spray foam from a distance, do not swat any because they can swarm. You can buy an instant kill spray which you are supposed to spray at them if any do fly at you, I do not think it is fast enough and you actually need to contact NORAD in that situation for a few LGB. Just light the shed with a laser and all will be fine.

If you find any flying about the next day, there is probably another nest nearby (someone else's garden, nearby street trees) so you can never really get rid of them.