paper wasp nest

[randy41]

there was a pretty big nest attached to my little hoophouse. i was putting up some plastic chicken wire along the sides to keep out crows but when i got down to the wasp side i got hit. so i got my bee jacket and tried to continue working but all the head butting got me unnerved. so i knocked the nest to the ground with a long handled hoe. will they abandon the nest now that its on the ground?
since i grow organically i don't want to spray in an area that i have veggies growing.

 

[Bird]

Yes, they'll abandon the nest now.

 

[DeeDubya]

In my experience... many times they will continue to congregate where the nest had been, sometimes building a new nest. Regardless, you can bet there will be a few mad wasps hanging around for a while.

 

[MossRoad]

My guess is you couldn't tell the difference between an organic sting and a non-organic sting, could you? :laughing:

Go out at night and spray it with a powerful hose. Repeat nightly. They'll die or leave soon.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Make sure you remove the "stem" that held the nest. I would even gouge off some of the wood where the stem was attached. The stem has an odor that attracts the wasps back to build again.

We had wasps going into the attic through a small hole. Even when the hole was covered and the nest removed, they congregated in the area looking for an entry. We removed the stem and base from the attic side and they lost interest in that location.

 

[ultrarunner]

For small ones I give the nest a shot of WD40...

 

[Western]

Burn it!

 

[jonyyuma]

That stem can cause a red wasp to build a multitiered nest. Here we see them sometimes in 3 layers..Wd-40 does work..wasp spray is better...

 

[djw250]

If you want to kill the wasps without pesticides, Dawn dish soap mixed pretty strong with water in a sprayer will kill them.

 

[DeeDubya]

If you want to kill the wasps without pesticides, Dawn dish soap mixed pretty strong with water in a sprayer will kill them.

Dawn has endless usefull properties. I'll bet the EPA is looking at it closely.

 

[randy41]

i went out yesterday evening to finish the hoophouse job and the wasps were still active on the nest that was now on the ground. this is after it got rained on for most of yesterday afternoon. but the aggressiveness was much less. its supposed to rain again later. going out now to see how they're doing. i don't want them dead just gone. but i guess they have no where to go!

 

[k0ua]

You need to get rid of the stem as others have said, but also need to burn the nest as I believe they use the paper, and chew it up to make new paper on their new nest.

James K0UA

 

[studor]

i don't want them dead just gone.

The nest contains a substantial number of yet to be born wasps which is why they are hanging around all of their hard work -- if you truly did not want to harm them you should have left the nest where it was and put up with the consequences. Now that you have knocked it down, destroy the nest and it contents, remove the stem so they will not build again and they will find some other place to inhabit -- JMHO

 

[DeeDubya]

We have a lot of the large red wasps this year. They build a regular single tier nest but prefer to be well hidden. Open the lid on an outside breaker box and you might well face a nest of them. They are very aggressive in this heat and will chase you for a distance. I'm cleaning up a lot I just bought that has a lot of old appliances and junk. I have to check practically everything I move to avoid getting stung. I always have a can of wasp killer handy.

 

[jinman]

Dawn has endless usefull properties.

Yep! My well driller mixed it with drilling water as lubricant when he drilled my well. It took two cases of Dawn soap for my 400' deep well.:thumbsup: When the well was finished, I had to run the water until it quit foaming. Around the well and down my driveway, it looked like snowdrifts, but the fact that it was July was a clue it was not snow.:laughing:

 

[jinman]

We have a lot of the large red wasps this year. They build a regular single tier nest but prefer to be well hidden. Open the lid on an outside breaker box and you might well face a nest of them. They are very aggressive in this heat and will chase you for a distance. I'm cleaning up a lot I just bought that has a lot of old appliances and junk. I have to check practically everything I move to avoid getting stung. I always have a can of wasp killer handy.

Stop by Tractor Supply or any farm and ranch store. Buy some cattle ear tags with insecticide. Put an ear tag in all your electrical boxes or other places you want to discourage wasps. We use them to prevent fire ant infestations and they work 100% of the time and last a year or two.

 

[chuckgreen]

there was a pretty big nest attached to my little hoophouse..

The funniest thing I ever saw was a guy coming out of an outhouse at high speed with his pants around his ankles. Apparently, this outhouse hadn't been used in a long time, and there was a big nest under the seat. The victim sure didn't see anything funny about it at all.