I was clearing a track in an overgrown field (yes, the same one I go the tractor stuck in) to put in a new fence. Unfortunately, right on the new fence line is a wasp nest, built around the stem of a really thick weed, about a foot off the ground (the weeds are about 3 feet high at the moment.
I don't really fancy erecting the fence with the nest right next to me, so what do I do?
I was thinking that if I clear all the grass/weeds around it, they will clear off as it will effectively be in the open. And the stem they've built it on will probably flop over anyway now it has nothing around it. Or I could hit it with the brush cutter and hope for the best. I thought about doing it when it's pouring with rain, hoping they won't fly around as much.
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you wont get near enough with something noisy and violent to clear around it before they start to attack you.
Sneak in and tie a thick rubbish bag over it, then cut off the stem.
move bag somehwere safe and leave it. Let the wasps decide the next step.
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The bag idea is a good one, but I'd temporarily tape the thing to a hoop so as not to get too close. Tip in an eggcupful of petrol through the gathered neck of the bag when you've got 'em and leave it tied closed to gas the lot.
Alternatively, in the *dark* (take your torch, though!), chuck some petrol over the nest, and lob a lit something in the general direction. They'll all be at home during the night-time, so there won't be any stragglers returning to the wreckage. Do I need to mention the danger of heavy vapours igniting and scorching your trousers?
Is it a nice big nest, hm?
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I like the bag idea, as it's in the open. If they come out in numbers, you've nowhere to run to, and I woulnd't want to be attacked by 1,000 or so wasps.
I've dealt with two - one in a blind roof space by the front door, where I just puffed ant powder into the access hole. They stopped coming and going fairly quickly, but they weren't happy and I nipped inside sharpish and shut the door. The other was in a conker tree in the back garden. I climbed a step ladder to get level with it, and fired a jet of liquid ant killer into the nest through the doorhole. They were very cross and I jumped off the ladder and ran like fury for the back door. Finished 'em off though.
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When I was a child we found a wasp nest in the drawer of a garden table. I had the ingenious idea of lighting a banger ( firework ) and shoving it into the nest. This technique worked remarkably well if you wanted to destroy a no longer required Airfix kit mid-flight but when it came to the wasps nest.....
Big mistake.......Huge actually......
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Puff insecticide powder (0.5% permethrin or bendiocarb) liberally around and into the entrance hole at dusk, when most of the wasps will have flown back into the nest for the night. It shouldn't take more than a couple of days to kill all the wasps.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 17 Jul 10 at 16:06
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Lots of good ideas there. I might pass on the banger one though!
How do you know where the entrance is though?
I walked right past it with the strimmer and there were only a few wasps hanging around. But it was absolutely throwing it down, so that may have kept them inside. I'm not sure I can get there at nighttime though, as I'm in central Sweden and we don't get a proper night this time of the year as such, so not sure what time the wasps go to bed.
I used to have an aerosol of something that worked a treat, and the jet of jollop was about 5 metres long, so you could stand a good distance from the point of impact. Probably banned now due to H&S or global warming. I'll see what they have at the local farm/garden shop. I'm going to use that area as a rabbit pen to train the spaniels, so I can do without the wasp nest. Ha, there's enough other bugs that eat you alive (hence me working in the rain), not to mention a record number of adders this year.
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The entrance hole - just watch where they go in and out. Just a wasp-sized hole near the equator (well mine was anyway).
The trigger sprays of ant killer can usually be adjusted to a jet if that's your weapon of choice. Put your running shoes on though if that's your plan.
Send us a report when you've recovered.
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>> I might pass on the banger one though!
Strongly advise you do. After we managed to get back indoors, having been stung liberally, we retreated to my upstairs bedroom window to watch the wasps continue to express their outrage on the bloke next door who was using a push mower to cut his grass.
I didn't know you could push them so fast before that. He in turn led the swarm directly towards his wife who was lying on a lounger sunbathing..
I was grounded for quite a while I seem to recall......
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Sat 17 Jul 10 at 16:34
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Having seen them in action and thudding against the glass back door I can believe that. They seem to recognise an attack and coordinate the response. Scary things.
I'd try the Zero-bag.
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Why are northern European wasps so much more aggressive than their Mediterranean cousins?
Wave your hand to brush away a British wasp and the little critter will be back in your face looking for a fight like a Saturday night teenager at chucking out time.
Wave your hand at a Greek or Italian wasp and he'll say "OK dude, chill, I'm going".
Kevin...
Last edited by: Kevin on Sat 17 Jul 10 at 21:20
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Hornets nest, about 3' long, hanging tear drop fashion, from a tree branch in our garden in Malaya. Very satisfying thud when pierced by a stone fired from catapult. Followed by rapid scramming back indoors. Mum could never get near enough to deter our antics: she was too scared. Apparently the giant asian hornet (these were 2" long) demands respect, but Wiki was not invented then:)
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Humph.
I'd have paid good money to see that - let me know in plenty of time (about 90 mins) so I can ride across to watch !
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Could you just wait a week or two? Nests of the Vespula species tend to break up in late July when the queen stops laying, and then all the workers will wander off in search of shop windows to buzz in and picnickers to harass. By mid-August I'd expect there to be no-one left in the nest, and you should be able to work around it in peace.
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I went into a pet shop and said ' I'd like to buy a wasp, please '
He said ' We don't sell wasps '
I said ' Well, there's one in the window '
I'll get me coat, it's the drugs !
Ted
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I could just leave it, but need to get the fence up before the pheasants come in a couple of weeks. I like Zero's idea, but not sure how easy it will be with the rest of the undergrowth around. In fact, I would gladly pay his expenses to come here and demonstrate, as long as I could video it!
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I'm a retired consultant, we just tell others what to do, not actually carry it out. We are long gone by then.
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Well it's gone now.
Tried a few places for a 'spray from a safe distance' nest killer, but couldn't find any. All I got were funny looks (more than usual). So I donned my midge-proof hunting suit, just in case, and gave it 2 of Mr Eley's finest 32 ounces of lead from the 12 bore at a distance of 3 metres.
Never mind your plastic bags, puffing with powder, covering with petrol, or waiting till winter. Bang bang, a little puff, and it was all over. Ha, I didn't even have to run.
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Must've been a tiny nest. You should have gone out at night and stamped on it!
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As FT says, a mere wimp of a nest. I know of some where half of the, now very annoyed, population would have survived and come after you for venegence.
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Ha, it was about the size of a football. Too big to stamp on, but not too big to survive the blast. Shock and awe.
As luck would have it, I've got another nest under the eaves of the barn now. I'll leave that one, not least because there will be to much collateral damage if I shoot it.
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>>32 ounces of lead!!!
can you tell the difference between a 12bore and a cannon ?? '-)
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Wasp nest - Zero
