Wasps

[Magicman]

Yes, I put an "s" after wasp because there was more than one and also more than one sting on more than one leg. 

PatD and I are in the process of cleaning and getting the Cabin and trails ready for our annual 4th trail ride and scavenger hunt.  Yesterday I was gonna give the front porch swing a washing without knowing that there was a hidden nest underneath. 

I doubt that a video could have captured the speed of my getaway and I survived with one sting on my left calf and two on my right ankle. 

Glad that I did not break something when I leapt from the porch, through an azalea bush and onto the front lawn.  Speedy Gonzales got nothing on me. 

[GAB]

I found that carburater cleaner works good on cleaning out their little clocks.
GAB

[Magicman]

I had spray, but I had no idea that they were hiding underneath the swing. 

I went back with wasp spray after the introduction and fast departure. 

[WhitePineJunky]

Once a wasp lands on you they will keep crawling on you trying to stab you with their stinger I know this for fact   didn't matter how far I ran had to look down and slap/brush them off 

[Resonator]

I use spray adhesive on them stingy things. When their wings are sticky, they don't fly.

[TroyC]

Had some under the trailer coupler on the boat last week.

[SwampDonkey]

Pat musta wondered what lept and cleared the azalias in such haste without injury. Somehow reminds me of  a scene in a a rare Don Knots western.  Them things will put the boots to ya until you can collect yourself for revenge.

[WV Sawmiller]

  I was working on my lawn mower today and had it raised on my deer skinning rack using my ATV winch to raise the front of the mower. I keep a cable and pulley there just for that purpose. While I was replacing a rebuilt spindle and blade my wife came down with Sampson and she noticed a bunch of yellow jackets going into an upside down  bait bucket under my outdoor sink (a 5 gallon bucket with a bunch of 1/4" holes drilled into it). I looked over and found most going under the bucket on my side. Fortunately we found them before I stepped too close. I repaired the mower and came back with some Sevin dust or equivalent an dusted the entrances real well so now when they come and go they walk through it and will kill themselves and the ones in the nest. I'll check in a day or two but an sure they will be dead. I'll see if they have a hole or were building a paper nest up in the bucket.

[Southside]

Tis the season for sure.  Had a Bald Faced Hornet nest show up in just a couple of days by the mill this week.  From didn't exist to about the size of a volley ball in a few days.  That night I put on my bee suit and walked over with a can of foaming death in each hand and two spare mags in my pockets.  One defender escaped the initial strike and chose to engage, but having the second can in my dominant hand was like having a portable Phalanx and the inbound threat was shot out of the sky before it could interfere with the ongoing sortie.  Final inspection revealed that there were no survivors.  

[GAB]

One evening I saw a wasp nest hanging off of a tree branch in the back yard.  It was too high to reach without a ladder and I could not have gotten away quick enough if I'd a tried squirting it with stuff.  So I took out the remington model 1100, loaded it with skeet loads and went hunting.  After the first round there were a few floating around what little of the nest was left wondering what happened when the second round got most of them.  Problem solved.

Another time I was on a sheet of plywood on top of a coragated plastic roof on a green house painting the underside eaves of the house over the green house roof when I disturbed a nest.  There was no way for me to do a quick getaway so I started shooting at them with my 2000 psi paint gun.  Only got bit once but I got quite a few.

With the proper tools they can be neutralized.
GAB

[Old Greenhorn]

..... so I started shooting at them with my 2000 psi paint gun.  Only got bit once but I got quite a few.

With the proper tools they can be neutralized.
GAB

2000 PSI?! Holy cow, when you paint, you don't mess around GAB! I don't even know if I could move my arm fast enough to keep up with that kind of delivery!
 You don't say, but I wonder what the house looked like after the battle was over?

[Old Greenhorn]

Those paper wasp nests show up in the dangest places. Last week during the heat wave, my wife wanted me to put the little window A/C unit back in the spare bedroom for her afternoon nap time. Well apparently when we took it out last fall, the storms were not quite in the right notches and there was a crack left open which allowed the little black stinkers to get in between the panes and start a nest. It was only about 2" diameter when we found it. I waited until evening and then forgot about it, this went on for a few days until finally one night I remembered it at the right time. I had an almost empty can of spray, and cracked open the sash and turned the can upside down, pointed it at the nest and gave them a shot, but hardly anything came out, just enough the get them 'aroused'. So I closed the window and figure I needed to get a new can the next day. Turns out, that little bit was enough. The next day, there were a few dead ones and the rest were gone. 

[SwampDonkey]

A couple years ago we had white faced and yellow jackets bad. Summer was kinda dry to. Well at one spot the toe of the drain field I have a row of hardwood along. I had mowed 2 weeks before. It was time to mow again. Well I was keeping the mower under the porch, but I just happen to glance at a red oak down there. Holy molly, one huge nest, th ssize of a beach ball, was hanging off the lowest limb. I happened to have a can of wasp spray, but first I decided to bust it up with rocks at a distance with some ground elevation. Well I'd like to say I hit with one carefully placed rock. Truth is, it was more like 10 with only 2 connecting wih tthat thing. Once she was severed from that branch, I soaked that nest well and at anything with wings arising. That stuff must be powerful, as it dropped any buzzer that moved. As I said that was one miserable year for wasps.

[thecfarm]

One year my 2 brothers needed some firewood. They came here to cut it. We would drop the trees and limb them. But seem like the trees would land on a ground hornets' nest. I can't remember how many times we all got stung. 
My father was driving the tractor and would not get stung. He would tell us they are only being friendly as we took off running. 
Limbing a tree you can't hear them and the next thing you know hot needles are going into you. Seem like we knew where they was 10 nests at one time. We would pull the tree out of the danger zone. 
Once we was just standing around and along came my Father on the tractor. All at once he has that tractor wide open. Which he never does. We all thought that was odd.  Then all at once he jumps off the tractor, but shuts it off first and it's still moving!!! This is a 60 year old man doing this!!! Then we ask what is going on? he starts to swear about the hornets. We all say, they are just being friendly.

[SwampDonkey]

Friendly and hot, the worst kind of friendship.

[GAB]

..... so I started shooting at them with my 2000 psi paint gun.  Only got bit once but I got quite a few.

With the proper tools they can be neutralized.
GAB

2000 PSI?! Holy cow, when you paint, you don't mess around GAB! I don't even know if I could move my arm fast enough to keep up with that kind of delivery!
 You don't say, but I wonder what the house looked like after the battle was over?

When the battle was over I continued painting.
I just checked and the new version of the paint system I have now go up to 2800 psi.
GAB

[WV Sawmiller]

  Not the safest or most advisable but it is so satisfying to wrap a newspaper or brown grocery bag loosely around a long pole and set it on fire. stick it up under the nest with flames roaring and singe the wings off of them. Its more effective at night when they are all on/in the nest. (Besides more of the volunteer firefighters are at home during those hours if something goes awry. ) Note to self - Don't run out of tinder before you run out of wasps.

  BTW- young wasp grubs are good bream bait if you ever run out of bait on the lake and you can find a big nest to knock down.

[Southside]

Along those lines a crude, but effective, stand off shape charge can be made using a long pole, an M-80, and a couple of board scraps.  Paper nests, larva, and exo skeletons don't like overpressue, or so I have been told....

[Don P]

I was getting ready to set up scaffold on the end of the house yesterday and looked up under the ridge. Nice active hornet nest. I got the lower unit installed and waited for dusk, took out a window screen, leaned out and hung out there as long as I dared with the "shoots almost 20'" can. At dawn I checked and they were still angry... so I hit em again. and ran bravely away.
I believe I'll run wire under the house today  .

[Magicman]

All wasp sprays are not the same.  Some will instantly kill and others just make them fly off mad.  The foam stuff is no good.

[thecfarm]

I can't remember the how and why. But my father tried, note the tried word, the burning method with some ground hornets. He managed to burn the wings off some, but they still had their legs. Them hornets was crawling up his legs and they was busy protecting their home!!! They was so busy doing that my Father had to drop his pants to get rid of them. Seem like there was another person there too that saw the adventure!!!

Years ago, I had a flame thrower. That worked good on ground hornets. Run that flame wide open and have one person with a shovel to expose the nest and them critters were gone!!!!
That flame thrower would make some noise at wide open. Also burn some fuel too!!!
Worked good on starting brush pile on fire too. Had it hooked to a 20# gas tank.

[Magicman]

A cup, maybe more, of gasoline for years.  It is what we had and what we used. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I moved the bait bucket I mentioned in reply #7 and found an odd shaped nest about as big as a quart fruit jar laying on the ground. Of course I watched first to make sure there were no yellowjackets coming or going.

[Southside]

I had some nasty mean bumble bees in boxes of stored stuff last summer and sprays were not an option.  It just so happens that I have quite the supply of Co2 fire extinguishers and sticking the extinguisher wand into the box made for a nice supply of instantly frozen "Bon Bons" that the chickens loved.  It also created quite the Hollywood movie scene with the massive fog cloud rolling out of the doors. 

[SwampDonkey]

One's gotta do what you have to sometimes. I otherwise would take no pleasure killing bumble bees, but wasps are enemy number one, any place or time.

[Southside]

We keep honey bees and generally have no issue with bumbles, but these buggars were aggressive, they would hit you 50' away for no reason.  I didn't even think they were bumbles as hot as they were until a friend confirmed it.  

[WhitePineJunky]

I can't remember the how and why. But my father tried, note the tried word, the burning method with some ground hornets. He managed to burn the wings off some, but they still had their legs. Them hornets was crawling up his legs and they was busy protecting their home!!! They was so busy doing that my Father had to drop his pants to get rid of them. Seem like there was another person there too that saw the adventure!!!

Years ago, I had a flame thrower. That worked good on ground hornets. Run that flame wide open and have one person with a shovel to expose the nest and them critters were gone!!!!
That flame thrower would make some noise at wide open. Also burn some fuel too!!!
Worked good on starting brush pile on fire too. Had it hooked to a 20# gas tank.

Those are called tiger torches cfarm and they are great for starting brush fires clean 

[SwampDonkey]

Yup, for sure if their nest is compromized. I was walking a small young sugar maple stand on the woodlot one October, after three quarters of leaves had fallen. So was some depth of leaf litter down. I came across a small hole entrance, perhaps a chipmunk hole. The entrance was crawling with a mass of bumble bees. Perhaps that was going to be home for the wintering queen. I remember seeing a drawing in an old childrens book, where bumble bees took over a mouse hole. The mouse returned to his hole and was overtaken by the bees, that was now their home.

[rusticretreater]

My fave method is the power washer on high pressure stream.  Once the nest is detached, you just leave the area for a bit and the wasps do whatever homeless wasps do.

My dad used to kill whatever wasp came near him.  Just clapped his hands.  Seemed like a good way to get stung to me.

We had this bush at the front of the house my dad asked me to take out.  I'm cutting the trunk and I hear the buzzing, I step back and then just bolted.  The neighbor was in his front yard as I blew past him yelling "wasps".  He joined me but was no match for my speedy gonzales impression.  Three stings on my right arm.  It got numb even.  Pretty good though. Mom doted on me all night.

[WV Sawmiller]

    I bought and put a new brush cutting blade on my weedeater today and since it was a little cooler than usual and the hillside I wanted to trim is deeply shaded I started weedeating it about 4:30 pm. About 45 minutes later I got lucky and spotted a big yellowjacket nest ahead that was half out of the ground. The part I saw looked like half a volleyball. I trimmed as close as I could in moderate safety then when I got done I came back with some Sevin type dust and powdered them good. They will all be dead in the morning. I have never seen them build with the nest exposed like that before.

[Old Greenhorn]

You know all this talk about wasps, hornets, and yellerjackets make me think it's time for a little reminder because I got a call and a text from a member that had forgotten my little trick, this might be a good time to reprint it. When stung, you wet the area (water, spit, sweat, whatever) in question ASAP and sprinkle of some Adolf's Meat tenderizer or straight MSG if you have access to it. The stuff works wonders, especially on those hornet stings, but you need to do it fast, if you do, the pain will subside before it really starts. I keep a little shaker of it in the truck in a ziplock bag. The MSG breaks down to poisons in the venom, like magic.

 I have found that those white faced hornets are the meanest and have the best targeting systems. Every time they have gotten me, it's been between the eyes over my nose, or right over my spine on the back of my neck, both take quick effect. Except once they got my neck and both of my ears all at once. (Never throw a basketball at an un-used backstop on the edge of a 1 acre garden.)

[doc henderson]

Yup!  thanks Tom.

[WV Sawmiller]

  If I get stung and don't have anything else close by I grab a couple of juicy green leaves and crush them up and put them on the sting. I don't know if it actually helps neutralize the sting but it seems to ease the pain and swelling a little. No scientific evidence but unless it is a poison ivy leaf it probably can't hurt.

[SwampDonkey]

I know jewel weed, a k a spotted touch me not juice, will take the sting out of stinging nettles. Interestingly, they grow in the same habitat. Unfortunitly for me the last time I got into nettles, I was in a sea of the stuff and no antidote in sight. I stung with numness thrown in for good measure for 3 days.

[Southside]

Plantain is an excellent natural relief for insect bites and stings.  Just mash the leaves up in your mouth really well then smash it onto the wound, in seconds it will feel better.  

[wuddy777]

^

That method can introduce bacteria into the mix and posibly cause infection, an alternative would be  to grind oatmeal into a fine powder and add it to a lukewarm bath, then soak in the oatmeal which can soothe itchy skin

[WV Sawmiller]

   I was cutting brush on a steep hillside near my house with a weedeater and brush cutting blade yesterday afternoon and riled up a nest of big black ground/bumble bees. One few around my face several times but I had a wide screen face mask on and he could not figure out how to get to my eyes or such so he finally gave up and tagged me on the right arm. It was obvious he wanted to wanted to sting me in the face. I don't know how they know that is a better target. 

   I went out this morning and could not find a clear entrance with bees coming and going. I did see one bee. I finally just dusted about a 6' circle around where I thought they were yesterday with garden insect dust and hopefully they will land on it and carry it into the nest and kill the queen and young.

   The stings hurt but the dang itching the next few days are the worst part IMHO.

[Old Greenhorn]

there is a solution to that. just a few posts back.

[JJ]

My next door neighbor had honey bees.   Normally don't bother me, but one summer they swarm my pool for water and keep us from swimming as they clustered by the steps:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CNHXRxlIXvE

I put some water out between the hives and my pool, but didn't help 
I ask him to call his bees home, but they wouldn't go so I gas few of them with spray .
The bees left for a while but came back the next day and were a problem for few weeks, nobody got stung but we also didn't use the pool much when they were there.


       JJ

[Magicman]

Just guessing but maybe there was a "new queen" nearby??

[Magicman]

Not wasps but I inadvertently stepped in a Fire Ant nest on the 4th.  Got about a dozen stings just above my sock.  The next day the bites will each have a pus pocket so my treatment is to remove the top skin and apply hydrogen peroxide to boil everything out.  Dry it off and apply alcohol which will sting a bit but it helps to dry the bites out.  Next I apply an antibiotic cream.  The tops will sorta scab over and viola, in a year's time you can hardly tell that you were stung.  I hates Fire Ants!!  

[Old Greenhorn]

I hate fire ants too, nasty creatures! I got nailed down in TX in July back in the 80's. 95° and 96% humidity was miserable enough. They nailed me around the ankle and itched pretty bad. Covered it up with socks, hen when they started oozing and getting raw I used clean gauze. Nothing I put on helped, just got worse. On return home I was beginning to have trouble walking and the whole ankle was messed up. I went to the family Doc and when he took the bandage off he reeked back and just said "EEWWWW! That's ugly! I'll bet that hurts!" Yeah Doc, thanks.
 He put some stuff on it, dressed it again, and gave me a scrip for a heavy antibiotic. It took a while but it did clear up. I never tried the MSG on those, hope I never get the chance, but it seems that it has a good chance of working. MSG breaks down proteins in just about anything.
 I HATE fire ants. Another benefit of nature we do not enjoy up here in the glaciated north.

[SwampDonkey]

We have the red kind, but not the fire breathing kind. They are smaller than the black ones that make the ginormous hills in the open patches of spruce woods. Bears will tear those hills all apart.  They will make some small hills on the lawn sometimes. 

[Magicman]

Tom, remember my recipe next time.  The hydrogen peroxide will foam and boil the poison out.  The alcohol will mix with any moisture and dry the sting area to prepare it for an antibiotic. 

[Southside]

I am thinking there may have been a nest under that deck / skirting.  The smoke coming off of your burners there was probably making things worse.  They smell smoke and they think fire so they will begin to consume the honey in anticipation of moving very fast and all chaos breaks out. It's very easy to over smoke a hive when working in there for that reason. 

[NewYankeeSawmill]

Plantain is an excellent natural relief for insect bites and stings.  Just mash the leaves up in your mouth really well then smash it onto the wound, in seconds it will feel better. 

This. Use them on chiggers, ticks, mosquito's, you name it. They grow everywhere in my lawn, hopefully yours too.

The honey bee issue @JJ mentioned is a problem among hobby beek's. Really not anything you can do (as the beekeeper) other than provide a water resource near the hives. If they decide they like your pool better, however... shrug, they're bugs! Whatchagonnado? Smoke of just about any source should disperse them, but it's the water they're after. This is why you always give your neighbor's free honey! 
I learned that bee's and wasps can tell the 'face' of their enemy, and attack that instinctually. Amazing critters (been keeping bee's for about 7-8 years now).

[NewYankeeSawmill]

They smell smoke and they think fire so they will begin to consume the honey in anticipation of moving very fast and all chaos breaks out. It's very easy to over smoke a hive when working in there for that reason.

I started using powdered sugar on my hives last year, and don't even use that half the time I'm doing inspections this year.
I was talking online w/ folks and the stress-factor from the smoke experience was being discussed. I see the point to one side of the argument - smoke means fire, and is an existential thing for the bee's. Quite stressful, they think their home is on fire and have to flee. 10 minutes later I put the covers back on and all is well? Nah... They're still all stressed out. Would beard on the hive for an hour or so...
Now I use the wife's cake decorating thinggy w/ powdered sugar (some tupperware contraption that shoots a light cloud w/ each trigger pull). Pull off the inner cover, poof poof poof with the sugar, start checking frames. Nobody even flies, they just start cleaning each other. 10 minutes after inspection the hive's back to normal, no bearding. I don't even dust them half the time during inspections now (mostly just checking for eggs and signs of infection, 5 minutes or less).

[JJ]

NYSM my pool is a salt water pool, maybe they wanted/needed the salt?   They were mostly in the pool fence as water gets trapped there from swimmers getting in and out of the pool, and there were bunch of bees drowned in my skimmer.

It was a dry summer that year.

I did not think of a queen MM, the bees were there every day for a week or two.  I have a lot of flowering bushes, and is was very common to see swarms in my flowers. 

 A year later, no more bees.  My neighbor said they just all left..

         JJ

[doc henderson]

NYS we use it in infants for invasive stuff like iv starts and even prior to numbing up prior to circumcision (only in biological boys in case anyone was wondering) in the nursery.  they do not cry and just suck on the pacifier as we drip sugar water (sweeteze) on it.  No wonder we all like sweets.  does not work on grown men needing a circ., they require pain meds, anxiety meds, and general anesthesia.

[Freedy201]

Hey everyone,

I'm dealing with a frustrating wasp issue where they keep appearing near my garage, but I can't seem to locate their nest. It's become a bit of a safety concern, especially since I've had bad experiences with their stings in the past.

Does anyone have any tips on how to locate a hidden wasp nest, especially when they seem to be frequenting a particular area like the garage? I'd really appreciate any insights or advice you can share

[doc henderson]

spray when you can to get a few.  I do not think they go straight back to a nest but check any other buildings and equipment that may have a nest and spray them.  we had two in collapsed sun umbrellas this year, and one bird nest.

[beenthere]

I have used Ortho Home Defense to spray around the house and on things such as deck railings. As a side benefit, apparently the wasps land on things such as railings and take that spray residue with them back to a nest. The result has been for several years, that I do not get the hanging wasp nests being built close by.

[js2743]

 i was never allergic to the lil devils, last year i got stung and thought i was going to pass away. i fought to get inside, everything was blurry an having a hard time not to pass out an having trouble breathing. I made it inside somehow and my wife started giving me benadryl, i finally started feeling some better.  i now carry epi-pens with me, had to use them back in the summer, something stung me on top the head while mowing. i wasn't sure what it was so i waited on using the epipen but it about cost me again, luckily i did have them and it brought me out of it pretty quickly. from now on as soon as im stung i'm giving myself a shot, its no fun getting the feeling your going to pass away. yall stay safe and be careful, yellow jackets are pretty bad right now.    

[doc henderson]

I got some spray, and it is a foam, so it stays on surfaces, and kills more as they come out or land there.  I get a nest in the tongue of the log splitter and often do not notice till I am doing stuff, and half a dozen are buzzing me.

[SwampDonkey]

Them pens are pricey to, and they expire in a couple years if not used.

[doc henderson]

you can buy epinephrine in a vial and draw it up in a syringe (insulin type) and give a shot for a penny.  the syringe costs more than the medicine.  and the delivery system is why the epi-pen costs so much.  the epi-pen 2 pack is usually 100 bucks.  unless it has gone up more like everything else. 

[SwampDonkey]

Last price I was told, back around 2018, they was $700 for the pens.

[doc henderson]

[doc henderson]

called the hospital pharmacy and out cost is now 270, so retail is 400 to 500 bucks.  If you are crawling in the house, then epi-pen is worth it.  

[SwampDonkey]

Prices

https://www.talktomira.com/post/how-much-does-an-epipen-cost

[doc henderson]

local swelling at the site is normal for everyone, even if not allergic.  If you pass out it can be from pain, or startle, if you get a rash and swelling of the airway with drop in blood pressure, that is the life-threatening reaction.  Like pcn allergy, it can get overdone.  I had a sting on my foot at about age 12 through the split side of my summer tennis shoes.  foot got all swollen and was told, it you ever get stung again, you may die.  nope just the local reaction.  stung several times since and no major reaction.

[SwampDonkey]

So far, been lucky, no allergies to them. The next day they itch a little. I mostly just get a red mark, unless near the eye. Doesn't swell any place else. 

[doc henderson]

the first price I gave was for epi pen Jr. about 7 years ago.

[SwampDonkey]

If you have to have them, you have no choice but to pony up. Seems like a sky high profit for something that isn't new. 

[doc henderson]

the eye and scrotal areas tend to swell with any irritation, just the nature or the area.  I have seen scrotums the size of basketballs (go Kaitlyn Clark) with various conditions.  and no these were not necessarily real men.  location, location, location!!!   

[doc henderson]

It is but there is also liability with providing lay folk with a lifesaving drug.  It is often given when not needed, and no harm done usually.  the other name for epinephrine is adrenaline, so side effect can be jitteriness, like when you are startled.  fight or flight.

[SwampDonkey]

I wouldn't be surprised if they had something worked out with government where they can't be sued. Seems like I've seen that before. 

[doc henderson]

anyone can sue about anyone.  I am not sticking up but the mark up is for everyone after the manufacturer, including the truck driver that brings it to the store and the Cash register operator.  I trying to justify it, but many companies also have product with min. mark up.  Wife is a pharmacist.  The mark up almost seems random but overall, they have to make the boat float.  

[js2743]

• you can the pens at CVS for $108 its a CVS generic.