Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

[handplaneinmypocket]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

Phil, try a clear glass bottle, put it over the opening and just leave it there.
The wasp will come out and try forever to get out that bottle, you'll starve the colony, that's my experience, good luck :-))

I did that to a nest of bumblebees that took up residence in my dryer ductwork during the summer of '98. I left a large glass jar taped over the dryer vent on the outside of the house and once the colony had died from starvation all we had to do was remove the ductwork where the colony was, clean it out and reinstall it.

Hung my laundry out to dry in the summer breezes while all that was going on.

[phil [OP]]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

thought I'd follow up and thank Leo his suggestion of the bottle worked well. I didn't have the patience to not use an insecticide but at least I uesd less. the wasps collected in the plastic bin and every couple of days I gave them a drink of wasp killer via a litle hole I mae in the bin. some of the stuff went down behind the tape. I actually needed to make a new hole closer to the top as they filled up the bin. in the end I must have oh, 3 liters or so by volume of dead wasps. fair sized colony. I can only imagine how big the hive is. I Hope they don't come back next year but if they do I know what to do.

thanks all for your help, it was unnerving to see so many flocking to a nest to which I couldn't get near without destroying my porch.

Phil

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

Thanks for the follow up Phil, it will let others (that are interested) know that it does work.

as for the colony, we bought our house in 1972 and found that one bedroom on the North East side was always colder in the winter than anywhere else in the house.

I also found the year after that there was a wasp nest in the wall, coming and going through a small opening in the mortar at a corner of the window, I got rid of the wasps, but only years later found the damage these wasps had done in there, as we did some remodeling/renovation and found that an area about 3 feet by at least 2 feet was totally devoid of the fibreglass insulation as the wasp had taking it out and build there nest there filling some of that area with their nest .

[Wally in Calgary]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

thought I'd follow up and thank Leo his suggestion of the bottle worked well. I didn't have the patience to not use an insecticide but at least I uesd less. the wasps collected in the plastic bin and every couple of days I gave them a drink of wasp killer via a litle hole I mae in the bin. some of the stuff went down behind the tape. I actually needed to make a new hole closer to the top as they filled up the bin. in the end I must have oh, 3 liters or so by volume of dead wasps. fair sized colony. I can only imagine how big the hive is. I Hope they don't come back next year but if they do I know what to do.

thanks all for your help, it was unnerving to see so many flocking to a nest to which I couldn't get near without destroying my porch.

Phil

Get a can of expanding foam and fill the area until it oozes out. That's what I did in my concrete block garage and they haven't tried to get back in.

[Jeffmacd]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

thought I'd follow up and thank Leo his suggestion of the bottle worked well. I didn't have the patience to not use an insecticide but at least I uesd less. the wasps collected in the plastic bin and every couple of days I gave them a drink of wasp killer via a litle hole I mae in the bin. some of the stuff went down behind the tape. I actually needed to make a new hole closer to the top as they filled up the bin. in the end I must have oh, 3 liters or so by volume of dead wasps. fair sized colony. I can only imagine how big the hive is. I Hope they don't come back next year but if they do I know what to do.

thanks all for your help, it was unnerving to see so many flocking to a nest to which I couldn't get near without destroying my porch.

Phil

About a week after this post I had the same problem behind a light by the back door. Taped a rubbermaid bin over the light and went to the beach for a week...problem solved except my wife thought i was obsessing over the wasps....Thanks CWW forum.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

What are you going to do when the nest isn't between the Brick and the inside wall ???, but actually inside the inside wall

[Jeffmacd]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

What are you going to do when the nest isn't between the Brick and the inside wall ???, but actually inside the inside wall

go to the beach for two weeks!! it was vinyl siding and they were going in the wall through the electrical box. I caulked the light outlet for now

[Lost in the Woods]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

OLD THREAD WARNING!!!!


I retrieved this old thread in search for a remedy yesterday as I discovered a nice little activity of wasps going in and out of the bricks of my house thru the poorly or degenerated mortar in between my bricks. No, it is not thru the intended gap/air holes that are usually along the bottom row bricks to permit air flow between the brick facia and the ply face that is affixed to the frame construction of my house. It is about 5 brick rows up from that. My house was built in 69'.

And just as an aside, I know this nest, or at least this "travelway for the nest", was not in use/existence in late summer last year. I did quite a lot of work in that immediate area, and I would have noticed any wasp activity as a result. It's basically 6 inches away from my CableTV outdoor demarcation/service box, and I did work there for an extended period, as well, as a couple Rogers techs who I'm sure also would have been noticing such if there were wasps never mind I was beside these guys when they did their work throughout.

So to solve this problem, rather than get a can of wasp/bee spray and pump it into the hole, I decided to try the aforementioned trick mentioned in this old thread that Leo Van Der Loo says is a tried and true to affix a "jar" to the opening of the hole and "starve" the colony.

An hour or so ago just as there was a hint that the sun sun was about to come up I did just that more or less by using a fairly large plastic opaque bottle instead. I assume this will work just as well. I actually drilled a 2 inch hole in the plastic lid that would accommodate the opening of the hole and used electricians putty to secure to the wall and wedged the whole bottle with cap on using a 4X4 post I had lying around pressing the bottle/canister to the face of my brick. I also "puttied" any other holes in the brick that were in that area also.

I went with drilling a hole in the cap and affixing the cap itself just simply as a potential alternative to remove the bottle later via "unscerwing" it from the affixed cap and reinserting it for whatever purpose that that may be beneficial rather that have to re-affix the whole bottle if it was affixed to the wall directly instead. Probably this will be of no consequence, but it's just a door of experimentation that I wanted open to me should it prove beneficial and all it took was drilling a hole in the plastic cap on my my drillpress to achieve this. Why not?

I assume the idea here is that the bees/wasps go for the bottle as it represents light and they don't bother to try to dig themselves out otherwise. I was kinda thinking that this method gives an idea that there is no longer an activity level at a certain point AND/OR it also allows the assessment whether they may have two holes that they can get in and out of. Whatever the case is, this will be an interesting experiment.

Regardless, half an hour after I installed the bottle to the wall I went back out, and as the dawn was starting I could see a bunch of the little buggers inside the bottle in a furious mode.

Anybody know how long it takes to "starve" a colony of wasps?


UPDATE: Just before posting this post, I went back outside as the sun was now up. A good twenty or so wasps in the opaque canister can be discerned, and curiously enough a wasp is busing around all that from the outside trying to GET IN. I watched that lone wasp for a good ten minutes watching it take pokes at the now covered hole area and also watch it buzz around that whole area in a 6-7 foot range looking for somewhere else to possibly get back into the nest. I assume that wasp went out partying last nite and was coming home late? LOL!



Hope this is the trick.

[Donna H]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

I must be the only person who has a waspinator that the wasps have to pass to get into their nest! It worked well for those big black guys that love the soffits, but it ain't working any more against those little yellow beasts.

[Kayhan]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

I just tried that clear plastic trick ,put some grey insulation putty around the mouth of the jar and pressed it hard on the opening which is an access hole for sprinkler main.
Within a few seconds it filled up with angry bees trying frantically to get out.it seems to be working well as long as they don't find another escape route,great idea Leo.

[Mike in Waubaushene]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

I use my electric car vac. It has a clear collection chamber to see when it is getting full. I use a bunch of duct tape to tape the open end of the short hose. It's about 1 1/4 inches. I tape it right next to the entrance/exit hole and turn it on. I ran it all day during daylight hours for 2 days. It sucks them in as soon as they land next to hole or are trying to crawl out. Ended up without 3 coffee cups full of dead wasps.

[jim in Halifax]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

Ground wasps!!!!!..Take a funnel at night and pour some naptha into the ground.....Then light a long stick with a cloth wrapped around it and dip it in naptha and light>>>then hold over hole....Instant fire cracker in the ground!!! WHOOOOMPPPP!!!! J

[Kayhan]

Re: getting rid of a hidden wasp nest ?

That plastic container did the job,I very carefully lifted the lid on the water main and found this cocoon like bulb in there,it crumbled the moment I poked at it ,inside was the nest:

[yo_adrian_eh]

*** Warning *** Very Old Thread ***
Just wanted to let those who participated in this thread way back when that it's still useful ! A few wasps in my house this weekend although we've had them before, just one at a time, not 4 in a day. Clearly a problem in the making. When the 16yr old daughter showed up in my room flailing her arms around and jabbering about another one in her room at almost 1:00am we took things more seriously. Step 1, consult the Google. Low and behold a great thread with concrete suggestions to deal with this. Mrs Yo completed a recon mission this morning around the house and discovered their entry point. A quick trip to Lee Valley on King St and $8 later I find myself with a wasp trap (yellow funnel for a 2L bottle). I'll be securing one to the brick later this evening with some silicone and tomorrow I'll be adding the bottle. Might also go look for some silica based ant powder. Great suggestions and thank you whoever a.) contributed and b.) didn't delete this thread.

Yo!Adrian