Got Wasps??

[nekvermont]

We've lived in this old farmhouse for 42 years and have always had some paper wasps around but right now we are inundated with them, I've never seen anything like it. We've had some cold nights and the days have been sunny and up close to 80* so I think that has a lot to do with it. The old house has a tin roof with 4 dormers and lots of places for the wasps to get under. A few have made their way into the 2nd floor bedrooms and bathroom but there are hundreds of them flying around outside. The good part is that they're not very aggressive, I've been up on the roof 3 or 4 times to spray the most obvious places they're going in and I haven't been attacked yet. I've used 3 big cans of spray so far. I just hung a so-called yellow jacket and wasp trap, baited with a big piece of very ripe Nectarine but the wasps haven't shown much interest.

Anyone else seen an increase of paper wasps or have any ideas on how to deal with them?

 

[bobski]

wasps appear to be on the rise. i know we got em in va and in every craw in mo. they leave me alone. its those yellow jackets in the grass in holes that i hate.
night raid...spray em, knock em down burn em.

 

[peachhead]

Yellow jackets is what got me last, i guess the weed eater got too close to the nest. Man I hate those things.

 

[Kevin]

We’ve had a bunch around our house too. Not hundreds like you, but definitely more than normal, which is usually just a handful each year.

 

[Mauser9]

Yep yellowjackets got me once when I got close with my mower. Surprised em at night with a can of that foamy hornet killer down the hole. End of them.

 

[nekvermont]

A few years ago I had a hole under my bay window that the yellow jackets were going in and out. I hooked up a shop vac with the nozzle at the hole, worked like a charm. This is what I ended up with.

 

[epags]

We've lived in this old farmhouse for 42 years and have always had some paper wasps around but right now we are inundated with them, I've never seen anything like it. We've had some cold nights and the days have been sunny and up close to 80* so I think that has a lot to do with it. The old house has a tin roof with 4 dormers and lots of places for the wasps to get under. A few have made their way into the 2nd floor bedrooms and bathroom but there are hundreds of them flying around outside. The good part is that they're not very aggressive, I've been up on the roof 3 or 4 times to spray the most obvious places they're going in and I haven't been attacked yet. I've used 3 big cans of spray so far. I just hung a so-called yellow jacket and wasp trap, baited with a big piece of very ripe Nectarine but the wasps haven't shown much interest.

Anyone else seen an increase of paper wasps or have any ideas on how to deal with them?

Here is how I helped a friend:
This was too slow:

This was just right.

 

[3manfan]

Anyone else seen an increase of paper wasps or have any ideas on how to deal with them?

 

[jimbo1096]

Use to have the yellow jackets when I lived back in SC. And the ones that make the bis paper nests on the eaves.
Now we have the big red hornets and they will chase you if you make them mad.

 

[Dan in MI]

A few years ago I had a hole under my bay window that the yellow jackets were going in and out. I hooked up a shop vac with the nozzle at the hole, worked like a charm. This is what I ended up with.

I have used the vacuum trick for years.

 

[Mike J]

Use to have the yellow jackets when I lived back in SC. And the ones that make the bis paper nests on the eaves.
Now we have the big red hornets and they will chase you if you make them mad.
View attachment 54282

Those are scary. When I was about 18 I worked in a printing plant. One of the older men I worked with had money & was always buying selling land. He was bush hogging & got stung by hornets 30 times. He wound up in the hospital.

 

[Sturgis270]

We've lived in this old farmhouse for 42 years and have always had some paper wasps around but right now we are inundated with them, I've never seen anything like it. We've had some cold nights and the days have been sunny and up close to 80* so I think that has a lot to do with it. The old house has a tin roof with 4 dormers and lots of places for the wasps to get under. A few have made their way into the 2nd floor bedrooms and bathroom but there are hundreds of them flying around outside. The good part is that they're not very aggressive, I've been up on the roof 3 or 4 times to spray the most obvious places they're going in and I haven't been attacked yet. I've used 3 big cans of spray so far. I just hung a so-called yellow jacket and wasp trap, baited with a big piece of very ripe Nectarine but the wasps haven't shown much interest.

Anyone else seen an increase of paper wasps or have any ideas on how to deal with them?

Most wasps want to feed on protein. Try using some meat in the trap and I believe you will get them!

 

[Tenbore]

Yellow Jackets have been really bad this year. I've been fighting them all summer. They made several nests under the hood of my Jeep, at least 3 nests in my utility trailer, and even in the hollow loader arms of my tractor. I've gone through at least five cans of spray so far, and still have them around. I'm lucky I haven't been stung (yet).

 

[contender]

I tell people,, that for their homes,, spend the time, money & work to truly seal up the places a small bug can enter,, & you'll have a safer, happier home. Dormers, gable vents, soffits, gaps, cracks etc ALL "breathe" air,, and if you properly repair these places,, the wasps, stink bugs, hornets, yellow jackets, ladybugs, etc will all have to find other living quarters.
Obviously, a place like a gable vent or ridge vent should not be blocked,, but the PROPER, external protection of adding wire, screen, or such will prevent them from entering.
Other places that should NOT be open,, liquid foam, steel wool, wire, flashing, & external silicone can all be used to prevent access by small critters.

 

[redhawker]

 

[blume357]

Do you also see lady bugs?.... seems at my Grandmother's house, which was built back in 1895, the two came together. I think the wasp eat lady bugs and also a little red mite that lives on masonry (chimneys).... they will also pick warm places to come into when the nights start getting cold.
I have a pretty good relationship with brown paper wasp in my work but don't get me near a yellow jacket nest.

 

[rovernut]

I have used the vacuum trick for years.

My dad did that with our central vac when I was a kid. My younger sister was watching him empty it one day and they flew out of the pile and stung her.

 

[rovernut]

The best wasp killer I've ever found is the chlorinated BrakeClean. It's instant death.

I used it so often for so many years, one time a few years ago I was helping my brother with his truck and sprayed off some stuff and he instinctively looked around for wasps when he smelled it. Lol

 

[Dan in MI]

The best wasp killer I've ever found is the chlorinated BrakeClean. It's instant death.

I used it so often for so many years, one time a few years ago I was helping my brother with his truck and sprayed off some stuff and he instinctively looked around for wasps when he smelled it. Lol

THIS^

I haven't bought any bug killer in years. Brake cleaner a lot to begin with so why not just buy more and use it for its purpose and for bugs.

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

We always have some building nests up under our porch roof, but this year, we got a whole new insight into other places they live when we got the house power washed. They started coming out from behind the fake shutters around the windows and also from behind a light fixture on the garage.

 

[DerekR]

I have never seen paper wasps as bad as they have been in Middle Tennessee the last few years!

 

[4896worker]

Not a 100% way of getting rid of them but I have found that if you start early in the year and spray all the nest you can see . Then use Wasp decoys from Amazon . They look like a large wasp nest and the theriy is that wasp won’t make a nest close to other wasps seems to help a lot. Neighbors around me have lots of wasps us a lot less.

 

[v35]

Paper wasps are ok. They're chill. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone. I suppose if their nests get really large they might get uppity and then it's time to show them who's boss, but I've never encountered a nest that big. If I approach they might stop what they're doing and look at me but that's as far as things get.

Yellowjackets on the other hand are absolute a-holes. They will chase your down to sting out of sheer spite. Ground dwelling yellowjackets will sense the vibrations from lawn mowers and head right to the source. They can sting multiple times with reckless abandon. They seem to enjoy it.

Last couple of years was seriously bad for yellowjackets. I killed one ground nest (or so I thought) as least twice. They found other accommodations this year.

 

[somorris]

I have found the best way to treat them at our old house is to set off bug bombs in the attic at night. It also helps with the Asian beetles which look a lot like lady bugs. The Asian beetles are an invasive species. Lady bugs are the good guys.

 

[RugerForMe]

When I was in my teens, Dad and I were looking at a hunting cabins. My Dad opened a cupboard door where a honey bee colony had taken up living, he literally ripped the colony open. I got out without a single sting my Dad was not so lucky they damn near killed him, since then he carries an EpiPen with him everyplace he goes.
When I was a kid I got stun a lot mowing lawns, ground wasps and such then went 30 or 40 years avoiding getting stung. Then last summer got stung by a yellow jacket, him and his buddies took up living in my retaining wall, that did not end well for them and then this past Saturday I got stung on the palm of my hand by a Bald-faced hornet.

 

[DerekR]

Paper wasps are ok. They're chill. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone. I suppose if their nests get really large they might get uppity and then it's time to show them who's boss, but I've never encountered a nest that big. If I approach they might stop what they're doing and look at me but that's as far as things get.

Yellowjackets on the other hand are absolute a-holes. They will chase your down to sting out of sheer spite. Ground dwelling yellowjackets will sense the vibrations from lawn mowers and head right to the source. They can sting multiple times with reckless abandon. They seem to enjoy it.

Last couple of years was seriously bad for yellowjackets. I killed one ground nest (or so I thought) as least twice. They found other accommodations this year.

I agree....but I did, accidentally, hit a paper wasp nest last year. Those things hurt almost as bad as a yellowjacket. Yellowjackets are vengeful little creatures. They have a memory and will chase you.

 

[jimbo1096]

I got stung on the palm of my hand by a Bald-faced hornet.
View attachment 54339

I've never seen a bald face hornet in person, but it looks like you would find them guarding Darth Vader

 

[Chief 101]

Gota few, I am mostly immune to the sting. I keep the Wasp population down to protect others. They are great at swatting flies tho...

 

[Humpy]

Use to have the yellow jackets when I lived back in SC. And the ones that make the bis paper nests on the eaves.
Now we have the big red hornets and they will chase you if you make them mad.
View attachment 54282

Those red ones are evil!

 

[Humpy]

The best wasp killer I've ever found is the chlorinated BrakeClean. It's instant death.

I used it so often for so many years, one time a few years ago I was helping my brother with his truck and sprayed off some stuff and he instinctively looked around for wasps when he smelled it. Lol

Great for cleaning guns also, careful around plastic parts though.