# Controlling paper wasps!



## gotrootdude

Every year, around this time, I start my annual battle against the wasp invasion of my backyard. Last year, I used countless cans of wasp sprays, with no discernable effect on the wasp population. I really can't even tell if the sprays do any good at all. I cannot use my swimming pool, or enjoy my backyard without worrying about someone being stung. There's got to be a better way.

I have a very large wood deck approx 20' x 60' extending off the back of my house which attracts the wasp, yet I can knock the nest down on a daily basis, and they just find another place to nest. Is there anything I can spray on the wood that will keep them away? 

I'm at the end of my rope with these pests, does anyone have any remedies that work.


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## linskyjack

You need to use an insectside with a residual affect. There are a bunch on the market. I bet you have fruit trees in your backyard.


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## kidcnote

gotrootdude said:


> Every year, around this time, I start my annual battle against the wasp invasion of my backyard. Last year I really can't even tell if the sprays do any good at all. I can knock the nest down on a daily basis, and they just find another place to nest. Is there anything I can spray on the wood that will keep them away?
> .


http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG3732.html

http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/homepest/Wasp.htm

Don't waste your money on bug spray.. Windex or furniture polish that sprays will do the same job for much less. You can also wait till after dark when there all at the nest , then spray them to wipe them out. You can also get some mint or peppermint/spearmint gum or leaves and put that around where you see them nesting. They hate mint..
"Setting out traps in the early spring, when only a few wasps may be evident, can be most effective. This is because these early season wasps are usually queens, and it's estimated that each trapped queen represents several thousand worker wasps in the late summer. You can buy wasp traps or make your own. 
Make a simple Water Trap
Use a razor knife to cut the top from a 2-liter plastic pop bottle. Cut just above the shoulder of the bottle. Discard the screw top. Fill with water about halfway. Coat the neck with jam, invert it and set back on the bottle. Use two small pieces
of tape to hold it in place.
Wasps will go down the funnel to get the jam, but will find it difficult to get out. Most will drop into the water and drown.

A few drops of dish soap in the water will make it hard for the wasps to tread water, and will hasten their demise. (You can also add a 1/4 cup of vinegar to the water to discourage honeybees from entering the trap in search of water.)
Note: In the spring and early summer, wasps are attracted to protein-based baits; use jam or other sweet baits in later summer and into fall."


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## Steppinstone

Gotroot, I have to battle a football size nest in my neighbors yard every year  they drink and pester my hummingbirds so here is what I do until I find the paper hive and spray it with the foam stuff that shoots 30 feet and covers the hive...

I take an empty soda/water bottle and drill a tiny hole close to the top of the cap so that I can get a small hanging wire thru it and still screw it on.. About 3/4 up from the bottom of the bottle I make two or three index finger size holes in the bottle ( pinky finger if you have large hands  ) I usually use a lighter to smooth the hole edges a bit.. Then I just use my sugar water that the hummers eat and fill it a few inches below the hole. They fly in and can't get out.. Make a few and hang them away from the pool area.
When you empty them, make sure it is away from your porch/pool areas, for some reason the wasps around here will come back to get thier dead.....


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## hewee

http://www.google.com/search?q=wasps&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=wasps&as_q=killing


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## bo0sheke

my grandparents used to use dry ice in buckets when they lived on a farm, I guess the smoke made them find a different place to go. But they also tried weird methods of doing things, so it may not work.


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## Nancymca

We have the same problem every year. We used to spray. Effective, but expensive and not too swift for the enviroment long term. 

Don't spray your lawn (we never did) or your deck. Let the birds come and pick out grubs and worms and whatever. Once the birds know it's a food source, they'll come by the droves. They'll take care of the paperwasps/hornet/yellowjacket nests once they have a grub or two in them. To them, it's a treat. Let them have at it. You want to attract bluejays in particular. We haven't had a problem with them since we stopped spraying. The few that manage to nest in an inaccesible place we knock down just before dawn, usually during that last cold snap mid to late May. They are inactive when the air temperature is under 50 degrees.

Consider adding screening to the underside of your deck next time you work on it. That will also protect the structure from carpenter bees, which devour wood bigtime to construct their nests, and also attract woodpeckers (carpenter bee grubs are noisy, the birds hear them and...), which we all know can do some major damage.


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## Gabriel

I wonder if those peppermint oils would do the job ...I spilled some in a rug, and it took forever to get it out....the fumes burnt my eyes for weeks...of course, I am not a wasp


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## kiwiguy

I use Carbaryl (a common garden insecticide) in a powder form. 
Anywhere the wasps land they will get it on them and carry it back to the hive.

It kills quite quickly, and the dead wasps get eaten by their pals, so its a multple effect on normal wasps. Assume your wasps have similar habits.

It will "deactivate" a large hive in about 3 hours here, with a couple of teaspoons of strategically placed powder. Normally I place it at the entrace to their hive.


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## kidcnote

kiwiguy said:


> I use Carbaryl (a common garden insecticide) in a powder form.
> Anywhere the wasps land they will get it on them and carry it back to the hive.
> 
> It will "deactivate" a large hive in about 3 hours here, with a couple of teaspoons of strategically placed powder. Normally I place it at the entrace to their hive.


Never heard of Carbaryl. Looks like it would do the job. :up: Lets just hope the wind doesn't come up and blow a teaspoon full of this stuff in your face.. http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/carbaryl.html
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC32816#Toxicity


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## kiwiguy

I use a 6' hose, taped to a stick to give it rigidity, poke the end in the powder and blow in the other end, directly at the target nest entry point.

Just be sure to always get the right end.....


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## smeegle

Those are great anti-wasp counter measures. If I'm sitting outside and one just happens to come back for revenge I use this http://www.midwayautosupply.com/detailedproductdescription.asp?12718&affiliateid=froogle Notice that it has a twenty foot range. 
Getting back to your question about what to put on your deck: Have you tried weather treating it. They are after the wood for nesting materials. Maybe treating the wood would make it indigestible for them (see Hewee's thread about how they make their nests).


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## gotrootdude

I weather treat the deck every year. I think the main problem is all the construction going on in the general area allows plenty of breeding grounds and nest making material for them.

I went underneath the deck to clean the nest out last weekend, and replace the bulbs in the deck lights, I must have knocked down 40 nests. Anyway, they don't seem to be firmly rooted yet, the nest are small and only have 1-2 wasps on them. Maybe if I just keep at it this year I may be relatively wasp free.

They really like the area around the swimming pool, wonder if changing the sanitizer I use in the pool to a biquanide would make the water less attractive to them.

It's more of an issue to me than to the rest of the family. The rest of the family tends to ignore them. The reason it's so much a issue with me is because a group I was with in the canal zone of Panama got into a mess of africanized bees and had to be evacuated from the area. I still kinda have flashback of all those bees swarming in. 

The wasp here are much different from the africanized bees, the wasp ignore you while the africanized bees attacked stinger first, but I still duck and run when I here the buzzing. It makes me very uncomfortable to enjoy the pool with my family.


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## rob.rice

go to your local heating and A/C supply house and ask them for some wasp spray 
this stuff kills them so fast they can't even fly away they crawl out and drop dead so you can use it up close to the nest

then you can knock down the nest and make the rest home less


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## daddyhominum

Permethrin is a pyrethroid that has a low toxicity but is deadly to bees and fish. It has some residual effect in dry conditions with a half life of about one month. 
Covering all areas with the spray is a practical preventative. I usually spray all doors and windows screens and frames on the house once a month to keep flies and mosquitoes out. The deck area is also sprayed.

Permethrin can be used as a general insecticide indoors and out in domestic formulations(usually 0.2%). It is sold under many brand names. Look for the name in the list of effective ingredients on the product label.


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## kiwiguy

I also use deltamethrin, it (supposedly) has a life of 4 months even in full sunlight..


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## komali 2

My grandparents used tiki torches, smoky candles, and those lanterns the bug spray companies made. That seemed to work pretty well.


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## InfernoReaper

My vote is toward an RPG
just kidding but seriously spray some flame retardant on your wood and BURN THE NEST!
Worked for me but i had vinyl siding
And any that escape can be killed with the fire extinguisher thats waiting to be used


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## OUT OF WACK

I have a big huge problem with paper wasp around my above ground pool.. I have sprayed with demonWP got rid of some.. Got two waspinators bags, and got rid of some.. Now I am dodging the big red ones , they tend to be more aggresive..Does anyone here know what works, and do you know if they remember who tried to spray them the day before, so that when they see you, they automatically come fter you? I need help, a house fly can fly by me now, and I freak out.. I have begged for my pool for years, for exercise for my arthritus.. I finally got one, and now the wasp use it as their watering source .. So much so, that if you make one little movement to disturb the water to where they can not land, they get mad and come after you.. I am twirling my pool noodle like a cow girl, to keep them from finally getting to me.. I havent been able to swim for two weeks now.. Somebody please advise.. Hs anyone heard of beetour? It is a new device with something that wasp and bees dont like to smell, so they steer clear? Everyone I talk to, says that paper wasp are the hardest to keep out of pools, for you can use traps and such for yellow jackets.. Paper wasp are very smart. They will go down past the side, to where you cant see them, then come up from behind you on the other side..Please help if you can.. Looking forward to any reply...:up:


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## Nancymca

This may help....

http://doyourownpestcontrol.com/wasp.htm#social

With an above-ground pool, you probably have a nest somewhere on the side. Metal frame pools provide opportunites for them to build a nest in a somehwhat protected area. You'll need to find it and then treat it. This is easier on a cooler night or just before dawn when it's coolest....cold makes them less active. Chances are they have the nest tucked behind a steel beam.

Good luck!


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## OUT OF WACK

I thank you for answering.. We have found all the nest and destroyed them and spayed with Demon WP..My problem is wasp coming from abandoned building in back of our house.. I just want to put something out that they dont like to smell. I have heard of peppermint and also from someone else garlic oil, or sticks.. Have you heard anything like that and know if it works? Any help, I thank you.. I love to go in pool, and am majorly stressed to think I have been banned by wasp..


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## Nancymca

OUT OF WACK said:


> I thank you for answering.. We have found all the nest and destroyed them and spayed with Demon WP..My problem is wasp coming from abandoned building in back of our house.. I just want to put something out that they dont like to smell. I have heard of peppermint and also from someone else garlic oil, or sticks.. Have you heard anything like that and know if it works? Any help, I thank you.. I love to go in pool, and am majorly stressed to think I have been banned by wasp..


Peppermint supposedly works, but I've never seen it do so myself. You will likely need to use a LOT. IMHO, the watersource may be too tempting to them and the drive to reach it may overcome the effect of a deterrent.

However, my husband reminded me of something....they HATE getting wet. Gotta waterpistol? It'll convince them to go elsewhere for now at minimum. (Over 30% saline - the stronger the better - kills them too)

If there's a nest elsewhere, you gotta get it too. They do have a certain range, so if you get that nest you may be rid of the problem save for the occasional straggler passing through.

I know how you feel, they like to nest in my gas grill. They nested in this dinnerbell on my deck, and one stung me earlier this week. I'm still swollen from it.


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## InfernoReaper

OUT OF WACK said:


> I thank you for answering.. We have found all the nest and destroyed them and spayed with Demon WP..My problem is wasp coming from abandoned building in back of our house.. I just want to put something out that they dont like to smell. I have heard of peppermint and also from someone else garlic oil, or sticks.. Have you heard anything like that and know if it works? Any help, I thank you.. I love to go in pool, and am majorly stressed to think I have been banned by wasp..


If you happen to have a fireworks place nearby (some are open year round) or even left over smoke bombs (the large kind) put a few in a large non flammable container (ie mordor stand) light them, shut the door and windows, and leave it alone for a day or two

If smoke works then you should have none left assuming you dont lose a ton of smoke from the house

I know it sounds stupid but it should work


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## songbirdca

Every year we deal with more and more paper wasps. We found that we could kill them with a simple soap and water solution sprayed on them. Unfortunately, any of my poor petunia flowers that were within reach of that soapy mist immediately wilted. I had to pick off all the damaged blooms.http://images.techguy.org/smilies/eek.gif
 
Whenever we have a picnic out in the backyard, they seem to be attracted to the meat, but leaving meat in a dish doesn't seem to solve the problem. I was even stung by one that got too close to one of my fingers. http://images.techguy.org/smilies/mad.gif

Since paper wasps are not attracted to yellow jacket traps, we're still looking for some kind of solution. When my grandchildren visit, it would just spoil their whole vacation with us if one of the babies got stung. http://images.techguy.org/icon/icon9.gif
Unhappy
I don't think we have any nests on our property but our neighbors are within easy flying distance so I'm sure that most of their nests are on someone else's property. 
Some of you were recommending a car......(sp?) http://images.techguy.org/icon/icon5.gif
Question . . . dust. Do you know if that powder would harm my flowers? 
My husband read on line that paper wasps also hate mint. I'll try some mint mist on one pot to see if it damages the plant. If not, I suppose I could put some mint oil in a Miracle Grow dispenser and spraying that once or twice a week to keep them away. Like one of you said, you can knock down their nests, even at night, but you never catch them all. I'd just as soon they not show up at all.


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## Rollin_Again

The best way to get rid of them is to set up some outdoor speakers and play some Barry Minilow 

Regards,
Rollin


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## komali 2

Simply knocking the nests down at night works well.



On a side note, how was this thread bumped a full year after the last reply?


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## JohnWill

komali 2 said:


> On a side note, how was this thread bumped a full year after the last reply?


Because someone had something to add and found the thread?


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