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California Gardening

dangerous flying insects do not want

16 years ago

Just wondering if I can get some advice.

I have discovered yellow-jackets building a nest under the ledge of the table of the BBQ unit. It's a gray honey-combed type structure that I have also seen occasionally under eaves.

Anyway, they don't bother me when I BBQ, but I'm thinking perhaps they should live somewhere else.

Their nest is the size of a small fist at present.

What is the best method of removing this nest?

Smack and run? Jet of water? Poison spray? Other?

Thanks for any ideas or experiences.

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Comments (7)

CA Kate z9
16 years ago
I'd give it a soaking with poison spray then scrap it off in a couple of days. It's actually a nest full of babies/larvae.
jean001
16 years ago
As it turns out, those black and yellow insects are paperwasps. So yes, you can poison/kill them if you like.

But understand that they aren't as defensive -- that is, likely to attack and sting -- as are yellowjackets.
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CA Kate z9
16 years ago
True, but come Fall they will become very intrusive when you're trying to eat on the patio. I just don't care to share my plate with a wasp.
wanda
16 years ago
When I find wasp nests, I usually just knock them down with a broom handle. The largest one has been about 1/2 the size of yours. I keep a wary eye on the exiting wasps. Usually they just fly around sporadically and look for their nest and eventually fly off...dazed and confused, I imagine. LOL

If possible, you could knock them down at night, when it's cooler and the wasps are slower.

I don't mind them buzzing around the garden, but I really don't want nests in my eaves.

wanda
sautesmom Sacramento
16 years ago
Since I was badly stung by a paper wasp a few weeks ago, I disagree about them not being likely to sting. I was walking by a nest in a fence corner and it attacked my arm.
Although I garden organically and nurture all my bees and bumbles, this was a six inch nest and these had to go because they were so dangerous.
So I bought some long distance foaming wasp killer. Extremely effective and easy.
As to the prior comment about Fall, people should know wasps' and yellowjackets' internal organs start shutting down when it gets cold, and so it doesn't matter how much they eat, they can't digest. They begin starving to death, and, of course, this makes them very angry, which is why they're worse in the fall.
Carla in Sac
napapen
16 years ago
I would remove that nest as being in an bad spot. I leave mine alone every year and I have no insects. They are my insect police. Yellow jackets build ground nests

Penny
skrip
16 years ago
I only take them out around my eaves... because i have kids. I dont mind them either, as they wait for my lawn to get water and they go and hunt down grubs and grasshoppers. They are my insect police too... But yeah, i take out any nest around my house whenever I see them building one. I have neighbors who neglect their house so im sure they have nest under their eaves.

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