Paper wasp nest? Wasps hate water even more than my Uncle Harry. Or is that soap?

Set up a sprinkler. If the situation calls for it, do it when you can manage the extra water.

Hire a pro to remove it. If not to expensive, I would. Especially with a prized plant like that.

Stoney

Let's see a picture, please

Can wasps see at night? I once flooded out some aggressive swarming bees that decided that they wanted to make a hive in my front yard... I feared that they might be Africanized and were going to sting school children being picked up from school. During the day, they were hitting me from 30 feet away. Since bees cant see at night, they stick together, which made them easy to kill. So basically their strength was their weakness...

12 gauge shotgun?
I think Mav72 might be onto something. Do you think you could wait until the evening and then dislodge the nest somehow (maybe a long pole) and then spray the hell out of it with the wasp killer after it falls?
Let us know how you decide to deal with this and how it works out.
Bruce

here's the pic. I think I'm just gonna spray him (well, probably her) with the hose and run like hell. I'm allergic to wasps, so let's hope they can't see at night.

follow up post: I sprayed it with the hose on jet setting. and I am very proud of my aim (used to shoot competitively). it appeared to fall off. I'm inside and the door is closed, and he's probably pretty pissed. I'm not going back out there for a while. hopefully it encouraged him to build a nest elsewhere.

nothing lives for long on my plants without paying rent.

But Bruce. Wouldn't that kill one of god's creatures??? ;)

Judo: you might want to wipe off or spray the whole plant with neem or something. I notice that even after knocking down yellow jacket nests from the eaves, they'll come back to the exact same spot and try to build again. I wasn't able to get rid of a couple of them until I actually painted the eaves.

Kevin

Wasps and yellow jackets are a PITA. Back in 2011 when I was finishing up the GH,I had to strip off the underpinning to install the 1/2" black pipe for the propane line to the Hot Dawg heater. Had about 18" clearance. I was turning the last coupling when the wrench bumped a floor joist, and I was swarmed. Bastids stung me all over my head and arms 'fore I could scrabble my way out like a psychotic gopher. Head swelled up so much, DW called me a water-head for the next few days. Sure glad it wasn't Africanized bees. They KILL people...

I myself am allergic. So I find the best method is wasp killer. Take no chances. Lol

Yep, the wasps, yellow jackets and other bees are all over the place right now. I have a couple flowering crabs in my front yard and they are in full bloom and being swarmed by honey bees and bumble bees, neither of which bother me. But the damn wasps and yellow jackets are also all over around the house (trying to stay warm) and I think I may have a nest or two of yellow jackets under my deck.....something which stresses the heck out of me.
Bruce

Judo, you can't just spray him off, you gotta spray him off then kill him. I guess if I was allergic I would think differently, but I'm not, so I go after them. We have a 2000+ sq ft deck, so I spend all summer long killing wasps when they land on the pool water to drink, one day we killed over 100. plus, with the greenhouse, (they love the greenhouse) we've got a ton, so far in the greenhouse I've killed well over 50 this year.

If they are on a plant I don't care about I'll either hit them off with my hand or shoe, hopefully they will hit the floor and I'll smash them, if not they usually fly off. Always destroy the nest they are building cos they will go back. And buy one of those good heavy black fly swatters, they work great. water or insecticidal soap work well to get them off the plant, then you can kill them. Wasps & hornets are the only things I actively go after to kill, I really hate them.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think they might be like other animals, if you run they will chase, if you stand up to them and go after them like a psycho, they run. At least they do from me, I haven't been stung in years.
Pam

I like that, "nothing lives long on my plants without paying rent"! Like others said, don't just knock him down, give em a one-two punch and finish him off

I had a wasp nest on my back deck, luckily it was not on my potted plants. Did not have wasp killer on me, looked under the sink and there it was WD-40 I thought this may work or I am going to piss them off really bad and get stung but went for it. They did not stand a chance they dropped the second they were sprayed.

Judo have the wasp moved on?

Mark

Homemade wasp trap.

Here is a link that might be useful: wasp trap

Don't paint wasps all with the same brush. I have lived in close proximity to solitary wasps for years and never been stung nor even threatened. Same for carpenter bees, bumble bees, just about any bee. However, hornets (black wings, make the unenclosed group nests), yellowjackets (small, nest in the ground) I kill whenever I find them. Paper wasps I generally leave alone unless they are directly underfoot.

Pic is hard to interpret, but they appear to be paper wasps just getting started - in a rather odd place. Since you garden there you were well to get rid of them. I doubt that they will return.

In any case, don't over-react.

Dennis

Yeah, I hate yellowjackets and hornets, we have a lot of them.

Another thing that works like a charm, brake cleaner, kinda melts them. I don't like wasp killers, they usually shoot with a stream and I prefer a more broad app, especially when have several you wanna get.

Boy, I may have to rethink my wasp killing, I saw that one species loves black widow spiders, we have tons of them around here. Although they eat other spiders too. ;-(

I don't like them around because it's no fun to have a party and you've got wasps all around, like I said, big deck with lots of nice dark space to build nests.

Pam

Use the pyrethrin spray on them works like a champ, you can get organic based ones from any big box store. Missed the part about you being allergic so be careful either way but the spray works like a champ and can be used up to day of harvest. The water will knock the off and their nest but they will just come back.

If you wait until dark or close to dark when they hibernate, you can knock em off and kill them without swarming. I have to do that to hornets all season long who like to make nests in my sunroom. I am deadly allergic to bee's, so take out the hornets and yellow jacket nests whenever I find them, but leave the others alone because they don't plot to kill me. =)

WD_40. Basically any petro based. Do it at night. They will drop dead instantly.

At least it sounds as if they had to give up their security deposit at this point!

...rough battle if you're allergic, stay safe man.

Jay