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Wildlife Garden

Wasp nest? rid of it? leave it alone?

9 years ago

Same one in the pictures but with different angles of shots

I am not sure when this wasp nest started. However, I am glad that I was not stung by any, because I mowed lawn right on the edge of the maple tree and needed to push the branches away while mowing (the nest is probably one or two foot away from the branches I had to constantly push while mowing). I noticed this nest being there once 1/3 of the maple leaves fell. I thought I would leave it alone there. Nonetheless, considering it being so close to the edge of the lawn, I am afraid that they would attack me sometime in the future.

What should I do? Thanks

Featured Answer

docmom_gw

9 years ago

My brother is an entomologist and teaches at a university, so he has all sorts of interesting insect paraphernalia around his office, including deserted wasp nests. Once the wasps have frozen over the winter, the nest is not dangerous.

Martha

Comments (7)

Min3 South S.F. Bay CA
9 years ago
Because it worries you, you could wait until a good hard freeze (if you live where there are freezes) and move it somewhere away from where you live. Wire the whole branch into another tree on the same side. I would, because they are very beneficial critters, eating insects that eat your vegetables. Just make sure you don't put it anywhere inside that's warm! Min
beesneeds
9 years ago
That looks like a blown out nest- as in no longer used. So you can do whatever you like with it, the wasps are gone and won't be returning. Wasps tend to make a nest, use it, then when the frosts come die off, and the queen either hibernates in the old nest or in her own cell elsewhere. Next year they make a new nest. By the looks of how blown open your nest is, I doubt there's still anyone in there.
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Twice in past houses I've lived in, I've found a yellowjacket nest entry hole beneath the bottommost board of the siding. One was right next to the back door of the house and if closed the door too hard they would come out to defend the nest. I tried one store brand of wasp/hornet killer on them, but it didn't seem to have any effect. The force of the spray would knock them to the ground, but they would shake off, and fly away, seemingly unharmed. I tried a stronger name-brand wasp/hornet spray, that killed the wasps on contact, but those in the nest stopped using the poisined entrance, and found another way out of the nest directly into the basement. Another time I had a yellowjacket nest (which is probably what pennysworth son found) in the ground in our yard 3 feet from the corner of where we would set up the volleyball net. (Bump. Set. Sting. :-) Based on a suggestion from a friend, I ran an extension cord out into the yard and set the shop-vac there, with its snout right next to the hive entrance, sucking up the wasps as they left or came back, for several hours. The next morning when I crept out to check on the nest, I discovered that something had come by in the night, dug open the entrance to the nest, and pulled out and munched on the remaining larva filled nest pieces, leaving a hole 6 inches across and about 2 feet deep.
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You guys got off easy ! These are THE most vicious of all bees I have encountered in my years. I ran over a nest once with a bush hog and got 26 stings all over every exposed area until finally outrunning them. They are super aggressive. I do not know their official name but I call them ground bees or yellow jackets. They typically occupy abandoned mole tunnels. Usually they get stirred up and many of them find you before you realize they are even around. Not only vicious they sting many times and keep on stinging. My solution has worked every time: pour about 1/4 pint of gasoline in the hole from a narrow neck bottle or some handy spouted container. Then toss a match onto it. The result is not what you might expect. There is a flame 6" or so high that just burns for quite a while. The vicious $%^& try to fly back in the hole and most are burned in the attempt. The ones inside never make it out. A day later none will be found. I agree with others that bug spray is useless except for 1 or 2 caught alone.
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If they are that friendly, I would leave them alone. Try a dollar store butterfly net to catch one, jar it, & take to a garden center for identification. I have had the nasty kind--couldn't even mow the law without them attacking so had to remove. The dog learned to avoid their part of the yard but not the toddlers. Wait until night (so everyone is home & sleeping) to pour into the hole. -2-3 gallons of boiling water can kill a small nest -my neighbor swears by vinegar (1-2 gallons) but the acidity may harm the plants. - I had what must have been a deep nest or had multiple rooms. Boiling water got some (multiple tries) but the hive quickly bounced back and the bees ruled the yard. I resorted to mixing up 2 gallons of insect killer. (I hated to use for the residual killing to the worms & good bugs for weeks after, but I couldn't let the grandchildren in the yard until the bees were gone.) I've learned over the years to hit them with boiling water at the first sign of a hive--in 35 years only had to resort to chemicals twice. You can test the 'multiple entrances' theory by laying a garden hose at one hole during the day, flooding, & watching if they suddenly fly out other holes. Any treatment must go in all holes.
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They're Paper Wasps. You can get relatively close and they will watch you carefully and not do anything. But there is an invisible line which if you cross they'll attack. They've a very painful sting and although I don't show any reaction to them (apart from running around in circles, jumping up and down, along with many "expletive deleteds") I can't say that no one is allergic to them. Up high they shouldn't be a problem, and they will go away eventually, their nests aren't permanent. But if you're into drastic measures, one effective way to definitely get rid of them is to spotlight them at night. You can locate the nest in the torchlight, aim an insect spray at them, turn off the light and spray hard. Then you need to move away. They can't fly in the dark but if they stumble on anything they'll sting the hell out of it. I'd only take the drastic action if there's a big danger of people inadvertently coming too close or bumping it.
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Min3 South S.F. Bay CA
9 years ago
Even so be careful. Our neighbor in NC had a shed full of live wasps because he thought they were done with a nest and he hung it up inside to keep it. Min
beesneeds
9 years ago
Ack, seriously Min? Blech, I would never consider bringing a wasp nest inside no matter how dead I thought it was . I was figuring chueh just wanted to get rid of it since it was on the edge of the lawn- I hadn't even thought of him trying to keep the thing!
chueh
Original Author
9 years ago
I would be very careful and cut the branch to move it to somewhere else, be it totally empty-housed or not. Thanks for the input. Any opnion, thought, or input here is appreciated
chueh
Original Author
9 years ago
Good. Thanks Martha. I will wait until the winter passed then

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