# Removing Paper Wasps Near Honey Bee Hive



## randydrivesabus (Apr 27, 2006)

put on your bee suit and get something with a long handle and knock them down. 
i get them setting up shop in my greenhouse and i just knock down the nest and run.


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## Scrapfe (Jul 25, 2008)

*$2.00 a gallon insect poisen.*



Capricorn said:


> Howdy... I have to walk through the area and do not want to deal with large hives thinking it is there home. What is the best way to deal with this knowing the honeybee hive is right next door? In the past I always sprayed wasp nests. ... the nests are about 12 feet high under the vents at the top of the storage area (peak of the roof). What's my best option you think? Thanks.


In my quite extensive experience with paper wasp nests, 97 octane unleaded gasoline is hard to beat. YOU DO NOT WANT THE GASOLINE TO IGNITE. Do not use this inside, or around an open flame or other ignition sources. Also consider the materials and plants in the area. Gasoline would be a very poor chose around styrofoam lets say or above your tomato plants etc. But for killing wasps FAST and EASY 2-8 ounces of gasoline in an old tin can will kill any paper wasp nest it can be DIRECTLY dashed on, at least as quickly as a thermonuclear explosion and without destroying the neighborhood. Afterwards a quick squirt & wash down with a garden hose will remove the gas and no lingering poisen for your bees to get into. Also no trap bait aroma to attract other more unsavory insects like hornets to your hives. Then again you could take up brem fishing and learn to love Brer Wasp.


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## D Coates (Jan 6, 2006)

Sprayed soapy water does wonders. The foam keeps them from flying and it breaks the surface tension they rely upon to stay dry. In short they usually drown and those that don't can't fly so you step on them. Problem solved.


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## Capricorn (Apr 20, 2009)

D Coates said:


> Sprayed soapy water does wonders.


What are you using to spray the soapy water? I heard this as well, and when it first started getting up above 55, and the wasps were starting to scout, I filled a cheap 1$ spray bottle with soapy water. Used this quite a bit to try and soak wasps flying around my outside work areas during the day. I don't think I really got but one or two of them. And there were a few dozen that I tried to get with it..


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## Capricorn (Apr 20, 2009)

Scrapfe said:


> In my quite extensive experience with paper wasp nests, 97 octane unleaded gasoline is hard to beat.


I wonder if this would be corrosive to the tarp like cover that is over this temporary car port? It would be kinda hard to reach the nests, they are only accessible from outside, though I can see them from inside, through the vent.


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## reneal (Sep 6, 2006)

To spray the yellowjackets I use a supersoaker squirtgun. It shoots a single stream & is accurate up to 10 or 12 ft. Its one of the ones you pump up with air pressure, so you don't spoil your aim when a actually zapping wasps. Load it up with soapy water & its lots of fun.


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## Capricorn (Apr 20, 2009)

reneal said:


> To spray the yellowjackets I use a supersoaker squirtgun. It shoots a single stream & is accurate up to 10 or 12 ft. Its one of the ones you pump up with air pressure, so you don't spoil your aim when a actually zapping wasps. Load it up with soapy water & its lots of fun.


The super soaker sounds like a great idea. I think our kids have a couple of those, I'm sure I could borrow one. 

What kinda of soap water ratio should there be? Does it need to be really soapy?


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

I usually spray the nests with the garden hose, & most of the wasps find a better home somewhere else.


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## stavros (Feb 26, 2008)

Dear Scrapfe,
Please explain to me if you use 8onces of gasoline unignited and poured directly over the wasp nest? Or do you ignite the gasoline once poured? I am curious to know. Last fall I had a wasp nest in my garden near the hives and luckily a colleague from Gatech is a biologist studying social insects, and among them wasp nests that he collects for his field work. So, I called him up and he came with a graduate student, poured some ether directly to their nest (on the ground) and instantaneously the wasps fainted. He then scopped the nest with his gloves and showed me at least 20 queens anesthetized but otherwise alive. It was a little scary to see them alive close to my face with no gloves or veil on me. A few days ago I had tried to deal with them but they stung me about 15 times. The wasps stay anesthetized for about 5 minutes. Before the time expired, he put them in a screen box, and off he went with his wasp nest to his lab. That same day he shows me some serious wasp nests of very mean wasps, some in a box the size of a super!
So, I can always call my colleague from Gatech to deal with wasp nests for free, but I also want to have the knowledge and pleasure to deal with them myself. If gasoline works well, I am willing to try.
Thanks a lot,
Stavros


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## Beaver Dam (May 27, 2008)

I tie a rag to a pole and put lighter fluid on the rag. I then light it and wave it under the nest in one movement their wings are singed and they fall to the ground. The flame is moving so it does not stay in one place long enough to cause damage. Or shop vac.


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## EastSideBuzz (Apr 12, 2009)

Beaver Dam said:


> I then light it and wave it under the nest in one movement their wings are singed and they fall to the ground. The flame is moving so it does not stay in one place long enough to cause damage. Or shop vac.


Do wasps have a purpose in the world? I have no issue with extermination of them. Unless there is a good reason for them to live?


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

I always leave them alone. Paper wasp feed mostly on nectar they also eat flies, caterpillars few other things. They are no threat to bees. Unlike hornets and yellow jackets which are predatory and like a good protein diet. Most paper wasp are docile. I have a nest of a red paper wasp that builds in the same spot every year right above the door to my house. Right now there are about 12 larva in the nest. I will try to get some close up pics. They don't bother me, I don't bother them.

That being said: 

If you must get rid of them. Beaver Dam's way sounds like fun. Makes me think of the days when I use to steal my dad's can of Consort hair spray and his cig lighter. Killed many of ants that way.


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## Bizzybee (Jan 29, 2006)

There are a lot of different wasps. Most being hunters and scavengers that rid us of more bothersome insects. They are pretty interesting if people will take the time to watch them a bit. I by no means intend to try to keep them and they are going to loose when the two of us begin competing for the same space. But I don't advocate killing for the sake of killing. They along with every other creature have their purpose, whether it's realized or not.


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## woodmac (Oct 16, 2008)

Have never tried the soapy water spray; might try that on a paper wasp nest that I might get my head too close to. For yellowjackets and other ground dwelling wasps, kerosine sprayed from a garden sprayer kills them on inhalation...without lighting a match to anything. A judicious poke in the nest area with a long stick the next day will tell you whether you need to repeat. Usually one treatment is sufficient.


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## Paraplegic Racehorse (Jan 25, 2007)

Haven't tried the soapy water trick. I usually wait until after dark and pour a couple cups of pure bleach on the nest. Seems to do the trick.


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## dsquared (Mar 6, 2006)

*Flammable Liquids*

I went to a few house fires where people tried to burn wasp nests in my previous life. You've got a bee suit-- put it on and just tear down the nests and squash them if you must. I leave them alone, unless they build next to a door or heavily traveled area.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Take a wire cloths hanger and straighten it out so you have a straight piece of heavy wire. Wrap one end of the of the wire a couple of turns around the barrel of a Super Soaker water gun. Leave the free end of the wire sticking straight out from the nozzle of the Super Soaker and attach a cotton ball to the end.

Fill Super Soaker with kerosene and apply a light douse to the cotton ball as well. Light cotton ball afire. 

Voila - instant flame thrower.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Were I you, or maybe it's, if you were me, I'd leave them alone. They are beneficial. I have wasps that build their nests on the underside of my front porch, every year, right above the main entrance to our house. Sometimes 4 or 5 of them. No one has ever been stung by them. Learn to get along w/ nature.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

EastSideBuzz said:


> Do wasps have a purpose in the world?


Everything does, even if we don't recognize it.


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## Countryboy (Feb 15, 2009)

They all return to the nest at night. Go out after dark and use a can of hairspray on them. It holds your hair, and it holds them. Then knock down the nest.

Hairspray works great on spiders too. As kids, my sister used to take great joy in spraying hairspray on big wolf spiders that wandered into the house. She hated those spiders, but loved seeing them struggling to move once the hairspray set.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Wow, does she pull wings off of flys too? Kids will be kids, I guess.


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