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Wasp Blower

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Re: Wasp Blower

#71

Post by goda90 »

taneq wrote: post #17
itintheory wrote: post #15

I had two yellowjacket nests in the wood siding of my house this summer. Several cans of foaming spray had no effect since it couldn't penetrate far enough inside. I found a random forum thread where someone suggested using Sevin insecticide powder on the openings. It took a week and a half of daily applications using a paintbrush, but it seemed to be effective. Less expensive than calling an exterminator, and I have…

Pro tip if you're trying to deal with any of these: Do it while it's cold . Do not (as I did the first time) gird your appendages in towels and other random shielding, then do it in the mid-afternoon when it's been warm for hours and they're prepped to go like fighter jets with warmed up engines. Get up first thing in the morning when it's crispy and you can just get a can of bug spray and coat each one as it comes o…

I do it at night. They sleep, and using a red headlamp I don't think I disturbed them too much. After I saw activity drop off, I used expanding foam to seal the hole.

Re: Wasp Blower

#72

Post by chihuahua »

kragen wrote: post #60
doph wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very much this. After multiple very painful stings, I have a zero tolerance policy for nests on the house, but I am very grateful when they show up in the garden. Wasps are more effective at controlling garden pests than any chemical means I've tried. Plus they seem to be the only pollinators of my passionfruit.

Around here the passion flowers are mostly pollinated by a species of bumblebee with an almost-all-black abdomen and beautiful violet wings. So far they haven't stung me, although I'm sure they could, and it would be very painful. I haven't tried capturing them.

It sounds like it could be Xylocopa violacea, the violet carpenter bee, found in Europe and Asia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylocopa_violacea

Re: Wasp Blower

#73

Post by kragen »

chihuahua wrote: post #72
kragen wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Around here the passion flowers are mostly pollinated by a species of bumblebee with an almost-all-black abdomen and beautiful violet wings. So far they haven't stung me, although I'm sure they could, and it would be very painful. I haven't tried capturing them.

It sounds like it could be Xylocopa violacea, the violet carpenter bee, found in Europe and Asia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylocopa_violacea

I'm in South America, and it doesn't look very similar: http://canonical.org/~kragen/bumblebee.jpeg

I think these are also much larger than the violet carpenter bee.

Re: Wasp Blower

#74

Post by samcheng »

foobarian wrote: post #19

Similar story, had a nest in the walls of a bay window bump. Too far up the side to spray effectively, but they had one weakness: there was a clear entrance spot. So I duct taped a pool vacuum hose next to it and ran it into the garage attached to a shop vac. Left it running for a day, problem solved. It was fun listening to the "ka-thunk" sound when each insect got sucked in. I think for next time I'll make some kin…

This is the technique I have used, too! You can put soapy water in the shop vac.

This avoids spraying poisons around your household environment.

Re: Wasp Blower

#75

Post by samcheng »

blincoln wrote: post #34
foobarian wrote: post #19

Similar story, had a nest in the walls of a bay window bump. Too far up the side to spray effectively, but they had one weakness: there was a clear entrance spot. So I duct taped a pool vacuum hose next to it and ran it into the garage attached to a shop vac. Left it running for a day, problem solved. It was fun listening to the "ka-thunk" sound when each insect got sucked in. I think for next time I'll make some kin…

I've used a shop vac as a first step, but if it's the only step, won't the queen survive and make more wasps? Unless you left it running for so long the queen starved to death, I mean. My current approach is to wait until after dark, then fill up the nest entrance with spray foam (while wearing a beekeeper suit, just to be safe). I don't think that would work for walls, though - they'd probably find another way out.

I've needed two passes in the past, a few days apart. One to catch all of the adults, and another to catch any new wasps that emerged immediately after the first pass.

Re: Wasp Blower

#76

Post by I_dream_of_Geni »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #64
foobarian wrote: post #19

Similar story, had a nest in the walls of a bay window bump. Too far up the side to spray effectively, but they had one weakness: there was a clear entrance spot. So I duct taped a pool vacuum hose next to it and ran it into the garage attached to a shop vac. Left it running for a day, problem solved. It was fun listening to the "ka-thunk" sound when each insect got sucked in. I think for next time I'll make some kin…

I used the shop vac method as well, occasionally shooting near their (hidden in a retaining wall) nest with a hose to piss them off and make them come out and get sucked up. I couldn't believe in the end there were two gallons of yellow jackets I captured.

Haha! We did the same thing! And we caught about 2 gallons of yellow jackets too. We let it run for about 10 hours (it gets them coming or going), and then when we took down the vac, I let it run and sprayed wasp spray to make sure they were dead. I freaked out when I opened it, seeing the shop vac was half full!!!!

Re: Wasp Blower

#77

Post by foobarian »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #42
blincoln wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used a shop vac as a first step, but if it's the only step, won't the queen survive and make more wasps? Unless you left it running for so long the queen starved to death, I mean. My current approach is to wait until after dark, then fill up the nest entrance with spray foam (while wearing a beekeeper suit, just to be safe). I don't think that would work for walls, though - they'd probably find another way out.

In fact, that approach is explicitly warned against for walls. When they can't get out their former entrance, they will start to chew through the wall to make a new one - and there's no guarantee that new entrance will lead to the outside, rather than your living room.

My problem was the nest was hard to reach, and I was afraid that even if spraying did manage to kill the wasps, I would be left with a gross wet decomposing mass in the wall causing rot and water damage. I still need to figure out how to remove the existing nest but I'll wait until it's vacant :-)

Re: Wasp Blower

#78

Post by jwally »

genuineresponse wrote: post #39

Wasps in a high traffic area are definitely bad, but if the nest is somewhere not too in the way I'd encourage folks to leave it be. Wasps are predators, and they eat a lot of the bugs that damage gardens. Yes, they are also assholes, do you have to strike a balance, but they can be really beneficial. Obviously, if you've got young kids around or the wasps are being aggressive, take care of the humans first, but unde…

When the crusader army reached Béziers, they demanded that all heretics be handed over. The townspeople refused, and the crusaders stormed the city. Once inside, they couldn’t tell Catholics from Cathars—everyone spoke the same language and lived side by side.

That’s when the Cistercian legate Arnaud Amalric supposedly gave his infamous order:

“Caedite eos; Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.” “Kill them all; for the Lord knows those that are His.”

It’s a paraphrase of 2 Timothy 2:19 (“The Lord knoweth them that are his”).

The crusaders slaughtered virtually the entire population—estimated between 10,000 – 20,000 people—before burning the city.

ps I have an irrational fear of wasps

Re: Wasp Blower

#79

Post by chihuahua »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #46
blincoln wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you have friendlier wasps in the UK, but the common ones in the US (yellowjackets, mud daubers, etc.) are generally very aggressive, and trying to coexist with them will end badly sooner or later. I'm vegetarian because of personal ethics. I safely capture and release spiders I find in the house. I use live traps for mice and rats, and release them in the woods. But most wasps here are on my "nip the problem in…

What's wrong with Scotch Broom? It looks lovely, and I was thinking of planting some.

It's invasive.

From Wikipedia:

In North America, Scotch broom was frequently planted in gardens, and was later used for erosion control along highway cuts and fills. Scotch broom is slightly toxic and unpalatable to livestock, and its seeds are viable for up to ten years, allowing them to regrow many years later, after extermination of the plant.

Re: Wasp Blower

#80

Post by neilv »

chihuahua wrote: post #70
chandureddyvari wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slightly tangential but this was a learning moment for me. This reminds me of a story where Sage Mandavya established the first juvenile law in Hindu mythology. Long ago, there lived a great sage named Mandavya who had taken a vow of silence and spent his days in deep meditation. One day, while he sat motionless beneath a tree with his arms raised in penance, a group of thieves being pursued by the king’s soldiers fl…

Two thoughts: 1. If is were possible for an ordinary mortal to impose arbitrary curses on the god of death and justice, the world would quickly descend into utter chaos. 2. If children are completely free from accountability, adults will form them into an army and convince them to commit crimes on their behalf, leading to an intolerable situation. This may already be a standard way of doing business in some parts of…

> 1. If is were possible for an ordinary mortal to impose arbitrary curses on the god of death and justice, the world would quickly descend into utter chaos.

Opportunity myth? Mortals are simply temporarily embarrassed gods?

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