*$%&^!@ Wasps!

[AmbulanceDriver]

Found a paper wasp nest on the garden shed yesterday afternoon.  probably a good 5 inches in diameter.  LOTS of capped cells.  Waited until around 9PM and doused it with spray wasp killer.  Found a couple of other small nests on the eaves as well and hit those too. 

[Ben]

Found a paper wasp nest on the garden shed yesterday afternoon.  probably a good 5 inches in diameter.  LOTS of capped cells.  Waited until around 9PM and doused it with spray wasp killer.  Found a couple of other small nests on the eaves as well and hit those too.

Unexpected places I have found wasp nests:

No longer unexpected, but they seem to love outdoor covered electric outlets. I've finally trained myself to knock on the cover and step back before I open it all the way.

Specific to me, on the livestock fencing, all the areas where the fence meets the gates have 2" pipes in the ground as gate frames. The pipes were not capped, and the wasps would go like 6" down the top and build giant nests. When I went to open or close a gate, the vibration set them off. Stung several times that way before I bought a dozen pipe caps and covered them all up.

Inside my wheel line motor cover. There's a little hatch you open up to turn on the motor and pull the cord so you don't have to lift the entire motor cover off. Wasps go under the cover and build nests on the motor. When I reach my hand in the hatch to turn on the motor switch, I get stung.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Had a nest in my barbeque once....   Also on the underside of an adirondack chair.

[MechAg94]

The one that often surprises me is when they get inside the insulating covers for the water hose connections on the house.  I mess with those so seldom I forget about it. 

[JTHunter]

There SHOULD be a way to harness wasp & hornet's natural nastiness and put it to work against the violent ANTIFA and BLM gatherings we've been seeing lately . . . 

For that, you actually need a nest of hornets, the big papery things on tree branches.  That's the only way you'll have enough wasps to do some good.  The only chance you have of getting them is at night AND you still need thick coverings.  You have to get either a very heavy-duty (thick) plastic trash bag or more than one.  Bag the nest, tying the bag shut over the branch, then CAREFULLY cut off both sides of the tree branch.  Duct tape the neck/branch area to seal the bag - or else !!

[RocketMan]

Sounds like the voice of experience there, JT.

[Bogie]

When I was young, I got stung in the junk once. Was wearing shorts.
 
I really hate wasps.

[grampster]

I have a hive under a rock in my rock garden along the house, under the hose faucet.  I squirted a half can of yellow jacket and ground bee spray down there.   There are MORE of the @a$t@rds today.  There is another bunch in an evergreen pyramidal on the side of my house.  I got nailed in the finger by one of them while trimming the pyramidal.  They're the small mostly yellow SOBs.  I think they are a wasp of some sort...maybe a yellow jacket?
Google tells me there is some sort of powder stuff you put down their hole at night that kills em off.  I don't know what to do about the pyramidal batch as trying to look in that bush invites something I don't want.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Found another medium sized next of paper wasps on the front eave of the house.   Waiting until dark to get those little bastages.   Also a *lot* of them flying around the side yard where our pop-up trailer is parked.    Hopefully they're just scouts from the medium nest I found.   If not then it's a bug hunt.

Need to reset the Wasp/Hornet/Yellowjacket traps tonight.

[K Frame]

[grampster]

So, it's about 3 or 4 days later and my finger and back of my hand started Itching like crazy this morning.  Around 8PM I remembered that freaking wasp/bee bit me on that finger.  I looked closer and I saw something black in there so I dipped my pocket knife in some alcohol and dug the black thing out.  It must have been a stinger.  A little later, I looked again and saw another black spot.  Another stinger.  I must have got hit twice in the same spot.

[zxcvbob]

On stuff like the bird house, I wonder if it would make a difference just to fill the house with insulation foam.  I guess the spray is cheaper and easier to clean out.  The sprays that foam up decently would work ok for a situation like that.  Other than that, maybe just set up a bug bomb on a ladder right out front? 

...or just set up a fire under the bird house.

Years ago, I bought a 5# bag of methoxychlor 50WP insecticide.  I still have about half of it.  I think the EPA has banned it recently, but I don't care*.  It works *great* for dealing with underground wasp nests.  I wait until night, then throw a good pinch of it down the entrance hole.  The wasps get it on their feet and track it into the hive and it kills the whole thing in about 24 hours or so.  Sevin dust should do the same thing, just not as fast.  I think you can still buy 5% Sevin, but use the 10% if you got it.

*I also have 74% chlordane that I'm saving in case I ever have a termite problem.  It's old enough that it's listed for other purposes, but I'm reserving it for termites.  Hopefully I never need to use it.  https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/008222-00044-19690124.pdf

[JTHunter]

So, it's about 3 or 4 days later and my finger and back of my hand started Itching like crazy this morning.  Around 8PM I remembered that freaking wasp/bee bit me on that finger.  I looked closer and I saw something black in there so I dipped my pocket knife in some alcohol and dug the black thing out.  It must have been a stinger.  A little later, I looked again and saw another black spot.  Another stinger.  I must have got hit twice in the same spot.

Unlike honeybees, wasps do not have a "barbed" stinger and can get you multiple times.  The "black stuff" may have been dead cells of yours because of the strength of the poison.  If you have a "high pressure" brass nozzle for your garden hose, spraying before you trim may chase them away - but only temporarily.
Good luck.