Introduction: Removing a Wasp Nest
This is how I remove wasp nest here in TX. It's very effective and for the most part pretty safe. If you have a better way let me know.
This Picture shows pesky wasp nest.
Step 1: Items Needed for Safe Removal of Wasp Nest
Removing Wasp Nest can be tricky, but I've found that this has been the most effective.
Equipment required:
Wet Dry Vacum cleaner. Make sure air filter is installed. Inside the vacum cleaner a cotton ball soaked in acetone can be put into canister of vacum cleaner to kill wasps once sucked into vacume clearner.
A hand pressurized sprayer with liquide pesticide. Follow and read instructions on water to pestcide mixture. The pesticide can be purchased at any local hardware store.
Step 2: Placment of Equipment
Test equipment to make sure it works properly.
Test sprayer to ensure the sprayer has enough pressure to reach wasp nest.
Test vacum cleaner to ensure the vacum has enough suction to vacum by putting hand over wand nozzle when turned on.
if vacum cord doesn't reach ensure extension cord can allow vacum wand to reach nest.
Then
Step 3: Spray and Vacum
This will coat the wasp wings and makes it hard for them to fly.
Some will fly away.
Then turn on vacum and proceed to extend vacum wand to nest.
visually place wand to vacum the wasps as you see them until there either vacumed or they fly away.
Knock down the nest to the ground
crush nest either by stepping on it or dropping something heavy to kill any remaining larva.
Thats it.
The wasp will die inside the vacum cleaner since a cotton ball of acetone was dropped in the vacum cannister. They should die within minutes. I usually wait a couple days to open cannister to empty though.
Good luck on removing the wasp nest! I've added the video so you can view the process.
Step 4: Your Done
I welcome any comments.
58 Comments
7 years ago
the best method i learn is to throw them some smoke. the wasps will go away from the nest and then you can remove it without any danger :D
7 years ago
I don't know if anyone else has seen this but, I witnessed a downy woodpecker eating what I think is the larvae of a wasps' nest high up in a maple tree. The diameter of the nest is close to the size of a basketball. The height off the ground is approximately 20 feet. Nothing happened to the woodpecker since the air temperature was in the low 50s. This made the wasps slow and unable to fly. The wasps themselves were large.
13 years ago on Introduction
I used to work with an older gentelman who would place his hand under his armpit, then reach up & take the nest down by the attchment the wasps use & he never got stung!! I would not have believed it possible, but I witnessed his feat on at least 5 different occasions. Iam not that brave (or stupid?) enough to even try his trick. My preferred method was to light my cigarette lighter & than spray WD-40 & just burn them up, but they have changed the formula & it doesn't burn very well anymore.
Just my 2 cents worth
Brian
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
carburetor cleaner worked very well for my neighbor. This was based on a YouTube video which compared different flammable aerosols.
Unfortunately my nest is under the eaves of the house and I don't want to catch the house on fire so we will need to go with wasp spray or CO2.
I saw elsewhere the recommendation to duct tape the entrance holes and then remove the best. Why not stuff an acetone covered piece of cotton in the hole?
10 years ago on Introduction
Your a brave man... or foolish. Either way nice job! It looks like you really did get rid of all of them wasp. Me personally, I prefer to put a little more distance between me and my wasp problems. Wasp-X or Eco PCO Jet does the job just fine and the spray distance is 20 feet! But that's just personal choice. Seriously though, congrats!
Here's a link to where I bought my can of Wasp-X from:
http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/eco-pco-jet-14-oz-can-p-104.html
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
I've never been stung! I've cleaned up a lot of nest using this method. The wasp usually go for the tip of vac nozzle. It's usually takes a few minutes to do the job.
Very in expensive!
12 years ago on Step 4
You're a brave man to get that close.
Reply 12 years ago on Step 4
I really didn't close, The extensions of the vacuum cleaner and the zoom of the camera makes it look close.
Thanks for your comment.
Regards,
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
how about lighting a fire under the nest ?
13 years ago on Introduction
Wasps, and most flying insects, are extremely susceptible to solvents.
Which is why it's a great idea that the instructor recommends acetone in the shop-vac.
But my preferred method is using a brush and a can of liquid carburetor cleaner.
One brush stroke just beneath the nest, and they just fall to the ground. Step on them if you want to finish them quickly, but they'll die on their own anyway.
They don't get mad or aggressive. They don't attack you. They just get really messed up on the solvent and die.
For indoor use, I use a squirt bottle and rubbing alchohol. Be sure to set it on jet (NOT mist). You don't want to breath the stuff yourself, either. A near miss with a blast of the stuff puts any flying insect down right away.
13 years ago on Introduction
two words: FLAME THROWER! actually i think thats one word but who cares
15 years ago on Introduction
You guys are nuts! The wasps that make the paper nests in your eaves are almost singly THE MOST BENEFICIAL INSECT in your garden. Furthermore they are harmless unless you provoke them. I have had paper wasp nests outside my doors for years with no problems. The wasps come and go along with me, my wife, dog, and two little girls. Everyone has been instructed to not wave their arms around and everything will be fine. And that could not be more true. On rare occasions the wasps will investigate us, but that seems to happen only in the early spring when the wasps return to (or hatch from) the nest. I also have 30 or so mud dauber nests in my garage where my office is. Our back door to the garage had been broken for a few years and the wasps could come and go. Those wasps are extremely harmless, even if you mess with their nest. The mud daubers will even bump into you and back away without "attacking." Why would you want to keep the paper wasps around? Because they eat caterpillars. In particular they eat the caterpillars that cause tree webs and sod webs. Tree web worms can wipe out a tree in a week, but if you have enough paper wasps in the area, they cannot get a foothold long enough to make even one web. Now if you really have to remove the wasps because of allergies, and it make you sick to spray the poisons y'all are talking about, you can spray or dunk them with icewater. Put icewater in a sprayer and they will fall to the ground when they get hit with the cold. Or you can put icewater in a bucket and heave the water at the nest. Do this at night when the wasps are quiet anyway. When the adult wasps are no longer crawling on the nest, you can remove the nest with a razor blade and carefully staple it to a tree out where you won't run in to it. The wasps will find it and repopulate.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
I really can't say I'm nuts. At the moment they are a pest. In addtion, my little girl is very allergic to these things, and the solution is real simple. Kill them anyway possible. It's either that or, an expesnive hospital bill.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
So when you said, "If you have a better way let me know," that wasn't really a request for information. Your opinion is clear and well agreed upon. My position is that paper wasps are seldom a pest and really only a pest if someone swats at them. Normally wasps are a beneficial insect that provide economic benefit without the use of poison. Secondly you do not have to kill them to get rid of them. They can be moved.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Your approach is acceptable solution, and I did ask for for advise. I respect your judgement as well. Yes there are many ways to rid the wasp nest when it becomes an issue. I wasn't aware that cold water would make it hard for the wasps to fly. I hadn't thought of the water in the wet/dry vac either. When posting this, I wasn't sure if I was going to get any response either. Thank you for your advise.
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
I agree w/ dchall8. Wasps are beneficial and should only be removed if necessary. Personally, I like mud daubers.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
if i had a child and he/she was allergic to wasps, i would remove the nest entirely. and webworms aren't a problem at all in my area. and bugs are annoying.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
They are an issue when you live in the countryside, have a red tiled roof and they bite you when you're fixing it. Running off the roof isn't very enjoyable.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
aahhhhh that would suck
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Try a battery powered vacum cleaner with a long nozzle. That should do the trick. I've also noticed that if you spray with soap if you don't have a pesticide that should slow them down long enough for you to use the vacum on them.