This was an interesting subject. I did not realize that wasps were
carnivores. I have a lot of wasps here in NC and they frequently build
nests on my house. They are not really aggressive but often one or two
get inside the house and I have to hit them with a fly swatter. For me
fire ants are a more annoying issue. I put the pole sprayer shown in
Bob's post into my Amazon cart, it looks like a good way to spray hard
to reach areas. I really liked W0YK's poison bait suggestion, I wonder
what meat he uses? It would have to be hung so racoons, cats and other
animals cannot reach it. Since wasps eat bugs and spiders I wondered
what the impact would be if they were removed from the environment
with poison bait?
John KK9A
Bob Shohet, KQ2M kq2m at kq2m.com
I want to thank everyone that responded and provided helpful
information, experiences and anecdotes. I learned far more than I had
ever imagined. :-)
A little more explanation is in order – for the gentleman that asked,
the hornet nest is on the lowest of 8 antennas on that Rohn 100’
tower. I have a 4 stack of HG105CA 10 meter yagis and a 4 stack of
HG155CA 15 meter yagis and the HG105CA at 23’ is the lowest of the 10’s.
I never knew that rotating the antenna (and the hornet nest) in the
daytime might cause the hornets to get confused and not realize that
that nest, in a different location, was theirs. Unfortunately I
won’t be able to test that hypothesis because the antenna is not
rotatable – it is fixed NE.
Yeah, the idea of using a homemade flamethrower to torch the nest is
pretty cool, and I got a kick out of those videos – especially the one
with the drone doing the job. LOL! But I am not going to do that.
No torches here – it would likely start a forest fire. Too dangerous
all the way around.
On a more practical note, I can not leave the nest up until the Winter
because I need to fix antennas and rotators on that tower this Summer
– and climbing the tower with that nest so close is literally taking
your life in your hands. I can’t do that – the nest must go. There
is also a another issue... When you have a large nest, the hornets
use it as their base and continually look to expand their territory
with new “outposts”. From past experience, they fly around and try to
make smaller nests under the eaves of the house roof and then they
colonize and expand that and then spread out some more. So one
massive nest can lead to 20 new additional smaller nests within a
matter of weeks, and a far more dangerous situation. You need to get
them when you can.
I can’t speak for the relative differences between hornets in the UK,
the South, or Western Canada, but I do know that the hornets that I
have experiences with in CT and NH, are VERY aggressive and
foul-tempered and they will attack and sting you even if you don’t
provoke them. Just being 10’ – 15’ away from one is enough for it to
decide to go after you. If you happen to stumble into something that
there nest is in, like a fencepost that you bump into with a
lawnmower, the whole nest will come after you and they will sting you
repeatedly if they get the chance. They are very dangerous, unlike
bees and carpenter bees which will generally leave you alone unless
you are aggressive towards them. The white-faced hornets are huge,
truly nasty and aggressive and incredibly fast. You are not safe
within 30’ of them. I don’t know if they are the ones in the nest (I
don’t think so), but regardless the nest has to go.
The last thing that you want to do with a nest this size is to attempt
to hit it with a jet of water. All that will do is piss them off –
even more so if you knock the nest down to the ground – where hundreds
of them will be enraged and looking for something to sting while you
struggle to figure out where the nest is buried in the brush/weeds,
etc. That would be a vastly more dangerous situation with a far more
uncertain outcome.
Having said that, I am going to do the work myself.
I purchased two cans of water-based Hornet spray from Home-Depot
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Terro-Wasp-and-Hornet-Killer-Spray-T3300-6/203806933?keyword=terro+hornet+spray&semanticToken=21300000011_20190727163736596743_csfj+21300000011+%3E++cnn%3A%7B9%3A1%7D+cnr%3A%7B7%3A1%7D+cnb%3A%7B0%3A0%7D+st%3A%7Bterro+hornet+spray%7D%3Ast+oos%3A%7B0%3A1%7D+br%3A%7Bterro%7D%3Abr+rt%3A%7Bhornet+spray%7D%3Art+dln%3A%7B573612%7D+qu%3A%7Bterro+hornet+spray%7D%3Aqu
and this from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Innovations-GSP0205-Sprayer-Aerosol-Extension/dp/B0042T5PBO/ref=pd_cp_86_1?pd_rd_w=IR8DY&pf_rd_p=ef4dc990-a9ca-4945-ae0b-f8d549198ed6&pf_rd_r=EK88FHF224ZYKJF7WVC7&pd_rd_r=6952fae9-b29f-4b98-b88f-66efb0566ee1&pd_rd_wg=iEU9h&pd_rd_i=B0042T5PBO&psc=1&refRID=EK88FHF224ZYKJF7WVC7
I am going to take off the saw from my 16’ pole saw and use the pole
to put into the spray can pole adapter and mount the can of Terro in
that. If that doesn’t get me the height that I need then I will use
aluminum tubing and tape the device to the end of the tubing.
I have a very heavy duty 8’ wooden step ladder and plan to climb up 2
– 3 steps and then hold the pole in place at almost full extension
while I pull the trigger. The trigger and hornet spray should be ~
18’ above ground and 5’ up in height should not be too much of a
stretch. I plan to have the can about 5’ away from the nest aiming
up 5’, which should be well within the can’s range (even though it
says 20’ spray range, I don’t trust that at all.) I plan to do this
when it is almost completely dark and will be wearing a full chemical
mask and covered head to toe in clothes and wearing a large brim hat
and jacket. I have done something similar several times before
although not from a step ladder and not with a nest this large.
If I don’t like the set-up before I pull the trigger, I will back off
and then call an exterminator. No reason to endanger myself to save a
few $.
The powder that Gary, K9GS mentioned is one that an exterminator used
here many years ago when we had several nests in a roof vent above my
deck. Not only is it highly toxic to the hornets, but the “genius” is
that it relies on the social properties of the insect and their
grooming in order to kill them. One hornet coming into contact with
the poison can spread it to the entire nest because each time it
touches another hornet, it passes the poison dust onto them and then
when they touch another hornet in the nest, they also spread the
poison. Everything in the nest and every insect ultimately because
the poison is spread everywhere. And, even if some hornets are away
from the nest, the moment that they come back and touch anything
inside, they become poisoned too. It is ingenious and almost 100%
effective in a very short time.
Tnx for all the responses. It was a lively discussion!
73
Bob KQ2M
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