Tip for Killing Wasps

[Howdyjabo]

Just tried the soapy water-- didn't work
Most flew off the nest before the water hit.

 

[Fred]

Just tried the soapy water-- didn't work
Most flew off the nest before the water hit.

It really does work. You need a bucket with about a half gallon of water and lots of suds on top. Toss about half of it on the nest and save the rest for any you missed.

 

[Lammie]

What happened to giving the kids wall lath or yard sticks and letting them thin the wasps out. Teachs speed, coordination, team work and the "thunk" when you smack one out of the sky is satisfying. For a 7-10 yr old this is a exciting way to spend the day. Tell the kids to use the water hose and not rocks to stir'em up.

That reminds me of summers spent at my Granny's in Bokchito Oklahoma. You either got real fast or you got used to getting stung. I had a couple of big ole cousins, too and I found that if you were just faster than they were... :shock:

 

[Tod Dague]

My Grandmother used to use a shotgun for the nest in the trees. I spent a lot of time out there looking for nest so I could shoot them for her. ;-)

 

[cowtrek]

Bengal is the best wasp spray I've ever used. We used to use a LOT when we started getting cotton pickers out of the barns and ready for picking season. There are about a MILLION places on a cotton picker for yellow jackets to make nests and no matter how well you seem to check you always seem to miss one somewhere... One time after five minutes of carefully hunkering down and staring at every square inch of engine area I could possibly see looking for yellow jackets (bout as carefully as looking for live grenades) I went to put the battery in and as I reached over the counterbalance springs to drop the battery in I noticed a nest about the size of a football about a foot from my face, and about a bazillion PO'd little compound eyes about a microsecond away from attacking. Held my breath and backpedaled REAL fast. Which reminds me, they say holding your breath will keep them from getting you. Don't know for sure but every time I've tried it it worked. I was cutting hay one time and ran over a nest in an old tire that washed up in the canal in the pasture and there was a small swarm circling on the next pass-- held my breath and went through and they flew around me but never offered to sting.

I tried all the sprays there are and some were like throwing ice water on them-- just ticked em off. Bengal would knock them down even if you missed the nest, just the overspray or mist or the smell would kill them. If you hit the nest dead on lots of times they'd die before they even had a chance to fall off the nest. More than once I approached a nest still covered with yellow jackets to find them all dead before they had a chance to fall. Good stuff. OL JR