wasp nest in Attic

[suicra05]

I have a very active wasp nest in the attic. What is the best thing to do? Do we just leave it and await for the season to finish or should we remove it now. When will the nest be no longer active?

 

[Brendan Burgess]

I had one in the shed a few years ago and just avoided using the shed during the day.

I kept some wasp sting stuff on hand just in case, but I never had to use it.

The result was a work of art at the end of the summer which looked something like this:

I sat in the garden watching them at work during the day. A friendly naturalist suggested that I put a seat in the shed, close the door and watch them at close hand, but I was not brave enough.

Brendan

 

[noproblem]

Just wondering if you did anything with it at the end of the season?

 

[JohnJay]

as far as I know, they only use the nest for 1 year and then they move on.

I have found a few old nests in my old house and my current house that were inactive

 

[dub_nerd]

I went for the killer option. Rentokil came and puffed poisonous smokey stuff into the hive entrance which was visible from the outside under the eaves of the roof. They were still active a couple of days later so the guys came back to finish them off. All seemed dead as a doornail after that. I'm afraid I'm not very ecofriendly when it comes to having a large family of non-rent-paying Hymenopterans under my roof.

 

[odyssey06]

Have you figured out how they got into the attic? You might need to close that up or you will have same issue next year.

 

[Bronte]

How much do those guys costs? Was it extra for the second time? I killed a nest in the garden, nest in the ground, with some anti wasp powder I purchased in a DIY shop this summer. The nest was too close to the house otherwise I would have left them be.

 

[Steven Barrett]

We had one in the shed years ago. Called a guy out to sort it. It was so small, he just swatted it with his hand and stamped on it!! Saw the remains of the queen from what was left and said that's done. They rest of them will be around for a few days until they figure out their hive is gone and they'll buzz off (sorry ).

 

[john luc]

as regards to them being rent free freeloaders they in fact more than pay their way. They eat all the bugs like aafids and greenfly that eat your expensive garden plants. I have one in the ground but just outside my door so I decided to kill it. A bottle of washing up liquid at night with a garden hose to drown them. Then seal up the opening.

 

[john luc]

they are a gardeners friend

 

[Steven Barrett]

as regards to them being rent free freeloaders they in fact more than pay their way. They eat all the bugs like aafids and greenfly that eat your expensive garden plants. I have one in the ground but just outside my door so I decided to kill it. A bottle of washing up liquid at night with a garden hose to drown them. Then seal up the opening.

they are a gardeners friend

Says the man who drowned them

 

[Sunny]

Says the man who drowned them

At night time. With washing up liquid. He then sealed up the opening to suffocate the survivors! Nobody was surviving that massacre. And all they did was eat his aafids...

 

[john luc]

I know. I was truly conflicted by my actions but this best was yellowjacket wasps and they attacked my wife when she went to do some gardening. Had to get treatment for too many stings. Got 1 sting myself so then it ment total war

 

[dub_nerd]

... they attacked my wife when she went to do some gardening. Had to get treatment for too many stings.

That's some "gardeners's friend" alright.

How much do those guys costs? Was it extra for the second time?

Just checked the CC bill -- 90 euro. And no, they said they'd come back as often as it took at no extra charge and they were as good as their word. Not exactly cheap but they did a decent job. Had the same people for a cluster fly problem in another house and they weren't so brilliant on that occasion, but it was a different kind of problem.