bee-safe wasp removal

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Bee-Safe Gardener
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:12 pm

bee-safe wasp removal

Post by Bee-Safe Gardener » Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:31 pm

Yellow and black-striped Wasps are building nests all over the three story apartment building where we live. The nests are within a couple of feet of doors, in crevices, as well as on the roof. They fly into people's apartments. They're aggressive toward people. Last year they were literally swarming in large numbers around people's doors so that it was dangerous. All of the vegetable gardeners here observe organic gardening practices and do not want to use anything toxic. None of us wants to be exposed to carcinogenic pest-control toxins. We all want to protect the bees while eradicating the wasps.

Does anyone know of a pest control business in Boulder County, Colorado that uses wasp eradication products that are not harmful to the bees? The apartment management will be calling a pest control company that uses toxic chemicals and we would like to give them the name of a safer, yet effective, alternative. If nobody knows of such a business, does anyone know of some effective wasp eradication products that are non-toxic to humans and safe for the bees?

Laura Tyler
Posts: 28
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:23 am

Re: bee-safe wasp removal

Post by Laura Tyler » Tue Jun 07, 2016 12:12 am

Might these be yellow jackets? It sounds like they could be. If so, try any of the yellow jacket traps you can get at Home Depot/Lowe's and so on. Alas, it's too late this season to catch many yellow jacket queens (which would help knock the overall population down) but you can still trap workers.

https://www.google.com/search?client=sa ... 8&oe=UTF-8

Anyone have any other ideas?

kristinahoney
Posts: 93
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:44 am
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Re: bee-safe wasp removal

Post by kristinahoney » Tue Jun 07, 2016 8:18 am

Hi,
These sound like the European paper wasp, Polistes dominulus. The nests like little (up to 5in. diameter) umbrellas of gray papery honeycomb. Aerial yellow jacket and hornet nests are enclosed in a gray roundish papery covering. The best thing is just to knock them down with a broom or stick now before they get bigger. The next best thing is 1/4 cup Dawn dish detergent in 1 gal of water sprayed on the nest and wasps at dawn or dusk when most of them are home. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Kristina Williams
Boulder, CO

Bee-Safe Gardener
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:12 pm

Re: bee-safe wasp removal BIG QUANDRY

Post by Bee-Safe Gardener » Wed Jun 08, 2016 12:29 am

BIG QUANDARY....(Yes, these have the grey, papery honeycomb nests even though the wasps are yellow and black striped.) One of the queens flew into my living room and got trapped between the panes of glass in an open window. The window was open and the wasp was walking around on the latch when it flew downward between the upper and lower panes of the open window. Then it began tapping the side of the window frame with it's rear end. I freaked out and slammed the window shut.

Now I don't know if the queen wasp is alive and trapped in a tiny unseen space in the window frame, or if she was squashed to death when I closed the window. I can't see where she is. If I open the window and the queen is still alive, then I could spray her with hairspray and flush her down the toilet after she stops moving. My neighbor said hairspray would stop a flying wasp, so I bought some hairspray. Online it said queen wasps live 12 months, although there isn't a food and water source in the window frame.

Somewhere else online it said not to squash wasps because their bodies will release a chemical that will attract all of the other angry wasps who will rain vengeance down upon the squasher's head. As I am the squasher, this concerns me. Now I am unsure if it's safe to open the window and remove the queen wasp's squished body because the other wasps will smell that she was killed and swarm into my living room whenever I open the door. I can either keep the window closed until the first hard freeze kills all the outdoor wasps, then open it and clean out the queen wasp's remains, or I can open it now and risk the angry outdoor wasps attacking me whenever the living room door is opened.

So what do people think? Assuming the queen wasp is dead, should I leave the window closed until the first hard freeze or should I open it now and risk being stung by a swarm of wasps?

kristinahoney
Posts: 93
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:44 am
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Re: bee-safe wasp removal

Post by kristinahoney » Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:47 pm

Hello Again, BSG,
First, you need to calm down. Take some deep breaths. Forget all the information you just posted. It's ALL wrong. ALL OF IT! Please reread the earlier replies.
If you are going to be an organic gardener, then you must learn to deal with insects. Did you know that wasps are highly beneficial? They eat hundreds of times their own weight in pest insects. That one wasp and her offspring could have saved a whole row of tomato plants from being eaten bare by tomato horn worms or a patch of kale (broccoli, collards, cauliflower) from cabbage worms. She'd dead by now.
I have to get back to my bees now. You can call or email me and I can come out to evaluate your situation, but I will charge you. I can remove problem wasp nests from around doors and windows if they are accessible.
Cheers,
Kristina Williams
720-278-6872
[email protected]

kenedy
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2016 3:01 pm

Re: bee-safe wasp removal

Post by kenedy » Sun Jul 17, 2016 3:02 pm

I am totally agree with kristinahoney's ideas.......
Graduated from Soran University with First Class Degree with Honours in Computer Science.

KipDemott
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 11:54 pm

Re: bee-safe wasp removal

Post by KipDemott » Fri Sep 02, 2016 10:47 pm

It is recommended that you spray paper wasp nests at night. Similarly, you can kill hornets with aerosol wasp killer, but be sure to spray the nest from a distance and also at night. The best method is to spray directly into the nest entrance. Finally, yellow jackets are the most difficult to kill. Once you have identified the nest, you will need to spray plenty of poison into the nest so that you kill them all at once. This can be very difficult, and you should use a non-projectile wasp killer. By spraying yellow jacket nests at night, the yellow jackets will be less likely to fight back. Wasps are just one of the many insects that millions of people around the world are afraid of. If, after all your hard work and efforts, you are still finding yourself with a very recurrent and very annoying wasp problem, it might be time to just call in the professionals like exterminator Vacaville CA. Pest control are there for a reason and they may have the one simple solution you're lacking to finally get rid of those wasps for good.

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