Wasps in shrub how to eliminate?
 

I have a small garden around some large rocks that were here when I purchased this home. Last year I noticed that when I tried to clip the much overgrown shrub, there would be a wasp or several letting me know that they did not want it clipped as they had a nest somewhere in it. Not to be ruled by a group of these pesky flying stinging machines, I went off to Auberschon SP? and got some cans of spray. I waited until dusk as per the instructions and sprayed into a hole that I had watched them fly in to near to the corner of the house and stairs to the grass. That entrance is about 8 feet from the shrub and I would think they have been there for three years at this point. Nothing happened when I sprayed two or three cans into the hole. I do not know where in the now much overgrown shrub they have a nest. There are there though as they let me know if I try to use the clippers. I am not dumb so I go away from that area. I quickly filled in the hole near the corner of the house with dirt and today it is a hole again.

WHAT TO DO IS THE QUESTION???? Thanks in advance for any helpful suggestions. I will get some more spray but feel it is useless so far anyway. The shrub is so big and so dense that it is impossible to see what area they are in but they come out if you try to clip. HELP!!! THANKS!

Yellow Jackets are a variety of wasp that have nests in the ground:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowjacket
They are common in NH.

Paper Wasps normally have nests up under some structure like under an outdoor table or house eve. They have a dark brown articulated body, also common here.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distrib...re/dg3732.html

Whitefaced hornets have large hanging nests, very nasty.
http://www.muenster.org/hornissensch.../baldfaced.htm

In any case wasp and hornet spray after dusk has always done it for me. You may have more than one nest or you sprayed the wrong hole as in maybe a chipmunk hole.

Be careful.

Try using a one gallon water pump up type sprayer and mix in sevin or bifethrin or permethrin insecticide and follow the directions for general insect control. Locate the nest and spray them at sun down. In ground nests are tougher to kill and may need to treated at night when the hive is quiet. Mix one gallon or less of water and insecticide and fill the hole. Do not do this around the lake or areas of water as the insecticide may leach into the water and kill the fish.
Insecticide in a can has petroleum carriers and will kill foliage it contacts so, dont spray the bushes or lawn with it unless that is all you have. Boiling water poured into ground hives has limited success, yet is safe for the environment, just do not burn yourself applying it. Put your sneakers on and get ready to run if you need to.

Hi Lucky 1,

These videos should help you out. http://www.ehow.com/video_5238873_ri...a8046c637&cp=1



Terry
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I found ground wasps the hard way. Driving my riding mower I felt what I thought was sand stinging me by being thrown up at my leg. The next pass through that sand got way more intense until I saw a hundred wasps flying after me. Off the mower I ran just like a scene in a cartoon. I waited till dusk and used hornet spray but also stuffed a rock big enough to cover the hole so they couldn't escape. worked great. But boy that sand hurt for a while!:laugh:

Related question: I have a paper wasp nest at the highest point of my eve about 40 feet above my driveway. My ladder is only 20 ft. I am not a huge fan of spraying poison straigh up and having it drop straight back into my eyes and on my skin. Is hiring a contractor my only way to deal with this nest (not going on roof for this)? Or is there a product that can reach out over 40 feet?

If possible I would try to knock it down with a long pole from a location off to the side...and then run. Usually they will swarm at the initial action but will head back to the nest on the ground anyway. I had one under my deck that was about 1 foot tall and used this method. They went back in what was left of the nest and I sprayed it after dark.

If it were me, I'd leave them alone.....at 40' high they are unlikely to bother you and there is not much chance anything will disturb the nest.
Anyone with a bee problem should be absolutely sure before you try to get rid of them that they are not HONEY BEE'S....the most beneficial insect on the planet. They resemble yellow jackets which are much more aggressive and feed on garbage and dead stuff. Honey bee's are after the pollen, so if they are on your flowers, they are probably honey bee's. If they are nesting in your home, get a professional to relocate them.

I saw some going down the anchor rope in my boat. I stuffed a rag in the hole around the rope and left it alone until it got cold out. I then got inside this winter to find this.....and about a thousand dead yellow jackets on the floor. I had to get my shop vac out o suck it all out and man did it smell......

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...110601_139.jpg

The nest hanging on the rope is about a foot and half long and the section at the bottom is about 2 feet around and about a foot deep as that is the rope coil that they built the nest around.

I had the same issue - I used the garden hose. It didn't knock the nest down, but it damaged it and soaked it enough to cause mass panic among the inhabitants....while I was safely on the ground, able to walk away quickly.

I gave it another shot a few days later, and they gave up. Eventually it dried and fell off in pieces.

qwik fix
 

For the paper nests, they have knockdown spray for electrical/phone workers knocks them to the ground on contact.

At our house in southern NH we seem to get ground wasps every couple years. I've never been able to get rid of them with spray or other conventional methods.

What has worked is beer. Take a half can of that gross cheap beer your friend brought to the last BBQ and leave it next to the wasp hole. Check back in a day or two and you'll be amazed how many of those guys fly in and drown.