Hi Ryan, I had a European wasp nest (I'm in Nevada) out front in a half barrel planter, and after a few stings and a few sprays of [wasp spray containers] and stirring of soil and saturating with water, finally got rid of them. The stirring and water broke up the nest.
However, I hired an exterminator for the larger nest I had under a concrete slab of a shed in the back. The year prior to extraction, I had been stung a few times (got quite swollen and it stung and ITCHED -- much more in back than in the front noted above). The next year (second), I hired a professional (I was stung one too many times). The guy suited up, dug a little, and pulled out this incredibly futuristic looking multi-floored spherical nest (maybe 4-6" in diam?) with pillars! It was beautiful. Extracting the nest did the trick. The third year (this year), two little tiny nests were noted, one located up in a corner of the shed and the other along the exterior panel of a cooler (easily dealt with). Not sure your situation (or size or amount of yellow jackets [species, of which I know little]) warrants that type of extraction, but it was definitely worth the price. The water receptacles in my backyard and front yard, the earwigs and cinch-type bugs in my garden (and their eggs), attracted the wasps. I would see them fly down and hold down earwigs on the ground (wherein I might step on them [they paid no attention once an earwig was in their grasp], maybe not, it was so interesting). They flew in and out under the leaves where the noticeable little brown egg clusters could be seen (if searched for). They were decent pest control, they just were too many! Last year, I also sprayed to get rid of the cinch-bugs (the orange and brown ones with the bright orange-red tear-drop shaped juveniles, forget their name -- very friendly!). Low and behold, my flowers bloomed, I had an abundant crop of peaches on my little trees [and pears, apples…], no earwig or cinch bug problem, and very few wasps/yellow jackets noted. I noticed a few more wasps as the abundant fruit littered the ground later in the summer, and my still rather round fruit dog (Jules, my lab mix -- she is still finding edible pears, as of today), could not keep up with the fallen fruit; it attracted some wasps/yellow jackets. Maybe that helps? On Nov 19, 2014, at 4:30 PM, pestlist@museumpests.net wrote: > > Ryan, > Interesting problem. Here are a few thoughts. > It seems you've already located the exterior of the nest. It is difficult to > imagine how treating the site with most any pesticide labeled for this use > would expose the resident. A fast knockdown formulation containing pyrethrins > or pyrethroids would seem to do the trick. I understand the concern of the > resident, but one has to weigh risks and benefits. What is worse, a little > bit of the wasp spray that will almost certainly do the trick, or one or more > stings? Can the resident leave the premises for the day? That would further > reduce exposure. > It is quite possible that the dinotefuran in the Alpine formulation killed > many of the adult wasps, but left untouched the pupae protected within capped > cells of the nest. A follow-up treatment of the same material would very > likely kill those adults that have since emerged. > > Another non-chemical option is to set up a vacuum cleaner with the nozzle at > the nest entrance. Then turn it on and let it run for a few hours or more. > You'd need to find a vacuum cleaner that won't burn out from such extended > use, and won't drive the resident or neighbors to distraction because of the > noise. It would seem that this method would be unnecessary and a bit extreme, > but I've seen it used elsewhere with certain very sensitive sites or for > folks who had exaggerated fears of all pesticides. > > Let us know how this all works out. > -Rich > > Richard Pollack, PhD. > CEO & Chief Scientific Officer > IdentifyUS, LLC > 320 Needham Street > Suite 200 > Newton, MA 02464-1593 > ------------------ > 617.600.6360 (W) > 617.513.9266 (M) > <twitter.png> <facebook.png> <linkedin.png> <tumblr.png> <skype.png> > <quora.png> > <IDUS_SQ_100px.png><IDmyBUG-button-100.png> > > HARVARD UNIVERSITY > Environmental Health, Safety and Emergency Management (EHSEM) > Senior Environmental Public Health Officer > 46 Blackstone St. > Cambridge, MA 02139 > Office: 617-495-2995 Cell: 617-447-0763 > www.ehs.harvard.edu > richard_poll...@harvard.edu > > HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH > Instructor, Department of Immunology & Infectious Diseases > > On Nov 19, 2014, at 11:11, pestlist@museumpests.net wrote: > >> >> Group, >> >> Most of you know that the southern United States and many other regions are >> notorious for yellow jackets in the fall. I have run up against a problem >> that is very complex in nature and could use some advice. >> >> Here is the situation: >> >> I have a yellow jacket nest in the attic void of a historic house that >> serves double-duty as a residence. The resident’s wife is taking >> chemotherapy treatments, and is very concerned with the use of pesticides in >> this building. Yellow jackets have been getting into the 2nd floor living >> quarters and are congregating at the windowsills. The resident says he is >> killing approximately 5-10 per day, and has been stung at least once. Last >> week, I was able to treat the nest from the exterior entry point (I used >> Alpine dust in hopes of avoiding repellancy /scattering of the workers), >> which we found outside of a dormer by the bathroom. No activity was noted >> over the weekend, but it started cropping up again mid-week. Yesterday, I >> went into the attic and pulled up insulation to have a look at the nest from >> the back. Though I found no activity, I retreated the nest with >> petroleum-based wasp spray to ensure thorough coverage. >> >> At a certain point in the late fall, yellow jackets release a barrage of >> reproductives. These are loners and, after mating, look for a solitary place >> to overwinter. Unfortunately, this surge of reproductives has already >> occurred. All of the specimens I have found indoors are extremely large, a >> clear indicator of this caste. These continue to get in and hover by >> windows, and I suspect they are scattered intermittently throughout the >> attic. >> >> It seems to me that I have two options: >> >> Fog the attic heavily to kill the remaining reproductives >> Install a light trap in the attic and clean up the mess using that medium. >> >> Obviously, fogging the attic is out of the question. To make matters worse, >> all points of the attic are not accessible, so getting the fog to permeate >> would take a lot more product than normal. >> >> I have an insect light trap on order that will be here in a day or two. >> >> Is there anything I am missing by way of potential solutions? Any >> suggestions are welcome. >> >> Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this. >> >> Ryan Jones >> >> Integrated Pest Management >> Specialist >> >> <image001.jpg> >> P.O. Box 1776 >> Williamsburg, VA 23187 >> >> (757) 220-7080 >> >> rjo...@cwf.org >> >> >> >> >> Thanks, >> >> Ryan Jones >> >> Integrated Pest Management >> Specialist >> >> <image001.jpg> >> P.O. Box 1776 >> Williamsburg, VA 23187 >> >> (757) 220-7080 >> >> rjo...@cwf.org > >
