Wasp nest - unwelcome visitors!

[Rotten Ricky]

We have a wasp (Yellow-jacket) nest under our mainsail cover near the goose-neck. I want to kill them off as soon as possible as I am worried they might damage my sail. I can't squirt it directly with any insecticide. Any suggestions about how to deal with it?

I was thinking of visiting them on a series of cool mornings when they are hopefully too dozy to raise the alarm, gradually wrapping the sail cover tighter working forward on the boom so they are restricted to one small entry/exit point. Then on another cool morning quickly close it up and using a hole in the cover further up the mast, drop an insecticide bomb - if you can get such a thing - or squirt in some insecticide and run like hell!

Does this sound like a good plan or is it more likely to be a great opportunity for someone to take a video of a fool running with a swarm after him?!!

Thanks, RR.

[bletso]

You might try freezing them with a CO2 extinguisher and then knock the nest loose.

[zeehag]

when i had red wasps on my mainmast ratlings i sacrificed a hose. i stuffed borax into that hose end. i then replaced the nozzle as it had a jet stream with distance factor. i sprayed that nest away and the ratlings and the queen which was black as she exited. caught her at the midsection and into ocean bam gone. ruined the hose and nozzle, but that was well worth it. i then placed a brown paper sack, small sized. stuffed with enough paper towelling to keep it expanded, on the mizzenboom. ta daa...no more beees, no more wasps no more anything fearing being chopped in half by these nasty red monsters. try it . it is proven effective. good luck.

ps yellow jackets hold no candle to red wasps. these red things will hospitalize ye.

[chris mac]

There is a foaming wasp spray that is very effective. Wail for a cold morning, stick the small tube in the nest, (through the wall is fine) and give the trigger a short shot.
The foam fills the nest and kills all inside. If you don't overspray, it stays contained.
Give it a few minutes, then bag the nest and throw it in the trash.
I would then give the whole area a good rinse to make sure any drips get cleaned up.

[Kenomac]

I was a beekeeper and house painter for many years. Soapy water sprayed on wasps works the fastest. Just plain water mixed with a squirt of dish soap through a spray bottle kills in seconds.

[SV Bacchus]

Ken that is great info! I have used the "squirts 30 feet" instant wasp killing spray which, quite frankly, smelled as if it was a petroleum product. I always will use a more environmentally friendly option if one if available.

[sailorboy1]

Real sailors grab the nest with their bare hands and squeeze the wasps to death

[Bruce K]

Yellow Jackets!!! Stir fried with a bit of chili and ginger, YUM!!!!!!!!!!

[Rotten Ricky]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I was a beekeeper and house painter for many years. Soapy water sprayed on wasps works the fastest. Just plain water mixed with a squirt of dish soap through a spray bottle kills in seconds.

Thanks for the suggestion. This sounds amazingly simple - almost too simple!

I can't see the nest as it is under the cover and it is probably one that is in the flakes of the sail. The wasps might get a bit alarmed if I take the cover off and try to get at the nest. But how can I otherwise get at it - without having the wasps get into attack formation, fully armed?!

This is why I thought I might use some kind of fumigant after sort of closing up the sail and sail cover as much as possible. Or does anyone know of an insecticide attractant that is a wasp killer that I could place outside the entrance that would have the wasps carry bits of it back to the nest and kill the others?

Thanks again for any suggestions.

RR.

[SV Bacchus]

Hey, this looks kinda crude but sure seems to work. Make one of these, fasten it close (probably at night) and then let it run all day during daylight. May take several days but BOOM, wasps are gone!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMIvgwUlrYY

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Rotten Ricky

Thanks for the suggestion. This sounds amazingly simple - almost too simple!

I can't see the nest as it is under the cover and it is probably one that is in the flakes of the sail. The wasps might get a bit alarmed if I take the cover off and try to get at the nest. But how can I otherwise get at it - without having the wasps get into attack formation, fully armed?!

This is why I thought I might use some kind of fumigant after sort of closing up the sail and sail cover as much as possible. Or does anyone know of an insecticide attractant that is a wasp killer that I could place outside the entrance that would have the wasps carry bits of it back to the nest and kill the others?

Thanks again for any suggestions.

RR.

Like honeybees, wasps are fairly docile unless you step on one. Yellow jackets on the other hand, are the ones to watch out for, but they live underground. Watch you step.

[roverhi]

Originally Posted by Rotten Ricky

Thanks for the suggestion. This sounds amazingly simple - almost too simple!

I can't see the nest as it is under the cover and it is probably one that is in the flakes of the sail. The wasps might get a bit alarmed if I take the cover off and try to get at the nest. But how can I otherwise get at it - without having the wasps get into attack formation, fully armed?!

This is why I thought I might use some kind of fumigant after sort of closing up the sail and sail cover as much as possible. Or does anyone know of an insecticide attractant that is a wasp killer that I could place outside the entrance that would have the wasps carry bits of it back to the nest and kill the others?

Thanks again for any suggestions.

RR.

Had the same problem. Unsnapped the twist lock fasteners in stages, do a few till the wasps swarm, backed off, came back when they settled down, unsnap a few more twist locks and repeat till the sail cover was completely loose. Once the cover was lose on the sail ripped it off and used a broom to sweep the nests off into the water. Once the nests were gone, used wasp spray to hit them when they hovered long enough or landed and could be hit. After a couple days of very intermittent ack ack spraying they were pretty much gone. A neighboring semi abandoned boat was still a focal point for the wasps but they weren't coming around my boat in nearly the volume as originally. I've been gone for a couple of weeks. Will see whether they've come back when I get back to the boat next week.

[Rotten Ricky]

Thanks so much for all the responses. It has been both informative and very entertaining. All the ideas - sprays, hoses, vacuums, a flailing weed-eater thing and even a high voltage zapper! As a former electrician, the zapper appeals enormously, but is also a bit more hassle to make up than using a vacuum.

Amazing and quite funny to watch some of the videos - especially the flailer and zapper - and I did not feel one twinge of remorse at seeing the little devils meet their ends!!!

It is raining at this time but I will consider my best and simplest plan of attack - either a flailing motor or the vacuum I think, at least to start and reduce the enemies numbers.

Thanks again, RR.

[Cheechako]

If it's just a small nest no bigger than a tennis ball, expose it and hose it off into the water. I wouldnt spray chemicals on your sail.

[Bobcat]

Most of the time wasps are beneficial insects ie the eat pest grubs etc in the Spring and get rid of rotting fruit in the Autumn. If you poison them they will get into another food chain and do damage there!

When accessible, wearing protective clothing in the evening, put the nest in a plastic bag and that in the freezer for 24 hours - best fish bait ever they don't break up on the hook like other larvae - beloved of trout fishermen who don't use artificial flies!

So the option of a CO2 fire extinguisher seems a great idea but rather expensive unless past its sell by date. Cold, if cold enough will make them comatose and then you can remove but be careful - it has to be really cold to handle them - even with gloves on!

Normally, in the Autumn the queen just stops laying worker eggs and only the queens overwinter. So if winter is on its way in temperate zones that should be the end of that particular colony - natures way.

So it seems cold or a jet of water might be the answer - clear the area first and wear protective clothing. Someone suggested a dewaxer eg soap or detergent in water might help but I've never needed to get that technical but then I live in Scotland and our winters clear them up again until I need them in the Spring to protect my garden from real pests.

They can sometimes be a bit of a nuisance if you are a beekeeper but can be trapped in a part filled jar of water with a little jam or other sweetener where they drown. Don't use honey or sugar or bees from different locations will feed on it and may take diseases to other hives.

Hope that helps ... some interesting situations I have come across. Bees in cavity walls, the eaves of a house in Honduras where horses were tethered nearby (bees don't appreciate smelly horse sweat or dogs saliva - even long hair and perfume can be a problem for humans).

The Honduras colony in the eaves cleared the Village - but a beekeeper was intent of rescuing the honey from the top of a ladder. I had the horses cut loose first but we still had to make a tricky get away in a pickup outside village!

More technical was the swarm I spotted in the aircraft next to mine which had got into the rudder. I did my checks at the rush and got airborne asap after suggesting that someone contact the local bee advisor - never found out what happened but it didn't hit the news!

Hope that helps ... Good luck - interested to hear how you get on! You will need to think 'outside the box' if you are to get rid of them unscathed in an environmentally friendly way. It will then depend on the type of wasp and their location.

PS Forgot to mention VACUUM CLEANERS ARE GREAT for honey bee swarms if the bees are filtered out en route to the bag - they might also work for some types of wasps!