Ground wasp nest

MSaxp

Hi,

We have a wasp nest in our garden, effectively a hole in our lawn. (maybe attracted to our apple tree which was infested with aphids) 

I've tried some insecticide over the entrance, which didn't do much. Wasps got upset and seem to have dug out a bit more. Maybe I should have persevered with more applications. Also tried a kettle of boiled water, again not much happened. Today I was mowing around the nest and one decided to sting me. One sting was OK, but 100 would be an issue and we also have small children.

1) Is there a way to get rid of them fairly easily?
2) Any chance they will just leave on their own?
3) How much would a professional charge? Are we talking £50 or £500?

Thank you,
Mike

Black_Cat2

Hi MSa.  Can only speak from my own experience.  I also had a wasp nest in my garden which I decided (after seeking advice in this forum) to leave well alone.  They did indeed leave the nest and have not returned.  If you are able to give them a wide berth then doing nothing is what I recommend. All I did was fill in the entrance when it was abandoned.  I did get stung but that was because I didn't realise it was there when I was weeding and I disturbed them, pretty sure they don't sting unless defending themselves/nest 🐈

Farway

I think BC2 advice is sound, maybe partition off that part of the garden from the children? perhaps a string strung from canes for instance, I'm sure most children except the very young toddlers would see the wasps once you pointed them out to them and realise why the partition was there

We had a nest at base of hedge where I volunteer, it was far easier to string across between canes, with a warning notice, than try to eradicate the wasps

Come winter they will all die anyway, except a queen who will find somewhere sheltered, like in a shed, to overwinter

MSaxp

Thank you both! I'm sure we can survive a couple of months with the wasps if they are to disappear. Wasn't sure if that was the case and they would stick around forever, if not exterminated

goldfinches

Absolutely endorse above advice from BC2 and F.
If you search this forum for previous enquiries on the subject of wasps you'll find my account of my parents attempts to rid our garden of a wasps nest in a bank back in the early 1970's.
Both parents subsequently had to visit our GP and the exterminator who actually dealt with the wasps made it quite clear that he thought they had been bl**dy nitwits.
Definitely don't have any bright ideas about hoses or petrol or anything else, please.

Apodemus

I would agree with all the advice above.  At this point in the season, you've only got a few weeks of wasp season left and they will die off over the winter.  If you were to poison them with an insecticide, you are likely to have sick, angry wasps all over the garden and much more likely to get stung.

goldfinches said:

Definitely don't have any bright ideas about hoses or petrol or anything else, please.

   

In theory, though...and I've never tried this...    With a ground nest, it should be possible to gas them with any inert gas that is heavier than air.  CO2 is a good, safe way of treating for insects in air-proof food storage containers and CO2 is heavier than air, so potentially a CO2 canister and tube down the hole might do the trick.  A CO2 fire extinguisher directed down the hole might work and the reduction in temperature caused by the rapidly expanding gas might be an added bonus.   Or perhaps a block of dry ice over the hole might also achieve this.  

greenbee

I’ve had wasps in old mole holes before - I stick a bamboo in near it, keep and eye on the flight path and avoid mowing near it. They never return to an old nest, plus the keep the pests down. Unless you bother them, they won’t bother you.

Apodemus

greenbee said:

 They never return to an old nest, plus the keep the pests down. Unless you bother them, they won’t bother you.

You know, I have said the same thing repeatedly over the years...wasps do not return to where there is an old nest.  Absolutely, they just never do it....   

Except this year I have two nests in spaces where I had carefully left the previous nests.  One in a bird nesting box where they had to burrow through the old decaying paper nest to make the new one, and one in the roof space where something went badly wrong with the nest last year and I had grubs and sick wasps loose on the roof.  These d**n wasps clearly haven't been following this forum! 

MSaxp

Thanks. I think I will just wait, avoid mowing too close (which was what led to me getting stung yesterday) and destroy/fill the nest when they are gone

sheramber

My mother had a wasp nest in her attic. When the pest control came to treat it they advised that that was a second nest. There was another  old one. They may not use the old nest but do return to the same place to build a new nest.

quirkydeptless

Wasps and other social insects now return to previous nests as they can find them on Air Bee N Bee