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Wasp Removal
updated: Aug 09, 2012, 12:34 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

We've got some mud wasps settling in over the front door and for the most part I don't mind them but in the late morning they get pretty busy and we can barely open the front door without one or two coming in. Does anyone have experience moving wasps? These are mud wasps so their nest is like a hardened mud shell up in the corner of the overhang. I hate to kill them but I don't know how to move them.

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 306365	2012-08-09 12:47 PM
You can't move em. The best you can do is knock their nest down with water in the late evening or early morning hours, and then keep an eye out that they don't rebuild. Most will survive, although the grubs will die. Or you can just put up with it for a season and then knock the nest down come winter.
COMMENT 306366	2012-08-09 12:47 PM
Broom handle
COMMENT 306372	2012-08-09 12:57 PM
Be very careful, my husband accidentally hit a wasp's nest and was stung about a dozen times. Call vector control. (I know there are some wasps that don't sting, but it's better to be careful!)
COMMENT 306379	2012-08-09 01:12 PM
This was our first year encountering this type of nest. I went and purchased a spray at the hardware store that sprays a foam on their nests from up to 29 feet away and it also is water based so the spray doesn't settle on the house paint. I sprayed it and the nest immediately began to disintegrate I continued spraying until the nest was completely gone and it worked! I was trying to avoid costly exterminators! Take precautions though, the wasps become very agitated and aggressive!
COMMENT 306387	2012-08-09 01:25 PM
Just Yesterday, my neighbor did the same thing with the spray She got stung 7 times. Today her left hand and arm is red, swollen and itchy. Be careful.
COMMENT 306430	2012-08-09 02:30 PM
I posted comment 379 - As strange as it sounds I was spraying our nest from my car with the window open just a bit because I saw how agressive the wasp was becoming! If you can reach yours by doing the same thing it might make it a bit safer - you will look completely ridiculous like me, but you may save yourself from pain!
COMMENT 306435P	2012-08-09 02:43 PM
My husband knocked a nest down using a broom stick. We thought all was said and done until the next day when the wasp returned and tried repairing the nest and carried the grubs back up to it. I walked out our front door to a very angry wasp. If you use the broom make sure you follow up by completely clearing the spot where the nest was and clearing any grubs that fall out. I think ours was just one wasp trying to start a new nest and after we cleared everything the second time she gave up and moved on.
COMMENT 306440	2012-08-09 02:53 PM
A shop vac works on smaller nests.
COMMENT 306457P	2012-08-09 03:09 PM
As the first commenter said, they do come back. We actually tore down and rebuilt (the building!), and the wasp nest appeared in the same spot! Maybe a coincidence or maybe some animal homing behavior?
COMMENT 306461	2012-08-09 03:10 PM
I just had to get rid of a nest last week in the eaves of my garage. It's best to wait until evening. I recommend Raid Wasp and Hornet Killer in a large black can. It works instantly, dropping wasps in flight. Just saturate the nest, wait a couple of minutes and knock it down, then throw it away -- end of problem. Definitely DO NOT try this unarmed. Raid is by far the most effective wasp killer. It has a spray that is effective at more than 10 feet. Good Luck.
COMMENT 306532	2012-08-09 05:11 PM
Swat the nest with a broom, and run like Hal, you agree Roger? It's the economically thing to do. Delete the item out of your budget.
COMMENT 306635	2012-08-10 06:45 AM
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not heed comments made encouraging you to kill these wasps. RAID is the evil poisonous gift that keeps on giving. You will harm yourself and your pets, and any beneficial insects/spiders. Google and research safest way (for yourself and wasps) to remove these insects. Poison is NEVER a good idea. And killing the wasps ------ why would you want to do that? For some types of wasps there are "fake" nests you can put up, to discourage them from settling in your yard. For the mud builders that you have, I am certain there is a better solution than sprays and angering the wasps. Tsk.
COMMENT 306685	2012-08-10 07:56 AM
I recently had great success with my fully extended vacuum hose attachment. But according to the internet you must be careful you don't anger them as they emit some warning to their buddies that sends them all to defend them and attack. I think that the vacuum made that impossible and it worked beautifully. It was even fun, I hate to admit!
FLICKA	2012-08-10 09:34 AM
I had wasps in an old tree stump and grandkids got stung when coming up the walkway. I called a pest control outfit, it was going to cost $150, the stump was 3 ft. from the street (easy job). I called a beekeeper friend, he had me get a can of spray varnish, go out at night and saturate into the hole. Cost about $2.00. There was no way to move them!
COMMENT 306871	2012-08-10 12:13 PM
I have mud wasp nests show up just about every year. A couple of years ago, they were especially problematic, and I spent a couple of days "thinking" about how to proceed. Well, while I was THINKING, some local birds took action: turns out mud wasp grubs are tasty eating to these feathered friends. It was pretty interesting to watch, as a bird would alight on a nest, start digging and eating. Since then, I have simply exercised patience. I, too, hesitate to use poison to eradicate an outdoor creature who does more good to our "system" than harm to ME. I mean, who would have foreseen the BEE population drop and the the subsequent harm to our entire food supply as pollination enablers diminish? None of us has yet been stung. I might have a different opinion had that happened, I admit.
COMMENT 306925	2012-08-10 01:59 PM
There are justifiable reasons why some might want to use sprays that destroy nests and kill grubs - the sprays that can be applied accurately, from 25 feet away. Not everyone can co-exist with wasps. Many people have a hyper-sensitive/allergic reaction to wasp venom, and can die from ONE sting! Further, in this economy, not everyone feels comfortable shelling out $150 to do a job they could do for under $25. After my cousin accidentally breached a wasp nest while removing an old tree stump, he was stung 48 times. We dropped everything and rushed him to an E.R. After subsequent testing, he was told by his doctor that for the rest of his life, he would have to avoid being stung at all costs, because the next one could well be the end of him. When it's your very life at stake, it tends to change your outlook a bit.

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