I decided to move Bunny to the old hen house. However, wasps have taken up residence. There are numerous wasp nests. I was able to count 8 of them Some are still small, others are large. In the past I have caught the problem before it was out of hand. Then I just waited until the bees left, in the morning, and then I destroyed the nests. However, this time there are too many bees and nests. I wish to avoid the use of poisons, any ideas?

-- Cheryl Cox (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), August 27, 2000

Answers

soapy water in a garden sparyer or a high pressure sprayer, the soap sticks to them and they cant fly that way. Works for bees also, though i would rather have the bees moved, STAN

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), August 27, 2000.

Cheryl, Look in Countryside 83/4 July/August 1999 on page 29. The plans for a wasp/bee trap are shown. It worked for us.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), August 27, 2000.

Wasps and bees? Garden sprayer would be more suitable if you have multiple nests. Stand back and hit'm with the spray. They will die immediately! A can with top removed and filled with gasoline works well on just one nest. Gasoline is an immediate killer. Alchol works as well as gasoline or diesel. Matt. 24:44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), August 27, 2000.

Hoot, can I use Rubbing Alcohol in a garden sprayer? And how fast should I be prepared to run?

-- Cheryl Cox (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), August 27, 2000.

Hey Cher! Don't know for sure about rubbin alchol but suppose it would work. I actually meant methenol, which is wood alchol i think. We used it to disperse water and moisture in our propane bobtail trucks in winter time. We bought it is 55 gallon drums so we didn't have to skimp any. It served double duty --wasp killin. Propane tanks settin in the sun were notorious for providin a fine place for a wasp nest--under the tank hood! If you hit'm with the meth. they would die instantly. We also used drip gas and also gasoline. Just as effective. No runnin involved--if you did it right. If you didn't you'd better have your tenny runners on! Matt. 24:44

-- hoot, wasp killin gibson (hoot@pcinetwork.com), August 27, 2000.

We've found the best time to go wasp/hornet killing is when it is as cold as possible. If you wait until the coldest part of the night, they will be pretty much dormant. Unfortunately they like to choose places where they can get some radiated heat......

Once, we used an old CO2 extinguisher to "freeze" them before we blasted with wasp spray. I hated running from them (they always win).

-- Chris Stogdill (cstogdill@rmci.net), August 28, 2000.

We have found that automotive starting fluid in a spray can works great. It not only does the job, but does it instantly and the ether in the fluid stops them cold. You won't have to worry about how fast you can run.

-- John and Pat James (jjames@n-jcenter.com), August 29, 2000.

Carb cleaner works good too, and drops 'em fairly quickly, and is what I usually use in the shop.

-- Eric in TN (ems@nac.net), September 01, 2000.