Seems every year I have to deal with a wasp nest somewhere on my house. Last year the buggers made one right smack dab underneath the roof overhang on my front door. Paper wasps, yellowjackets, whatever you want to call them. I call them freakin mean and a nuisance.
Thought I'd be in the clear this year, but over the past week I've been finding dead wasps on my kitchen floor and in the laundry room just off the kitchen. These weren't the bigass yellowjackets though, rather a smaller variety whose name I'm not familiar with.
For the life of me, I couldn't figure out where they were coming from. No sign of a nest inside, and I looked hard and long on the back of the house as well. Some days there would be one or two dead ones, sometimes none.
This morning when I was doing laundry, I saw an odd sight on the mat just inside the door of the laundry room that leads to my back deck. It was covered in fine wood shavings, which then lead to some being deposited on the door window frame, and then the top of the door jamb. Had an AH-HA moment, and figured out they were probably building a nest inside the door jamb.
Still had some of the wasp/hornet killer can left over from last year, so sprayed down the top of the inside door jam, then went outside and hosed down that same area. I didn't go out that rear door since I didn't want to shake loose the nest.
In the meantime while I'm doing laundry there were suddenly several wasps in the laundry room, which seemed to like to get trapped between the windows and the blinds. I grabbed a rag and squished them before they could sting me.
Came back to the laundry room later and there were a few more wasps. By now I'm thinking WTF! Squished them too, but some I had to wait until they flew into the window towards the light. Didn't get stung.
By now I can't understand where they're coming from, so decided to step back and watch. Sure as shit, one of them flies out the top of the door where it meets the frame! Got the rest of the spay and hosed that down.
Had stuff to do so needed to go leave for awhile. Got another can of wasp/hornet spray at the hardware store on my errands.
Came back a few hrs later and found a few more dead ones in the laundry room. But then I clearly noticed a very unsettling sound - a very pronounced buzzing which seemed to emanate from outside.
Closer listening revealed that the buzzing came from inside the door itself! So this was truly where the nest was and I just had not noticed it before. But it was loud as anything. But where were they coming in at? I figured I'd sprayed down all the areas in question.
By now my blood's up. Got a brand new can of wasp spray. Marched back to the rear deck and just waited and watched. Sure enough, within a minute or so it became obvious where the nest entrance was. Several fliers made for the exact same entry. OK, game on!
And it's much too difficult to describe here. Suffice to say they found some gap in between the paneling just above the door to my rear deck. And then made a nest from there!
New can of juice in hand, I proceeded to hose it down making sure that the flow penetrated into that particular gap in the paneling. Had several fliers around me and trying to get in, but they turned away when they smelled the spray.
Right now, and for the past few hours there has been no buzzing from the door area as before. So I'm hopeful I've got them. Got the door from the laundry room to the kitchen closed, and have checked it periodically. Right now the count is only 3 more dead 'uns.
I won't plan to open the rear door at least for a few more days. Gonna get another can of spray and dose the whole thing down several more times. Their pheromones can persist for a while after the nest is gone. And that's what attracts the stragglers back.
Did I ever mention I friggin' HATE Wasps?
:x
No bueno, no cheers!
RR
Thought I'd be in the clear this year, but over the past week I've been finding dead wasps on my kitchen floor and in the laundry room just off the kitchen. These weren't the bigass yellowjackets though, rather a smaller variety whose name I'm not familiar with.
For the life of me, I couldn't figure out where they were coming from. No sign of a nest inside, and I looked hard and long on the back of the house as well. Some days there would be one or two dead ones, sometimes none.
This morning when I was doing laundry, I saw an odd sight on the mat just inside the door of the laundry room that leads to my back deck. It was covered in fine wood shavings, which then lead to some being deposited on the door window frame, and then the top of the door jamb. Had an AH-HA moment, and figured out they were probably building a nest inside the door jamb.
Still had some of the wasp/hornet killer can left over from last year, so sprayed down the top of the inside door jam, then went outside and hosed down that same area. I didn't go out that rear door since I didn't want to shake loose the nest.
In the meantime while I'm doing laundry there were suddenly several wasps in the laundry room, which seemed to like to get trapped between the windows and the blinds. I grabbed a rag and squished them before they could sting me.
Came back to the laundry room later and there were a few more wasps. By now I'm thinking WTF! Squished them too, but some I had to wait until they flew into the window towards the light. Didn't get stung.
By now I can't understand where they're coming from, so decided to step back and watch. Sure as shit, one of them flies out the top of the door where it meets the frame! Got the rest of the spay and hosed that down.
Had stuff to do so needed to go leave for awhile. Got another can of wasp/hornet spray at the hardware store on my errands.
Came back a few hrs later and found a few more dead ones in the laundry room. But then I clearly noticed a very unsettling sound - a very pronounced buzzing which seemed to emanate from outside.
Closer listening revealed that the buzzing came from inside the door itself! So this was truly where the nest was and I just had not noticed it before. But it was loud as anything. But where were they coming in at? I figured I'd sprayed down all the areas in question.
By now my blood's up. Got a brand new can of wasp spray. Marched back to the rear deck and just waited and watched. Sure enough, within a minute or so it became obvious where the nest entrance was. Several fliers made for the exact same entry. OK, game on!
And it's much too difficult to describe here. Suffice to say they found some gap in between the paneling just above the door to my rear deck. And then made a nest from there!
New can of juice in hand, I proceeded to hose it down making sure that the flow penetrated into that particular gap in the paneling. Had several fliers around me and trying to get in, but they turned away when they smelled the spray.
Right now, and for the past few hours there has been no buzzing from the door area as before. So I'm hopeful I've got them. Got the door from the laundry room to the kitchen closed, and have checked it periodically. Right now the count is only 3 more dead 'uns.
I won't plan to open the rear door at least for a few more days. Gonna get another can of spray and dose the whole thing down several more times. Their pheromones can persist for a while after the nest is gone. And that's what attracts the stragglers back.
Did I ever mention I friggin' HATE Wasps?
:x
No bueno, no cheers!
RR
