To get rid of hornets and wasps in the yard and to keep wasps away from the deck and where people gather to eat and drink, follow these 5 steps.
- Inspect – Some wasp and hornet nests are obvious and easy to find. Others are hidden. Keeping careful distance, follow the wasps to their nest. To get rid of the wasps, you will need to kill the queen and destroy the nest.
- Make a plan – Knocking down a wasp nest and then running for your life is not a good plan. Instead, evaluate the situation and determine all the equipment and pest control products you’ll need to be successful. Plan your activities for nighttime when wasps are less active. Don’t shine flashlights directly on the nest, though, as this alerts and incites the wasps.
- Eliminate the nest – How to get rid of a hornets’ nest or wasp nest depends on where it is located. Wear a bee suit or long gloves, protective clothing and a mesh veil to protect yourself from stings.
- Knock down the nest – Knock down a small paper wasp nest with a broom. To knock down larger nests, like a bald-faced hornets’ nest, wait until evening. Enclose the nest in a plastic garbage bag and freeze it for 48 hours to kill the wasps. If this isn’t practical, apply a flying insect repellent spray to the nest using a long pole fitted with an aerosol can holder. This lets you stream the wasp spray at the nest opening from 10 to 12 feet away. The bug spray slows down the wasps so you knock down the nest. If the wasps aren’t an immediate danger, wait until late fall to remove the nest after they’ve died.
- Spray the nest – Aerosol wasp and hornet killer spray will kill wasps instantly on contact, but it may take more than one application for the spray to contact all wasps in the nest.
- Trap the wasps – Use a non-toxic hornet and wasp trap to lure the insects to their death. The wasps are attracted to the odour of the pest control traps, which they enter but cannot leave. Place traps strategically in the yard to draw the wasps away from the deck, patio and play areas.
- Make your yard less attractive to wasps – To get rid of wasps naturally, make your yard less appealing to them. Keep garbage and recycling in sealed containers. Rinse out pop and beer containers before recycling them. Pick up windfall fruit from under trees. Don’t let moist pet food sit outdoors. Seal cracks and holes in playground equipment and patio furniture where wasps like to build nests. Inspect often for wasp activity and knock down nests from eaves and overhangs while they are small.
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