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Butler, Ohio

Mom & Dad Have a large blackberry/raspberry/elderberry patch at their place and we discovered a quite large hornets nest in a section of the Raspberries. I dont think hornets do much pollinating of anything, and they'd like to get rid of it cause they can't hardly pick berries without being chased by hornets. I've heard everything from torching it to spraying it at night to just leaving it.....which is not an option for them...it needs to go as the black raspberries are ripening as we speak and they cant get to them cause of the hornets. Does anybody have any helpful/sensible advice short of calling a professional in to deal with it?? Thanks. Mike

7/2/2006 9:30:20 AM

Www.extremepumpkinstore.com

sevin - warrior- talstar - scimtar

7/2/2006 9:44:40 AM

Long Island,New York

Track sneakers, a broom handle, and one of those wasp killer insectisides with the 20 ft spray.

7/2/2006 10:02:59 AM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

A cold night and a heavy duty garbage bag.

7/2/2006 11:06:08 AM

now... if the nest was up in a tree a ways off the ground, take your dad, two shotguns, and 6 shells. 3 shots each and the dead is done. BUT since it's in the berries...
they make special hornet spray, but since you're eating the berries, i wouldn't want to use that. We have used the garbage bag at night trick like Shannon mentioned, just get the bag closed up quick cuz they wake up quick when you knock the nest down.

7/2/2006 5:43:45 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Whatever you do....do it in the dark when the bees aren't likely to take flight & sting you. I'd use a wasp & hornet aerosol & just don't eat the berries from that area.

7/2/2006 5:58:13 PM

Wichita, KS

I use the 20 foot spray method to get rid of them. after that, I hang a thing called the "waspinator." It looks just like a paper bee hive (one of those oval shaped thingsthat winnie the poo is always trying to get into). The wasps see that and don't come back for a long time. It is poisonless and re-usable; made of grey, stiff cloth. Works better than I expected.

7/2/2006 6:14:46 PM

Farmville, Virginia (mfowler@hsc.edu)

Are these the big yellow hornets or the black ones? If they are the big yellow ones and you plan on using a spray be careful with the light...they do fly at night and will go straight to a light. If you use a spray make sure it's the Raid Wasp and Hornet killer. Definitely kills on contact. No delay.

7/2/2006 6:58:21 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

I've got it...find someone a lot slower than you. Tonight I was traveling about 10ft behind my daughter and as she walked by one of the birdhouse gourds she gave it a good WACK!!! Needless to say by the time they got out they seen the person that they believed was responsible for the thumping.

7/2/2006 8:47:46 PM

Long Island,New York

Ok...here's my yellow jacket trick. Sears shopvac....duct tape a 8ft pole to the sucking end...turn on and start sucking up the nest. The paper nest will disintigrate...the wasps will get sucked up, the comb may be tougher but it will break up. Suck them all in and then spray raid in the hose and turn off...l.let sit one day.....open and discard the dead wasps.

7/3/2006 12:13:36 AM

Farmville, Virginia (mfowler@hsc.edu)

Brave, Brave man you are LIpumpkin!!! lol

7/3/2006 11:26:14 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Brave??? It looks like G's been drinking the LI water again.

7/3/2006 11:30:58 AM

Long Island,New York

Laugh all you want....but when ya want the job done you'll come around.

7/3/2006 4:34:33 PM

Simi valley, ca

Since were supposed to be having fun !! I like Glenns idea !!!

7/3/2006 7:05:56 PM

Long Island,New York

oh...and bring a friend with a video camera

7/3/2006 8:32:19 PM

Would that be a FAST friend?

7/3/2006 9:11:17 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

I've eliminated hundreds of bees nests over the years both for hobby & hire. Never used a shop-vac for anything but the already expired bodies. LOL

7/3/2006 10:36:45 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Yikes G!....leave the poor things alone...."Can't we all just get along"...I forget who said it but if you guys keep doing this we'll have another where did the wasps go post.

7/3/2006 11:08:05 PM

For some reason the thought of G and Steve teaming up, forming a business just crossed my mind:
Who ya gonna call?

"Bee Busters",,,they show up wearing matching jumpsuits, safari hats with netting,ammo belts packing aerosols,G dragging the shopvac,Steve with a torch,flicking a lighter with a strange glint in his eye.......
Tom P filming(at a safe distance) for the future website when they expand to nationwide francising.

I'm betting that you guys did the magnifying glass thing with ants when you were kids.

a "hobby"???

sorry for the continued hijack,,good luck with the hornets

7/4/2006 6:49:55 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

In some regards I *was* a bee-buster for a lot of years.

"For Hire" means that a client is paying to have a Hornet. Yellow Jacket or Wasp colony removed from their home or place of business for what they perceive to be a human health hazard. These are the nuisance bees.

"For Hobby" means that a friend or relative has called for the same perceived fears but won't be paying me for the service.

In every State in America this requires a Commercial Pesticide License if the person exterminating is on any other than their own property regardless if money changes hands. Even the Janitor at my son's school is forbidden by law to spray a can of Wasp & Hornet killer *at the school* without a commercial pesticide license. Hence 99.9% of all janitors are technically criminals since none I've ever met wouldn't shoot a can of Raid on the job. I've taken out Paper Wasps at my son's school on 2 occasions. Wasps & school kids are a bad mix.

Apis spp. is the domestic honey bee. Apis spp. are man-made bees that originated in Africa but are far removed from their "wild" state today. When an escaped feral apis colony takes up residence in or to near a structure (rare but happens) I always call or refer a bee keeper to collect them. Apis is like a Jersey Cow. If it get's out of the barn & runs down Main Street someone expects the farmer to come get her. We don't tolerate "feral cows" do we? The trouble is that most crops that require bees today aren't grown near metro centers so you & I don't see many honey bees in suburbia any more. Why keep bees if no one will pay you to do so?

Sadly there are fewer than 280 registered beekepers in CT now. Most of them are back yard hobbyist honey producers.

Bombus spp. is our big native "Bumble Bee". Bombus is also a good pollinator & all we really have left here in CT. These guys don't nest near people & I've never gotten a call to remove one.

Doesn't everyb

7/4/2006 8:49:23 AM

Butler, Ohio

Good post steve! Anyways...I can just see G and Tom P Chasing down a hornet nest with a shop vac!!!! Must be the NY water supply...cause.....dang....nuff said....lol. ANyways...thanks for all the tips. I'll keep ya posted how the Hornet busting goes. THanks. Mike

7/4/2006 10:19:26 AM

Nh

im a roofer and can say that i know a little bit about killing things that sting. just so you know, night time is the right time, mostly cause they are all back in the nest and not out and about. it doesnt make much sense to kill a nest with a quarter of its accupants home while the rest are out! as far as the killing part goes, the twenty foot spray is fine but make sure you take the time to see exactly where you are applying this stuff. in othewr words hit the nest!. mind you the spray is extremely toxic. so much so that when some of that stuff gets on our newly shingled roof, it eats through the asphalt!. you may contaiminate your rasberrys. you can use a smoker aswell. good luck

7/4/2006 11:26:00 PM

South Western Pa

In this case with the nest in the raspberry patch, I agree that it would have to go.

However, I am going to go a little against the grain here. Hornets are actually a beneficial bug for the gardener. They eat other bugs. So unless the nest poses a threat to you, your patch/garden is better off with them around.

Mark

7/5/2006 11:16:12 AM

Indiana

Get one of those big torches go out at night and cook it. it will burn the bushes around it but no more hornets.
Steve

7/5/2006 1:46:48 PM

President - GPC

Can of Pledge Wax works as a flame thrower too.....takes them immediately out of the air. I never met a Yellow Jacket I liked, Send me a bubble pack, you can have all my yellows......they like to hide and drink in my swiss chard?? If its going to rain ....wait for em....they fly in like planes for a airport then zappem all at once....Ill keep my bees

7/11/2006 10:14:01 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Masochists...LOL....I Love it. I prefer Lysol flamethrowers to Pledge but to each their own.

7/11/2006 11:09:13 PM