# hornets



## woodspirit

OK, I've been battling hornets in my siding and getting into the house, for about 6 wks. The wasp & hornet sprays are tetramethrins and pyrethrines etc. They are really effective for instant killing, but what can I use that will work to kill them totally. Malathion, or sevin? An exterminator used malathion I think about 7 years ago and it worked but stained my house and smelled really bad. Any ideas?


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## moonwolf

I had this problem with hornets in the past. Baldface hornets in my area.
What I ended up doing is blasting inside of the hornet nest with Hornet and Wasp 'bomb' spray. It shoots an effective hard blast from the spray can, but I would wear a bee suit doing that. Spray enough in there to immediately kill all the hornets inside. Then destroy by crushing or burning the hive with the queen and larvae inside.


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## foxtrapper

Go to an ag supply store and get one of the fly spray spritzer units that hang on the wall. They are battery operated, so you can put them anywhere. The spray can contains permethrin, which does a very good job of killing wasps and hornets. It's not a quick fix, but a long term solution.

Fwiw, I used this on my house where I've had two wasp nests living in the attic walls, one of them truly inaccessable. Well, I could have ripped the roof off the house and a few other destructive things and gotten to them, but since I wasn't willing to wreck the house, they were inaccessable. Sure enough, two of the units placed in the attic going for over a month wiped out the nests. Lots of dead wasps on the floor, making for easy cleanup.

I would honestly say this is the best elimination technique for your type of situation.


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## james dilley

You mite want to think about a pump-up sprayer and using a lite weight cooking oil,Lie peanut,or Canola as this should kill the nest and the brood ,by drowning them in oil. It would be safer then trying to burn them out thats for sure.


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## BaronsMom

Insecticide Dusts work best. Wasp/hornets track the dust back into their nest area killing others. You just have to be very cautious getting up to the nest site. 

Do it at night, when the weather is cooler and use a flashlight with a bit of red cellophane over the light (the insects can't see red light).

There is a product newly registered in Nebraska called "Apicide" (the active ingredient is identical to Sevin dust) but the product is for bees and wasp in locations as you describe. You may be able to find the product in your area, but info is available on the web if you do a search for Apicide.

http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/insects/g1447.htm

The fascinating part about insects like yellow jackets is that although their numbers are going to be very high for a while and they seem indestructible...all the workers die in the winter whether you use insecticides or not. They only live one season.


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## woodspirit

BaronsMom said:


> Insecticide Dusts work best. Wasp/hornets track the dust back into their nest area killing others. You just have to be very cautious getting up to the nest site.
> 
> Do it at night, when the weather is cooler and use a flashlight with a bit of red cellophane over the light (the insects can't see red light).
> 
> There is a product newly registered in Nebraska called "Apicide" (the active ingredient is identical to Sevin dust) but the product is for bees and wasp in locations as you describe. You may be able to find the product in your area, but info is available on the web if you do a search for Apicide.
> 
> http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/insects/g1447.htm
> 
> The fascinating part about insects like yellow jackets is that although their numbers are going to be very high for a while and they seem indestructible...all the workers die in the winter whether you use insecticides or not. They only live one season.


 very good web page. 
I think I'm gonna get some sevin dust (5% carbaryl). That is flea powder for dogs and cats. Ever notice that it is more expensive if it has a picture of a dog on it? Same exact stuff and size but a cat's pic is less!!! Cheapest way to buy it is in a one pound bag at a garden center. Costs the same as a 6 oz container made for pets.


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## skruzich

can you get to the nest? If so, cover it with a plastic garbage bag, and take a cannister of CO2, (you can get one from a paintball gun,), and then run a tube under the edge of the bag into where the nest is and turn on the co2. It will kill them pretty quick. Freeze them to death first and then suck all the oxygen out of the nest and bag area. 
Ohh and do it at night. They don't fly around at night. Oh and no matter what you do, if you use dust or a spray, them suckers are smart and will hunt you down if you dont kill them


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## Ralph Roces

woodspirit said:


> OK, I've been battling hornets in my siding and getting into the house, for about 6 wks. The wasp & hornet sprays are tetramethrins and pyrethrines etc. They are really effective for instant killing, but what can I use that will work to kill them totally. Malathion, or sevin? An exterminator used malathion I think about 7 years ago and it worked but stained my house and smelled really bad. Any ideas?


 stay away from malathion! I worked in a lab when I was younger and we use to spray malathion to kill fleas, and our mice started having skin cancer, if you ask me hornets, wasp and all the other bugs are a bother, but they don't produce cancer.


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## woodspirit

Ralph Roces said:


> stay away from malathion! I worked in a lab when I was younger and we use to spray malathion to kill fleas, and our mice started having skin cancer, if you ask me hornets, wasp and all the other bugs are a bother, but they don't produce cancer.


Thanks for the warning. I used to sell the stuff and always hated the smell of it.


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## woodspirit

ok, put some sevin dust on the roof where they were going in between the siding and roof and looks like I have solved the hornet problem. Saw only a few today.


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