Went to our yearly family reunion yesterday.  Had a very nice day with my cousins and their families.

On 9/11/2022 at 9:41 AM, kmealy said:

Ugh.  Mowed the yard a couple days ago and Saturday my wife spots a bald hornet's nest that must have come within a foot of with my head.  About the size of a basketball.   Now I need to decide what do do with it.

Well, we sprayed at dusk a couple of times.  Early this morning, I pruned off the branch and dropped the nest into a tote of soapy water.   Later this morning, got back to it and there were a bunch that had drowned.  Took the comb out, sprayed it, and threw the whole mess in the garbage can.  No stings, saved $600 exterminator fee.

One summer  between the USAF and college, I worked as a flunky as part of a Humble Oil well maintenance crew. Part of our job was keeping the oil well pump electrical boxes free of wasps. We Carried a quart sized metal oil can full of diesel. The can had a long spout and, depressing the squirter lever resulted in a stream about 3'+. When we came upon a wasp nest, it got doused, knock out or off the box and set afire. That was our daily amusement. 

Much later, at our home up in the mountains, we used an aerosol Wasp and Hornet Killer. I don't  remember the brand. That thing would squirt about 15' or so and, killed on contact. Once the nest was saturated, the ones that escaped  never returned. 

Edited September 15, 20223 yr by Gene Howe

I once shot a hornets nest with an arrow by accident (really on accident).  The tree was growing at the bottom of a dry creek bed.  Making the nest about level with bank.  I took a shot at a rabbit and missed and hit the nest.  I was maybe 15 yrds away.  The nest rocked back and fourth for a swing or two then fell to the ground and broke open.  I was 12-13 at the time and high tailed it out of there. 

 

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1 minute ago, forty_caliber said:

I once shot a hornets nest with an arrow by accident (really on accident).  The tree was growing at the bottom of a dry creek bed.  Making the nest about level with bank.  I took a shot at a rabbit and missed and hit the nest.  I was maybe 15 yrds away.  The nest rocked back and fourth for a swing or two then fell to the ground and broke open.  I was 12-13 at the time and high tailed it out of there. 

 

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Well, my backup plan was to pull out the 12 gauge.  Just need to be careful what's downstream.   The neighbor across the street is putting in a pond.  Talked to him while he was out today.  There's about 5' of water in it already and looks like another 15' to go.  He wants to put in a zip line and has the high end in already.

My hornet nest story goes back 15 years or so, but we had one on the side of the house, just above the front porch columns. I called the exterminator since his cost ($100) was equal to my ER co-pay. The critters actually do some good since they like to dine on house flies, but the downsides outweigh the advantages of having them around.

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

My hornet nest story goes back 15 years or so, but we had one on the side of the house, just above the front porch columns. I called the exterminator since his cost ($100) was equal to my ER co-pay. The critters actually do some good since they like to dine on house flies, but the downsides outweigh the advantages of having them around.

I was told they prey on honey bees' larvae.   Since I have three hives on the property, that's not good.

The adult bees as well (like wasps), and it's a good reason (one of many) to not have them around.