WASP AND BEE PROBLEM

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rsharp

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Jun 12, 2010
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im just curious to see if anyone else has this kind of problem. i have an AG pool with a half wrapped deck. sometimes when i go out by the pool i get surrounded by every type of stinging insect you can think of. wasps bees and these giant hornets. i feel like im the local hangout for these suckers....the beetles are horrible they fly straight into the water(guessing the reflection). Then these giant hornets fly into the water wing side down with their feet in the air. they almost look dead but then they flap their wings and get right out of the water and fly away.. thats when i start running...lol... anyways i was just wanting to know if anyone has a similar problem or if anyone has any ideas to rid my yard of flying bugs (especially the stinging ones :goodjob: )!!!!!!!
 
no theres no nests. i think they all gather at the giant watering hole!!lol.. if i dont mess with them, then they wont mess with me! i just hate having to look over my back every now and then!!
 
We get wasp nests. I just spray 'em w/Raid type stuff and knock 'em down.

My challenge at the moment is sugar ants. Little punks traverse the perimeter of my pool all the time. It's not like I leave ding dongs laying around to attract 'em. And I don't know where the queen sugar ant bed might be to sprinkle andro....
 
hey sonflower.... we had an ant problem and i was told to set out a mixture of sugar water and borax.... u take around 1 cup water with 2 cups sugar and u boil it until its gooey add around 3-4 tablespoons of borax and mix well.... we tried this and set it out (dont spill it. its very sticky) in little homeade foil bowls. take a small piece of paper towl and set it on the mixture so the ants have a way up.... 2 weeks later NO ANTS AT ALL... they were all gone..... it worked!!!!!
 
We have the wasps, hornets and bees. The bees are from the local bee farmer who has has hives 1/4 mile south on our CRP and we need them to pollenate so they can drink all they want, the rest I could give a hoot about spraying dead - but some of them keep trying to make those "mud" nests in the undersides of my pool step railings where there is a small lip. Can't spray that - so what to do there?
 
rsharp said:
hey sonflower....we had an ant problem and i was told to set out a mixture of sugar water and borax....
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Apparently borax is the active ingredient of Terro. I have used Terro for years and it works great. I tried homemade Terro with a similar recipe to what you described and it worked, but not as well. With the homemade stuff the ants ate it a little, but not enough the take out the whole colony. With Terro the ants line up around it like pigs at a trough and after a few days they are all gone. I guess you have to get the ratio perfect...enough sugar that they like it and enough borax to do the job.
 

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I'm a fan of Raid Wasp & Hornet spray. Ive had less than stellar results with a couple of other brands. And I also cast a vote for Terro for the sugar ants. It's like they can't get enough of it. I pretty much stopped getting a Fipronil ant bait and use Terro exclusively. For fire ants, I still like Amdro.
 
The Terro is very inexpensive and available at Home Depot and most other hardware stores, you get a bottle for about $3 that seems to last forever because you really only use a few drops at a time.

I have yellowjackets and found the hanging bags of attractant seem to help keep them under control. Otherwise they build nests under my pool slide ladder rungs which are mostly used by small children, yikes! I also connect a 1/2" tube to the end of wasp/hornet spray and spray under the rungs every now and then to remind them they are on the "uninvited guest list".
 
Try a WHY (Wasp/Hornet/Yellow jacket) trap. You can get them from Home Depot & Costco, among other places. HD also has the refills. We had nests all over our deck last year & hardly any this year. So far, I think I've found 1 nest on the end of the pool farthest from the trap.
 
I keep a hive of bees. They go for the NEAREST water. If you observe them for a bit, see which way they are going to and from, then place a birdbath or some other source of water in that direction away from the pool, within a week your bee problem will be over.

You don't really have to stress over killing a few, but yeah, bees are in a fight for species survival now. Between colony abscondance, the mystery death, and mites, bees are under serious stress.

Another tip, if you kill one, expect to get stung. When they die they release a scent that signals other bees to sting.
 
Lershac is right. You may just have to nicest watering hole in the area.

Hornets and yellow jackets behave similarly. Observe their flight paths and this will lead you to the nest.

Traps such as the WHY trap will trap them. But when it comes to hornets and yellow jackets, they will make new ones faster than you can trap them so it isn't going to cure the problem. Aerial and ground nesting yellow jackets and hornets can only be eradicated by killing the entire nest.
 
NWMNMom said:
We have the wasps, hornets and bees. The bees are from the local bee farmer who has has hives 1/4 mile south on our CRP and we need them to pollenate so they can drink all they want, the rest I could give a hoot about spraying dead - but some of them keep trying to make those "mud" nests in the undersides of my pool step railings where there is a small lip. Can't spray that - so what to do there?
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Why can't you spray there? Afraid of the toxic chemicals? You can always put a fine stream nozzle on the garden hose and dissolve the nest from a safe distance.
 
the majority of my problem are wasps..... every now and then a little bee will come around but its mostly the big boys collecting water and dirt...U ALL HAVE SOME GREAT IDEAS..... thanks for all the advice!!
 
Edit - and correction to info below. I wanted to make some corrections here. Bees, Hornets, and wasp are frequently misidentified. What I have always referred to as a "yellow jacket" is a long slender, thin wasted wasp colored yellow and black, a paper wasp, that builds the typical paper, multi-celled, hanging nest, and are social instead of solitary, a "paper wasp". In actuality the true "yellow jacket" is not a paper wasp rather builds nest in ground and other areas. These "wasps" have a more robust body and a shorter waist. They are the ones that are shaped more like bees than the slender paper wasp. They are frequently referred to as "meat eating bees" and are typically the ones that bother you while picnicking. I've seen these true Yellow Jackets, more than once, eating dead birds. So........ we do have true Yellow Jackets out here. We do not have the yellow and black paper wasps. I see those all the time at friends houses.

Sounds like you have mud daubers. They are actually good to have around and prey mostly on spiders. One dauber actually preys on young black and brown widow spiders.

We have them all over the place. I've never been stung by one. Until reading the Wikipedia article just now I didn't even know they could sting.

I can understand wanting to get rid of them though. We had several colonies building inside the eave of roof on the deck side of our house. One would occasionally drop down and sting us on our necks. I got rid of those and way over did sealing up the eave. Years ago I cleared off a 30' X 12' wall covered by a flowering vine. There were hundreds of them all around me but I didn't get a sting. Most of my red wasp stings come from setting my hand down on a post (they use wood pulp to build nest) or setting my hand down on ground near plants I'm bending down to look at.

When you spray the nest be sure to have all kids and pets inside and be ready to run. They will defend their nests fiercely. I usually don't bother with the dauber nest but would if it was on, say, the steps or ladder to a pool or any other area where children play. Read the directions on spray very well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_dauber

gg=alice
 
poolgirl22 said:
You need a jack russell terrier...

Chase snap chase snap...dead. So far no ill effects on the dog's part.
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My Jack Russell mix does the same thing. He's been stung a few times, his snout will swell up and then he goes extra nuts for about 30 minutes.
We have a pretty big bee problem around our pool as well. The city website says that if anybody gets stung to call 911 and the FD will come, find the nest and get rid of them. That seems a bit dramatic plus it ties up emergency services, but it may be an option if it gets worse.
 

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