[TowerTalk] Hornet Nest on the End of the Boom - How do you safely get rid of this?

Sat Jul 27 19:31:31 EDT 2019

Sorry for being late to the thread.

We use Onslaught to control yellow-jackets on our property:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HD7J2S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This amount will last a lifetime because a very small amount is used on some bait (a small piece of meat).  We put out about 2 bait stations per acre, using a small Dixie cup tacked to a vineyard endpost.  The wasps are attracted to the meat and carry the poison back to the nest where the entire hive is killed.  This technique doesn't harm honey bees or other beneficials because only meat-eaters are attracted.

Simple, effective, inexpensive.

Ed W0YK

-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces at contesting.com> On Behalf Of Bob Shohet, KQ2M
Sent: 27 July, 2019 14:00
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Hornet Nest on the End of the Boom - How do you safely get rid of this?

I want to thank everyone that responded and provided helpful information, experiences and anecdotes.  I learned far more than I had ever imagined.   :-)

A little more explanation is in order – for the gentleman that asked, the hornet nest is on the lowest of 8 antennas on that Rohn 100’ tower.  I have a 4 stack of HG105CA 10 meter yagis and a 4 stack of HG155CA 15 meter yagis and the HG105CA at 23’ is the lowest of the 10’s.  

I never knew that rotating the antenna (and the hornet nest) in the daytime might cause the hornets to get confused and not realize that that nest, in a different location,  was theirs.  Unfortunately I won’t be able to test that hypothesis because the antenna is not rotatable – it is fixed NE.

Yeah, the idea of using a homemade flamethrower to torch the nest is pretty cool, and I got a kick out of those videos – especially the one with the drone doing the job.  LOL!  But I am not going to do that.  No torches here – it would likely start a forest fire.  Too dangerous all the way around.

On a more practical note, I can not leave the nest up until the Winter because I need to fix antennas and rotators on that tower this Summer – and climbing the tower with that nest so close is literally taking your life in your hands.  I can’t do that – the nest must go.  There is also a another issue...  When you have a large nest, the hornets use it as their base and continually look to expand their territory with new “outposts”.  From past experience, they fly around and try to make smaller nests under the eaves of the house roof and then they colonize and expand that and then spread out some more.  So one massive nest can lead to 20 new additional smaller nests within a matter of weeks, and a far more dangerous situation.  You need to get them when you can.

I can’t speak for the relative differences between hornets in the UK, the South, or Western Canada, but I do know that the hornets that I have experiences with in CT and NH, are VERY aggressive and foul-tempered and they will attack and sting you even if you don’t provoke them.  Just being 10’ – 15’ away from one is enough for it to decide to go after you.   If you happen to stumble into something that there nest is in, like a fencepost that you bump into with a lawnmower, the whole nest will come after you and they will sting you repeatedly if they get the chance.  They are very dangerous, unlike bees and carpenter bees which will generally leave you alone unless you are aggressive towards them.  The white-faced hornets are huge, truly nasty and aggressive and incredibly fast.  You are not safe within 30’ of them.  I don’t know if they are the ones in the nest (I don’t think so), but regardless the nest has to go. 

The last thing that you want to do with a nest this size is to attempt to hit it with a jet of water.  All that will do is piss them off – even more so if you knock the nest down to the ground – where hundreds of them will be enraged and looking for something to sting while you struggle to figure out where the nest is buried in the brush/weeds, etc.  That would be a vastly more dangerous situation with a far more uncertain outcome.

Having said that, I am going to do the work myself.  

I purchased two cans of water-based Hornet spray from Home-Depot

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Terro-Wasp-and-Hornet-Killer-Spray-T3300-6/203806933?keyword=terro+hornet+spray&semanticToken=21300000011_20190727163736596743_csfj+21300000011+%3E++cnn%3A%7B9%3A1%7D+cnr%3A%7B7%3A1%7D+cnb%3A%7B0%3A0%7D+st%3A%7Bterro+hornet+spray%7D%3Ast+oos%3A%7B0%3A1%7D+br%3A%7Bterro%7D%3Abr+rt%3A%7Bhornet+spray%7D%3Art+dln%3A%7B573612%7D+qu%3A%7Bterro+hornet+spray%7D%3Aqu

and this from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Innovations-GSP0205-Sprayer-Aerosol-Extension/dp/B0042T5PBO/ref=pd_cp_86_1?pd_rd_w=IR8DY&pf_rd_p=ef4dc990-a9ca-4945-ae0b-f8d549198ed6&pf_rd_r=EK88FHF224ZYKJF7WVC7&pd_rd_r=6952fae9-b29f-4b98-b88f-66efb0566ee1&pd_rd_wg=iEU9h&pd_rd_i=B0042T5PBO&psc=1&refRID=EK88FHF224ZYKJF7WVC7

I am going to take off the saw from my 16’ pole saw and use the pole to put into the spray can pole adapter and mount the can of Terro in that.  If that doesn’t get me the height that I need then I will use aluminum tubing and tape the device to the end of the tubing.

I have a very heavy duty 8’ wooden step ladder and plan to climb up 2 – 3 steps and then hold the pole in place at almost full extension while I pull the trigger.  The trigger and hornet spray should be ~ 18’ above ground and 5’ up in height should not be too much of a stretch.  I plan to have the can about  5’ away from the nest aiming up 5’, which should be well within the can’s range (even though it says 20’ spray range, I don’t trust that at all.)   I plan to do this when it is almost completely dark and will be wearing a full chemical mask and covered head to toe in clothes and wearing a large brim hat and jacket.  I have done something similar several times before although not from a step ladder and not with a nest this large.

If I don’t like the set-up before I pull the trigger, I will back off and then call an exterminator.  No reason to endanger myself to save a few $.

The powder that Gary, K9GS mentioned is one that an exterminator used here many years ago when we had several nests in a roof vent above my deck.  Not only is it highly toxic to the hornets, but the “genius” is that it relies on the social properties of the insect and their grooming in order to kill them.  One hornet coming into contact with the poison can spread it to the entire nest because each time it touches another hornet, it passes the poison dust onto them and then when they touch another hornet in the nest, they also spread the poison.  Everything in the nest and every insect ultimately because the poison is spread everywhere.  And, even if some hornets are away from the nest, the moment that they come back and touch anything inside, they become poisoned too.   It is ingenious and almost 100% effective in a very short time.

Tnx for all the responses.  It was a lively discussion!

73

Bob  KQ2M

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