Cheap wasp killer

[Mountaineer]

We get lots of wasps, and when they are in bad spots I generally spray them with those expensive cans of wasp & hornet killer. Well I gave the last of a can to a friend.....
All I had was WD40!! Well guess what- it worked just as well! Smothered the eggs on the exposed nest, they were dead immediately.

I just found on in the door jam of my van, and sprayed it too.

It doesn't shoot as beautifully, but far enough.

[moopups]

Works well also to flick your bic out about 6 inches away from the can and bring it up into the stream from the bottom. Or so I am told! Try that at your own risk.

[Mountaineer]

LOL!! I remember doing that as a kid- it does work!

[gobug]

After many years as a professional exterminator I have almost no regard for the cans of wasp and hornet spray. They don't work so well, and the chemical is too liquid, like a garden hose. I prefer the pyrethroid gaseous sprays. They are far cheaper and kill a lot more wasps. WD40 is effective, but not cheap and has little gaseous power. The product I use is called PI and made by Whitmire. It isn't sold in local stores, but only through providers to professional pest control companies. Pyrethrins are low in toxicity to people, but very toxic to insects. The gas fills the paper nests and the wasps inside all die, even if they are still larvae. The gas sprayed on a single wasp or wasps that are arriving at the nest works well and a short time is all that is needed to exterminate a large yellow jacket nest. The inverted open comb nests rarely have more than 25 wasps whereas this time of year a yellow jacket nest or bald faced hornet nest can have several hundred. This time of year the yellow jacket queen lays eggs for next years queens. When they are mature enough they leave with a few of the only males in the nest and mate outside. They never return, but rather find a place to spend the winter. In some climates, like Oregon, the nests can be perennial and can contain several queens. In Colorado, the nests usually die by late December because there isn't enough food to feed the workers. Yellow jackets are the only wasps that eat people food. The traps that are sold only work well in the early spring when the queens are doing the food gathering to feed the larvae. After the nest matures a little and some new adult wasps are in the nest the queen stops leaving the nest. Any extermination effort must be successful at killing the queen because by late summer she is laying at least 100 eggs a day.

[Mountaineer]

Gobug- I hear you, but a 10 cent shot of WD40 is cheaper and simpler than hiring someone. Not trying to ruin exterminators businesses, just giving folk who'd normally deal with it themselves a quick cheap alternative.
Personally I love the canned wasp killers, they are liquid but have enough power to get a direct shot. Just they cost nearly $10 if not on sale.

[Ravenlost]

Well, I forgot to buy wasp spray when I ran errands today (even though it was on my list) so I guess I'll go get the WD40 in the garage and go terminate the huge wasp nest I found the other day.

Thanks for the tip!

[MELOC]

try carborator cleaner. it works too.

[Mountaineer]

Carb cleaner's ether- good for a lot of other things too!

[Columbia,SC.]

A Dixie cup with some good old 2.19 a gallon gas will drop them in their tracks! But you have to be brave enough to get close!

[pasotami]

I had a nest of yellow jackets in my hayloft between 3-4 bales of hay - huge nest. My son is allergic to bees and I knew I could not afford a truck load of cans or a person to come out.... I put the liquid insect concentrate that you can buy at the feed store to kill bugs in a dairy barn in a pump up sprayer then put diesel fuel in - you have seen the show.... over a story up on a ladder outside the barn the sprayer was set on mist ( I would circle my head and then shoot the hole where they were coming in and out, circle my head, then the hole...) finally I was able to get enough of a break to get more of a stream and stick the wand in the crack of the barn board - the buzzing from inside was the worse thing I'd ever heard.... when the buzzing stopped I went down the ladder with about 1/4 left in the sprayer and into the loft. I never let the sprayer get away from me but started moving bales until I got down to the ones they were in... very little buzzing when I finall got to the nest, it ran for 2 bales long and up from the floor 4 bales - those things even ate into the sides of the two bottom bales near the wall.... huge. Since then I have never bought the cans - I just make sure my sprayer is in great working order....
PS: WD40 is great for a lot of things.... get bubble gum out of things - stops me from bleeding when I get cut (don't try it, your doctor will shoot me!) - get grease out of my jeans before I wash them! Lots of things can be done with WD40, duct tape, and microwaves!! LOL

[DixyDoodle]

Works well also to flick your bic out about 6 inches away from the can and bring it up into the stream from the bottom. Or so I am told! Try that at your own risk.

LOL Well, that sure brought back some similar teen memories, but I won't post them here for fear of giving people ideas. I have a fear of fires, personally, maybe that's why?

WD40 is great for a lot of things.... Lots of things can be done with WD40, duct tape, and microwaves!! LOL

Yay for duct tape!

I went to see why riding instructor the other day and her horse's shoeless front hoof was encased in duct tape! LOL At work, at the factory I work at part-time, one of the guys had his steel-toe boot fall apart, split from the sole. He duct-taped it up and that boot lasted him for almost a year, and he only reapplied the tape once. And this with him walking on it, pretty cool!

I once had a lead shank that was wrapped with duct tape, it never did break. Also very useful for quick window repair as long as you can stand the appearance. Just be careful in tying someone up for fun in it; it's notoriously hard to get off if they've pulled on the tape and stretched it. And no, I don't mean that kind of fun, although to each his own I say! LOL

DD

[deaconjim]

Originally Posted by moopups

Works well also to flick your bic out about 6 inches away from the can and bring it up into the stream from the bottom. Or so I am told! Try that at your own risk.

I've never tried that myself, but I've watched someone else do it, and I've seen what can happen when things go wrong. I guess that would be why I've never tried it myself.

[deaconjim]

Having owned a pest control business for several years myself, I agree with gobug. The canned spray is mostly petroleum distillates, which is what gives the immediate knockdown. The pesticides in it are only there for a backup and to act as a residual for returning wasps.

While I was "in the business", I passed on the can and used my pump up sprayer with whatever I happened to be using at the moment (but I don't recommend that unless you really know what you are doing). Since I sold all of my equipment when I sold the business, I am back to using the can. They aren't the best thing there, but they are the easiest to come by and to have handy when you need them.

WD40 and other such stuff work because of the petroleum distillates, but they don't have the range that the bug spray cans have. Personnally, I like the Spectracide Commercial Wasp Spray that I buy at Lowe's (only because it is cheap and is a fairly large can).

[TnTnTn]

Having killed lots of wasps, bald faced hornets, European hornets, and yellow jackets around my place and using most of the otc products, I have found that the 'Eliminator' spray from good old Walmart is the best and the cheapest out there. It comes in a mostly red and yellow can and is cheaper and much more deadly to stinging insects than the other types I have tried.

We have killed 18 yellowjacket nests in the areas of our yard that we mow this year!! TnTnTn