Andy Hill wrote:
"Cam" wrote:
I got my wet/dry shop vac and vacuumed up about a gallon of soapy
water
and then set the crevice tool of the vac beside the entrance of the
nest. Over the space of 10 minutes it sucked up every wasp on their
way
in or out of the nest. As soon as they were flying within 5 inches
of
the nozzle they would dissappear down the black hole. I let the vac
sit
on the deck for a few more minutes to make sure the wasps had
drowned
in the soapy water

You probably should toss some wasp nerve gas into the hole now. I've
used the
shopvac method in the past, and while it does a great job of knocking
down the
worker population, it doesn't do a thing for the queen, the
newly-hatched
workers (who are still hanging out on the nest) or the pupae.
You'll soon have
a thriving nest going again unless you do something about those guys
and gals.

You are right, the nest started to make a come back. But I wanted to
avoid using any pesticides if I could. Commercial hornet blasters
contain a chemical that is very toxic to fish, even in very small
doses. Why take the risk?
I bought a bottle of "Ant & Roach" powder (80% diatomaceous earth, no
poison) and shot puffs of the stuff into the holes in the bricks. After
a couple of minutes I had blocked all the entrances completely with the
fine powder. It is now 4 weeks later and the holes are still blocked
and I'm claiming victory.

Cam