My new Mud Dauber Strategy

[sdelivery]

I tried brake clean, carb clean, and about everything else you can think of.....
THEN out of the blue (ok,I was actually out of anything else) I grabbed a can of chain lube.
I am now on the do not f with list.
It got rid of the carpenter bees as well as the yellow jackets, mud daubers, skeeters, spiders and snakes.
Now if it would only work on politicians and miscellaneous government officials lol
Better Living through Chemistry

 

[strantor]

Brakleen (red can) has a pretty good reach, I use that on paper wasp nests instant dead.

Man, depending on where you're spraying it, it might be "safer" to use a shotgun.

I had to learn the hard way several times (despite it being advertised as something "you'll only do once") that I need a full face shield before using the brake or carb cleaner because the universe has selected me as its test subject for its study on the effects of liquid fire in the eyes. Tell me how a guy can go outside and spray a can downwind at the ground with full arm extension and still get the stuff in his eyes?

So with my face shield thwarting the frontal assault, whatever passive aggressive cosmic force I stymied looks for other ways to punish me. It never fails that when I spray it, it ends up some unintended place on plastic or paint, and something is ruined.

 

[ltlvt]

Well, I went out to the shop to take inventory /body count of the little bastards after last night's assault with the malathion spray. I made sure to get a really good wet coat of the malathion on the little bastards and to my Suprise I have found zero dead Mud Daubers this morning! I did however find another Ga-zillion pi$$ed off Mud Daubers flying around like an entire Squadron of fighter jets and B-52's looking to settle the score. I will see tonight if the malathion even repels them. The ropes are saturated now with the malathion and if they roost in the same spot I will know the little bastards are even immune to Kryptonite!

 

[WobblyHand]

Why aren't you using wasp spray, on these buggers? Why fool around with homebrew remedies, just kill them. I had a wasp nest in my shred, they were living inside the door. I tried multiple things but plain old wasp spray worked the best - fast knock down and they didn't get back up.

 

[ltlvt]

Why aren't you using wasp spray, on these buggers? Why fool around with homebrew remedies, just kill them. I had a wasp nest in my shred, they were living inside the door. I tried multiple things but plain old wasp spray worked the best - fast knock down and they didn't get back up.

I appreciate your suggestion but I have already tried Spectracide wasp and hornet spray. I keep it around all the time for the paper wasp. I will try it again when they are bunched up at the top of the rope and see how it works on a gang of them.

 

[RJSakowski]

I've heard that a flame thrower works.

 

[WobblyHand]

I appreciate your suggestion but I have already tried Spectracide wasp and hornet spray. I keep it around all the time for the paper wasp. I will try it again when they are bunched up at the top of the rope and see how it works on a gang of them.

Hmm, maybe RJ is right! I'd be real cautious with fire, real easy to get out of hand. Nuke them with Spectracide, if that doesn't work, call an exterminator. If they're immune to Spectracide, it'll take something nasty to kill them.

One of my "failed attempts" was with a CO2 extinguisher. The CO2 does kill them and those it doesn't kill it chills them so they are in a stupor. Then you squash them. But I did that outdoors, not inside, I'd be cautious trying that indoors due to possible asphyxiation risk. But the buggers came back. I then used Spectracide on the nest, soaking it. That did it. Do mud daubers have communal nests?

 

[rabler]

I pick up permethrin concentrate at the farm store, and use about an ounce in one of the home cleaning style hand spray bottles, fill it up with water, and that works well on most flying nasties (wasps, hornets, carpenter bees, biting flies, non-biting flies, fleas, ....). It doesn't have the near instant killing action of Spectracide, they fly off sickly and never return. I would not therefore want to use it with highly aggressive hornets, for example. While caution is needed with any insecticide, I believe permethrin is not quite as hazardous as some others. It is used as fly spray for livestock/horses. You do have to shake it up before use, the water/permethrin tends to seperate when left sitting overnight. If the flies at the barns get really bad, I mix up an ounce in several gallons, and have a leaf blower mist applicator that I can use to treat the barns.

 

[RJSakowski]

I made the flame thrower comment tongue in cheek but I actually use a version of that for spiders. The flame thrower consists of a valve assembly from a propane torch for a 14oz propane tank, a flexible hose, and a 2 ft. length on 3/8" aluminum tubing. To use, I crack the valve and and light the flame thrower. By briefly inverting the tank , liquid propane is injected which greatly increases the flame. The effect is very much like the WWII flame throwers. Care must be taken to avoid extremely flammable materials like styrofoam, paper, or cloth fibers but it is highly effective at clearing the cobwebs as well as killing the spiders. However, this is potentially dangerous to person and property so have a fire extinguisher handy and use with extreme caution.

We have mud daubers bot not in large numbers. They are more of a nuisance than a problem. They plug up the ground on electrical sockets and inlets on compressed air tools, the latter being a real PITA to remove. Our version are loners, their nests being the mud plugs they build.

The real problem around here are yellowjackets. They build their nests in the ground and will aggressively attack an unsuspecting person who ventures near. Their nests are difficult to eradicate. I usually hit them with wasp and hornet spray as they emerge from the nest at daybreak . Disturbing the nest will bring them out in force. I then flood the nest with the hose to drown them but they are pretty crafty in their building. With repeated effort, I can eventually kill the nest.

To control the fall invasion of box alder bugs and asian beetles, I use a cocktail of industrial strength Cynoff and Bifen I/T mixed 1/ oz/gallon with water. The insecticide kills long term with effectiveness lasting months. Simple contact with the insecticide will kill eventually them. It will work on the wasps and hornets as well.

We mostly have the paper wasps that build the pancake nests in eves and other protected areas. They are relatively docile and will usually only attack when someone disturbs them. I remove the nests with a long pole so I am far enough away from them. We also have bald faced hornets that build the c;assic textbook nest. They can be aggressive so wasp and hornet spray is the treatment.

We have bumble bees as well and they gave built nests in the walls of my woodworking shop and in a drawer in the forge. I am reluctant to kill them as they are pollenators and we don't have any honey bees around. The nest in the drawer had to be removed but for the nest in the wall, plugging the knotholes that they enter through was sufficient.

 

[Red96]

Yellowjackets and paper-wasps are a real issue around here. I have found this to be extremely effective for both. Bought a small bulb-sprayer which works really well getting into the ground-nesting hives. Not safe around food or food prep, as this is an actual insecticide. Some states may require a license to purchase, but an online vendor shipped to me even though WA was on the do-not-ship-to list.