How to get rid of hornets and wasps: effective methods and safety rules

Hornets and wasps are very “ambiguous” human neighbors. On the one hand, by their presence at the cottage they prevent its owner from relaxing, forcing him to be constantly on the alert because of the opportunity to get a bite. On the other hand, being natural predators, they are capable of destroying harmful agricultural insects in significant quantities.

So, residents of only one hornets nests up to several hundred different caterpillars, bedbugs and butterflies are brought into their homes every day, thereby helping gardeners and gardeners to fight for the harvest. Therefore, before you get rid of the hornets or wasps, you should make sure that there is no possibility of peaceful coexistence with them on the site.

However, there are cases when the need to get rid of the hornet's nest arises, as they say, here and now. If, for example, the dwelling of these insects appeared near the apiary, then they will definitely hunt bees, and when the family grows, they will actively ruin their hive.

It is logical that beekeepers are unlikely to put up with such a state of affairs and eventually will begin to actively exterminate predators, protecting bee hives.

At the same time, knowing what the hornets are afraid of, to destroy them is not so difficult.

On a note

Hornet or wasp? For many ordinary people it is a problem to distinguish these two insects from each other. In fact, it is quite simple: the wasp has a body length of about 1-1.5 cm, while common hornet - up to 3 cm. In addition, the hornet has a clearly visible brown spot on the back and at the base of the abdomen, but the paper wasp has no brown color in the coloring.

Despite all the advantages of the destruction of harmful insects, hornets in the country can have a significant disadvantage - their neighborhood represents a serious threat to the health of children and adults. One or two large wasps, accidentally flown to the site, are not so dangerous yet, but a family settled for permanent residence can cause serious consequences.

In the case of an attack on a person of normal os, serious lesions are observed only occasionally, their bites are simply painful. If the hornet is taken as a “case”, then the consequences of meeting it can be really scary.

 

What are dangerous hornets and wasps?

So, what is dangerous for man hornet? First of all, the fact that its bite often causes an acute allergic reaction. In the overwhelming majority of manifestations, it is limited only to severe inflammation and swelling at the site of the bite, but in about 10-15% of cases, sting causes severe body poisoning, accompanied by headaches, palpitations and numerous hemorrhages.

Such symptoms are usually characteristic of people who have an increased sensitivity to insect bites. However, in nature there are also such kinds of hornets, meetings with which lead to the hardest consequences even to seemingly non-allergic people.

If the hornet stings to the chest and neck area, the victim may develop bronchus or lung edema, fraught with suffocation. Sometimes an allergic reaction occurs in anaphylactic shock, in which without urgent medical care a person may simply die.And finally, in the case when a person is bitten by several hornets at once, deaths are recorded as a result of renal failure and necrosis of internal organs.

On a note

In Japan, about 40 people are killed every year after being bitten by local giant hornets. Approximately the same number of victims enters the intensive care unit with edema of the internal organs after a one-time attack of several insects. The situation is similar in China and Thailand, because local hornets are among the largest and most dangerous among all the representatives of their own kind.

Speaking about the hardest consequences after the bites of hornets, it is impossible not to say about wasps. The bites of these insects, of course, are less dangerous, but they, in turn, can lead to serious poisoning if a person has an acute allergic reaction to their poison.

Obviously, if at least one family member is known to be sensitive to insect bites, it is worth getting rid of hornets or wasps when they appear at the dacha.

In the video below - the hornets in the country when placing their nests:

 

Interesting video: Hornets build a nest

Immediately, we note that you need to get rid of the hornet's nest very carefully (more on this below.)

 

Destroying wasps in an apartment and house: some simple tips

Hornets in the house most often appear due to the attraction of a sweet smell. Having flown into the home of a person, they can no longer find a way out. It’s dangerous to drive a hornet or a wasp around the apartment with a broom or a folded newspaper - a pissed off insect can sting.

In this case, how to drive a hornet or a wasp out of the house? It turns out not so difficult.

The easiest way to catch an uninvited guest is to use a half-liter glass jar, or more specifically, simply cover the insect with it. When a wasp or hornet begins to fly across the bank, the improvised trap needs to be torn off from the wall or window and covered with a plastic lid.

Similar trap for wasps and hornets "Made" of a matchbox. If the house has very dense construction or leather gloves, then they can be used as well - even the hornet cannot pierce with such a thick fabric.

If there is not one of the above-described devices on hand, and the presence of an insect in the house is very annoying, then you can also use a folded newspaper several times to catch it.

After catching the insect should not be killed, you just need to throw it out the window.

 

How to destroy a nest of wasps or hornets

If the hornets in the country or the apiary are already very frequent guests, it means only one thing - their nest is located somewhere nearby. Finding such a home is the first step to victory over insects.

As a rule, all wasps prefer to place their nests in quiet places - closed sheds, in attics, in branches of trees, under sheds. If the nest is hanging open, you can destroy it in several ways. Let's take a detailed look at the algorithm of necessary actions.

• Room option: dial two-thirds of a bucket of water, raise it to the required level and lower the nest inside. After such manipulations, all the hornets will be in the water and, accordingly, will die. For reliability, you can press the bucket against the ceiling and support it with a wooden plank or stepladder from below.
• Cover the nest with a plastic bag, having previously sprayed more insecticidal agents - Dichlorvos, Raptor, Palach, Tetriks, Aktar or others. Hornets are afraid of all those means that poison bed bugs and cockroaches.If the nest is located on a wall or ceiling, you need to glue the edges of the package to them. If the hornet or wasp suspended the nest on a branch, the package should be simply tied over it in a tight knot.
• The most cruel, but no less effective method: type gasoline or kerosene in a spray bottle, spray the nest several times from different sides and set it on fire.

It is worth paying special attention to the fact that the latter method requires compliance with strict fire safety measures. It should never be used indoors, but even if the hornets are sitting on a pear or any other valuable tree, you must spray the fuel directly on the nest so that when ignited it does not catch fire and do not burn the tree.

It is more difficult to drive hornets out of a birch or another tree, in the hollow of which they made a nest.

In this case, a concentrated insecticidal agent, such as Karbofos or Hangman, is poured into the hole, after which the entrance to it is carefully covered with putty or sealed with tape.

And finally, the easiest way to cope with the wasps, who settled in the earthen hole. In this case, 3-4 liters of boiling water are poured into the hole and the hole is rolled with stone.

 

Safety regulations

All procedures for the destruction of wasp and hornet nests should be carried out in the dark, when insects are the least active and are in or near the nest. But even in this case, it is necessary to strictly observe the elementary safety rules in order to end up safe and sound.

To get rid of the hornets, you should wear a beekeeper’s mask covering the entire face and neck, long sleeves and gloves. Thus, the basic principle in choosing clothes for such a purpose is the complete absence of open areas of the body.

Raising the issue of safety, it is also worth saying that treating a nest with smoke or special stains to reduce insect activity cannot be a panacea for getting rid of wasps. The thing is that it is impossible to know for sure how a hornet or a wasp will behave when it is smoked, which means that this method of deliverance is fraught with an insect attack.

Based on the foregoing, the key to effectiveness in the destruction of undesirable winged neighbors will be premeditated actions and high speed of this procedure.

 

Traps from wasps and hornets as a preventive measure

If wasps or hornets in the country still do not live, but fly into the site for the purpose of exploring territories, they can be caught with special traps. The easiest way to prevent the justification of these insects in the garden is by catching their first separate individuals that penetrate the site.

A trap for wasps and hornets is made from an ordinary plastic bottle, which is first cut in the middle. Further, its upper half with the loosened lid is turned over and inserted into the lower part. After these simple actions, the trap is filled with a mixture of beer and honey, and the insects attracted by such an “aroma” can no longer get out of the funnel outside.

It is possible to hang traps in the area approximately from the middle of spring, when the first reconnaissance specimens begin to fly. In general, the use of these special devices is advisable only when the wasp's nest is far from the site, because it will still not be possible to overfill all family members with their help.

Thus, traps are a great way to catch individual insects. Even if with their help it is not possible to get rid of a large aspen family, they will perfectly protect your site from the theoretically possible undesirable neighborhood.

 

If insects stung after all: first aid

Despite all the protective measures, sometimes hornets still sting. If this happens, you should perform the following steps:

• apply a cold compress or wet sugar to the bite site - this will not allow the poison to spread quickly through the tissues;
• take diphenhydramine or suprastin (to reduce the severity of an allergic reaction);
• wash the wound with alcohol or hydrogen peroxide (for disinfection);
• drink a liter of water and drink as much as possible later (to reduce the concentration of toxins in the blood and accelerate their excretion in the urine).

If, after the bite, anxious symptoms began to appear - pain in the head, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, angioedema - you must immediately call an ambulance. Delay in this case is fraught with loss of consciousness and even death.

Above in it was told about how to get rid of hornets and wasps, if they settled in the country. If the nest is seen in the wild, it should be carefully avoided and left alone.

These insects, however, like all the others, are very necessary for natural biocenoses, they occupy their strictly defined niche, therefore, they cannot be destroyed without any reason.

 

Effective trap for wasps from improvised means

 

Protect bees from hornets and wasps using simple traps