DIY Wasp Spray

[GRUMPA]

I kinda figured this would be the best place for this.

Most folks know I live remote, very remote. Water around here is very scarce in any form, folks here have wells. Every year the Mud Daubers have been getting worse, and that can of wasp spray isn't getting any cheaper.

I've taken down the nests over the years only to have them rebuilt in no time. Every time we water here out they come in full force and gather mud at an alarming rate.

I got this recipe off of YouTube and decided I only had a few bucks to lose if it didn't work.

16oz empty spray bottle (Must have a stream nozzle and NOT the spray nozzle.) Almost full of water of course
1\4-1\2 cup of Dawn soap.
20 drops of Peppermint Oil (@ WallyWorld $6 for .5 oz)

When you give them a good hit with the stream from the spray bottle the results are almost instant. Had a few hornets come in and I got the same results, and so far flies aren't immune either.

It doesn't work like the poisonous sprays, but takes a few seconds for the spray to take effect so be patient. Sprayed any nest I could find since the spray gets rid of what is inside as well.

Here I was making rice loads for the 357mag and getting them that way. Those Mud Daubers seemed to be armor plated at times, but this stuff really does the job and it isn't toxic like the canned spray. I made almost 200 rounds of those rice loads, which take a while to do, and this home brewed spray is rather cheap and effective.

A person needs to enjoy the smell of peppermint, just a single spray and it gets fragrant real quick.

[XDROB]

Love this idea. I get Wasps holding nest under the shutters and sometimes get into house. Never did like spraying the commercial stuff indoors.

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[richhodg66]

I like non-poisonous solutions like this. At our other house, we had the box elder maple bugs real bad. I don't think they're real harmful, but annoying. Turns out a spray bottle of water with a little dish soap added kills them very quickly and I don't have to worry about what some chemical is doing to the eco system.

Those mud daubers are real bad here some years, I'll have to remember this.

[Hickok]

Neat! We get those mud daubers too. I will make some.

In a pinch, a can of starting fluid will down any flying insect. One squirt and they go down.

[Hardcast416taylor]

In the news. A homeowner in Detroit decided to get rid of a hornets nest in the eaves of his garage with a fireworks smoke bomb. Got rid of the hornets and his garage as the smoke bomb ignited the nest in the eaves and no more garage or hornets!Robert

[country gent]

In a pinh we used aresol hair spray. didn't actually kill them but got the out of the air so they could be swatted easily. This mix sounds like a good deal. Especially with pets or children near. Also around livestock

[bruce drake]

I use a liquid soap, water and minced up habenero peppers mix and spray it on my plants as a means of killing the bugs and keeping rabbits off the greens.

[Markopolo]

I wonder if this would work on mosquito's and no see um's... I know it works on the meat bees...

[Smoke4320]

Might just work on fire ants too .. your coating the shell so they cant breath
question would be how fast do they die .. if a while they would be taking the coating into the nest and be spread around

I see experiment coming

[Skipper]

Instead of rice, give Cream of Wheat a try.

[Sur-shot]

I use a Lawn Tonic to to pull through my shallow well lawn pump. it fertilizes the yard and kills grass eaters real well, at the same time. The lethal ingredients for bugs is Listerine mouth wash and Dawn dish washing liquid, mixed. That combo should work for the wasp spray also.
The whole Lawn Tonic deal as developed by a master gardener is:
12 Beers, high test
12 Sodas, high test
6 cups Dawn
6 cups Listerine
6 cups Ammonia (hardware store strength)

Mix it is a 5 gal bucket and pull it through the intake side of a pump. Wet the yard first, then spray each zone one full rotation of a circular head, keep repeating per zone, until the mix is gone. Repeat the treatment every 30 days. After 3 months the bugs will be gone and any bare spots will be filling in. Note, use a reinforced 1/4 inch hose and a needle valve, start pulling the liquid with the pump running. The setup for the pump costs less than $10.00.
Ed

[Boolit_Head]

I used to have a cedar sided story and a half that the red wasps loved to nest in the eaves. Not much would get up there to the peak because it was so tall. A buddy got me a silver bullet fire extinguisher with a schrader valve on it to recharge the air. I filled it with water and put some dawn soap in it and charged up the air to 30 something psi. It would reach the eaves with ease and the red wasps would drop like rocks. Every evening as they were gathering on the siding before going in for the night I would take walk around the house. Seems the dawn would coat them and they could not breathe they would expire within a minute. Only way I found to control the buggars at that house.

[Geezer in NH]

Pressure sprayer and some soap works 100% for me by wasps and daubers.

[frankenfab]

Dawn and water is all that is really necessary.

[ghh3rd]

The dawn may work well, but the rice loads seem like so much more fun! I use ground walnut shells in mine...

[MT Gianni]

Soap is the killer, peppermint the identifier. The soap coats an insects thorax and they suffocate. For crawlers use chewing tobacco mixed with water. The nicotine is instant death when they crawl across it.

[gtrpickr]

I am gonna have to give these a try.

[Bookworm]

Mud daubers have never really bothered me.

We have the daubers around here, but unlike the red wasp (which seems to have a genetic coding to attack me - I have seen red wasps alter course from many yards away, specifically to come sting me, and then continue on with their day) which is very aggressive.
I pretty much leave the daubers alone, except when the nest is built in the exhaust of the weed-eater (precluding starting it).

The red wasp, on the other hand.... well, me and that species seem to have a Jeremiah Johnson thing going on. Attack on sight, fight to the death.

[jmort]

I have heard them referred to a mahogany wasps. Was told, may be true, kill one with force, not soap or spray, and they all go nuts like killer bees. Spoke with a guy working on my house and said he encountered a nest in a well pump house. Said they made him so mad he got a can of starter fluid and lit the stream on fire and killed them all. A little too intense for me, but I agree with other members, stater fluid make for a good incect killer. I don't use it as a flame thrower.

[bangerjim]

Anytime you spray anything that is designed to kill stuff, always put a few drops of dish soap in there. It breaks the surface tension on the surfaces (bugs, worms, leaves) and allows the stuff to stay in place and do the job. My chewing tobacco and dish soap killer is powerful stuff and is harmless except to pest bugs, especailly those flying ink bugs and their leaf-eating worms on my grape leaves.

Makes you wonder why anyone would EVER chew/smoke tobacco?!?!?!?

Banger