European Hornets

[The Evil Twin]

I've seen them before. Know what they wre and their general habits. This fall....I've got a metric S ton of them! When the front or rear house flood lights are on, there must be hundreds of them. I've looked in trees, around the exterior of the house and shop.no sign of a nest. Have any of you notices a significant uptick in these critters in the NC, VA, MD areas along the mountains?

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Call ICE and have them deported…….


(sorry, couldn’t resist)

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

Call ICE and have them deported…….


(sorry, couldn’t resist)

Yep, Hornets do not identify as H1Bees.

 

[Sidekick]

I have been fighting yellow jackets the last month. Never seen so many before. Just found another giant ground nest in the bushes. I could see the flight pattern from 50 feet away. I bet when the leaves drop, you will find a big nest hanging in a tree. We have had several.

 

[skeets]

All the best luck getting rid of them

 

[The Evil Twin]

These guys don't really bother people. More of a nuisance than anything. They are carnivores and help control mosquitoes and ants. Scary looking as can be. They are big!

 

[The Evil Twin]

I have been fighting yellow jackets the last month. Never seen so many before. Just found another giant ground nest in the bushes. I could see the flight pattern from 50 feet away. I bet when the leaves drop, you will find a big nest hanging in a tree. We have had several.

We have too. So far I have killed off 3 nests this year. Soaked with permethrin and topped the area off with Triazicide. They didn't come back there. Worst one was next to the porch. Those bastards are vicious and relentless

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

These guys don't really bother people. More of a nuisance than anything. They are carnivores and help control mosquitoes and ants. Scary looking as can be. They are big!
View attachment 162893

If you find any that have an appetite for wood boring bees, I’d like to borrow them next spring.

 

[TheOldHokie]

These guys don't really bother people. More of a nuisance than anything. They are carnivores and help control mosquitoes and ants. Scary looking as can be. They are big!
View attachment 162893

Pretty buggers Have not seen any in our part of MD (Baltimore).

My fight is with carpenter bees and bald face hornets. The bees are destructive borers but passive and easily eliminated with traps. The hornets nest under the eaves of all the buidings, are vicously aggressive, and seem to enjoy pesticides for breakfast!!!

Dan

 

[The Evil Twin]

If you find any that have an appetite for wood boring bees, I’d like to borrow them next spring.

Looks like Dan has some in MD

 

[The Evil Twin]

Pretty buggers Have not seen any in our part of MD (Baltimore).

My fight is with carpenter bees and bald face hornets. The bees are destructive borers but passive and easily eliminated with traps. The hornets nest under the eaves of all the buidings, are vicously aggressive, and seem to enjoy pesticides for breakfast!!!

Dan

We had carpenters last year. The little wood traps got what the permethrin didn't. We spryed the fence and railings with it twice. Seen very few this year. Maybe the hornets are eating them

 

[chim]

Paper wasps built a nest inside the generator enclosure I'm working on. Over the past few days I hosed it down with long range foaming spray, knocked the nest down, hosed it again three times and still have them frequenting the spot.

 

[Sawdust&Shavings]

Paper wasps built a nest inside the generator enclosure I'm working on. Over the past few days I hosed it down with long range foaming spray, knocked the nest down, hosed it again three times and still have them frequenting the spot.

105mm Beehive round or claymore or M202 flash will also ruin their day.

 

[chim]

105mm Beehive round or claymore or M202 flash will also ruin their day.

I may be able to avoid that escalation. Late this afternoon I reinstalled the fuel tank and didn't see one lousy wasp. Made my day!

 

[bbxlr8]

The yellowjackets are really bad here in mid-eastern PA this year. I got hit several times 2 weeks ago weekwacking and I swear I was being stabbed with a red-hot needle. It lasted at the same intensity for about 5 hours, which has never happened to me before (no swelling or other symptoms though). I was wondering if they crossbred!

THEN yesterday, I found they were in a large planter when a couple got inside my Oregon helmet screen and hit me 4 times on my face. The benadryl and baking soda vinegar mix worked better this time.

Hate them

 

[Geezer3d]

We have both yellow jackets and carpenter bees in my yard. I caught most of the carpenter bees in a sticky trap this summer, but my six year old grandson found a nest of yellow jackets before I did and he got a half dozen stings. He was very brave about it, but avoids anything that looks like a bee or wasp now.

The sticky traps I use have a fence around them to prevent humming birds from getting stuck.


Anyway, in case you don't know, wasps generally all go home to the nest after dark, so the best time to poison them is at night so you get them all in one shot.

 

[GeoHorn]

BEST WASP BEE HORNET KILLER is a garden-sprayer with a cup or two of liquid detergent….either laundry or dish detergent. A cup per gallon of water.

Spray this mixture… Gently… on the nest when the insects are On the Nest. They won‘t even get angry. They’ll act like “Hey…how nice! It’s raining!” And then about 20 seconds later they fall on the ground where they die within a minute.

No fuss. No muss. No anger. No danger. No dangerous or toxic poisons.

You’re welcome.

 

[BX25D Rookie]

I did some white birch tree trimming on Sunday.
Every couple of years I need to trim the overhanging branches and make it bearable to drive vehicles down my driveway and out to my shop/barn building, for loading tractors/ATVs/side by sides onto trailers.
With all the hanging/drooping birch tree branches and leaves hanging down, they get shut in vehicle doors, and drop birch tree stuff all over the machinery. Generally a mess.

It is also a big "FAIL" when the Kubota BX ROPS knocks the snow off those overhanging birch tree branches, and it always goes down the collar of your heavy winter snow removal coat.

I like to keep it trimmed so the lowest hanging branches/leaves are about twelve feet off the driveway, so when some snow falls and they droop down from the snow weight, it still clears the top of the ROPS and the roll cage on the side by sides loaded on a trailer.

So I'm sawing branches up high with a Fiskars hand operated pole saw, and the manual sawing physical exertion is imparting some motion to the tree itself. I had just begun and within 10 seconds I started to see GIGANTIC hornet appearing insects flying around that birch tree. I immediately moved away from the tree, and observed. They didn't act overly aggressive, so I finished trimming the birch tree.

After picking up the mess that I had made in the driveway and getting all the debris on the brush pile, I went and grabbed my cell phone to see if I could get some pictures.

Those European Hornets have likely destroyed the white birch tree with the huge number of bored (chewed) holes in the pair of tree trunks. I got within about four feet of the lowest to the ground bored holes in the tree and started taking cell phone pictures at 10x zoom. The eyes on the hornets are large,
and you can see them watching you.

They can be aggressive if you screw around with the nest, but in my case, the nest appears to be inside the tree trunk in multiple locations. I am going to figure out a method for killing them all off, my Girlfriend is allergic (Epi-Pen) and it's just dangerous for her. I generally leave bees/wasps/hornets alone, but if they take up residence in/on the house/barn/cabin/mobile hunting shack, it's time for them to die.
This birch tree is alongside my driveway, between the house and my shop/barn building.
We are constantly loading/unloading equipment right next to the birch tree.

During warm weather equipment usage season, I even chain my double axle trailer to that birch tree.

Note the "little faces" peering out of the bored holes. Also, the hornets on the outside appear to be feeding those inside the tree.

PXL_20250921_192537793 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20250921_192534114 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20250921_191919944 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20250921_191911642 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20250921_191905205 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

 

[BX25D Rookie]

Oh, BTW.
The females (with the stingers) are about 1.25" to 1.50" in length.

 

[The Evil Twin]

I did some white birch tree trimming on Sunday.
Every couple of years I need to trim the overhanging branches and make it bearable to drive vehicles down my driveway and out to my shop/barn building, for loading tractors/ATVs/side by sides onto trailers.
With all the hanging/drooping birch tree branches and leaves hanging down, they get shut in vehicle doors, and drop birch tree stuff all over the machinery. Generally a mess.

It is also a big "FAIL" when the Kubota BX ROPS knocks the snow off those overhanging birch tree branches, and it always goes down the collar of your heavy winter snow removal coat.

I like to keep it trimmed so the lowest hanging branches/leaves are about twelve feet off the driveway, so when some snow falls and they droop down from the snow weight, it still clears the top of the ROPS and the roll cage on the side by sides loaded on a trailer.

So I'm sawing branches up high with a Fiskars hand operated pole saw, and the manual sawing physical exertion is imparting some motion to the tree itself. I had just begun and within 10 seconds I started to see GIGANTIC hornet appearing insects flying around that birch tree. I immediately moved away from the tree, and observed. They didn't act overly aggressive, so I finished trimming the birch tree.

After picking up the mess that I had made in the driveway and getting all the debris on the brush pile, I went and grabbed my cell phone to see if I could get some pictures.

Those European Hornets have likely destroyed the white birch tree with the huge number of bored (chewed) holes in the pair of tree trunks. I got within about four feet of the lowest to the ground bored holes in the tree and started taking cell phone pictures at 10x zoom. The eyes on the hornets are large,
and you can see them watching you.

They can be aggressive if you screw around with the nest, but in my case, the nest appears to be inside the tree trunk in multiple locations. I am going to figure out a method for killing them all off, my Girlfriend is allergic (Epi-Pen) and it's just dangerous for her. I generally leave bees/wasps/hornets alone, but if they take up residence in/on the house/barn/cabin/mobile hunting shack, it's time for them to die.
This birch tree is alongside my driveway, between the house and my shop/barn building.
We are constantly loading/unloading equipment right next to the birch tree.

During warm weather equipment usage season, I even chain my double axle trailer to that birch tree.

Note the "little faces" peering out of the bored holes. Also, the hornets on the outside appear to be feeding those inside the tree.

PXL_20250921_192537793 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20250921_192534114 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20250921_191919944 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20250921_191911642 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20250921_191905205 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

I've been spraying the tree trunks with Permethrin. Seems to keep them from building in the nooks of the trees. Also kills off the ants they eat.