Have thus far avoided an unfortunate encounter, but have all but stumbled into the two pictured hornet nests in pear trees in my orchard over the past week. The second one, with entry hole visible, I’d mown all around underneath the tree, with that nest not more than 4 ft above my head, and had even picked off a hornet/wasp-damaged pear as I passed by on the ZTmower.
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that looks like a bald faced hornets nest. you’re lucky they didnt get you as they are pretty aggressive. id steer clear of it and get rid of it in the fall.
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If you want to go ahead and destroy the hornet’s nests now, a method that I referenced in a different thread worked well for me. I have used that same equipment to flame another one this last year. Since your nests are nearer to the ground I would suggest waiting until after dark to give yourself a little more safety.
I took the quick connect propane fitting that they sell at hardware stores and de-limited it (I can explain the method in a PM). I connected that to a 100 foot long pneumatic hose that has a male QD fitting on the other end. That end I hose clamped to the telescopic pole. Connect the propane tank, crack the valve and light the gas coming out the QD fitting, adjust the flow to create flame separation and get to flaming the nest.
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My brother has removed several bald faced and yellow jackets nest like those.
He goes out at night, with someone at a distance with a flashlight and slides a thick trash bag up over the nest, ties the bag tight around the branch and cuts the branch off.
He hasn’t been stung yet. He said the hardest part the first couple times is getting his nerves to calm down.
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You guys are wimps, those are harmless unless you disturb, they also produce edible honey. They are pollinators.
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I had a big bald face hornet nest on right by my front door when the year I redid my roof. They didn’t sting. They did come and send a couple scouts to investigate when I was hammering right by their nest but they recognized my face and left again
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Actually Bald Faced Hornets eat undesirable insects. Lots of caterpillars and other things. Their prey is plant pests that they feed to their larvae.
If you remove them you inherit their job.
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I have been stung by those a couple times in my lifetime. They have a real zap to them… hit like a rock.
I saw my cousin stand at a distance throwing rocks at a nest… we must have been 30-40 yards away when all of a sudden one popped him right between the eyes. In 5 minutes he was looking like Rocky Balboa… eyes swelled shut.
Best to avoid stings of those if you can.
I took out a small nest of them once in my backyard… in a small dogwood tree. They had developed a nest about football size when I noticed them.
I used my old 12 guage and some 8 shot.
I put on 2 pairs of insulated coveralls… and a scuba mask, all my winter hunting toboggins, mult pair of gloves. Insulated hunting boots.
I had on so much clothes that their stingers could not reach me if they tried.
From about 20 yards… blasted that nest with 8 shot until the limb it was on broke off.
I wone that battle !
TNHunter
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I’m just gonna let them be, and give them a fairly wide berth.
2 years ago, there was a fist-sized nest under construction right by the main-use door in and out of the screened porch at our lake house. Didn’t notice it until they nailed me and the dog. I didn’t let that one persist.
I do not believe that hornets make honey…and I’m certainly not going to challenge them to find out.
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It can be useful to spray paint the nest and the flying hornets - once the paint hits them they can’t fly, and you have a nice broad spray so you can cover a large area. I’ve used clear acrylic, but fluorescent orange might be fun.
But the plastic bag trick after dark might be best, especially if you drop half a pound of dry ice in the bag before you slip it over the nest.
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I leave the Bald Face Hornets alone here. They are very common and rarely bother anyone. I noticed they like to eat beetles.
It is those ground nesting Yellow Jackets I hate. Those are very aggressive.
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Before thinking about destroying it, consider the possible windfall if you just harvest in the fall.
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I’ve tore open a good number of bald-faced hornet’s nests. None have ever had anything but brood. They also die out in the winter as opposed to honeybees which use their honey store to survive the winter. A simple search concurs with my assertion that no they do not make honey.
As your cousin found out @TNHunter they will search out and relentlessly attack anyone or anything causing them harm. I’ve heard it said they can “smell” a person’s scent from handling rocks or other objects thrown at them. No idea if it’s that or if they simply search out and discover the perpetrator.
They do not pollinate enough to matter, they don’t have hairs on their body like bees do. What tiny amount they may pollinate is effectively irrelevant.
They do eat “bad bugs” and for that I’m not necessarily happy about killing them. They tend to build in the edges of my driveway or in other places where it’s too easy to be harassed by them. So they and yellowjackets both are toast around here if they give us any grief.
Easy and safe to kill. Probably many insecticides will work but I’ve found that micro-encapsulated Fipronil works VERY well. Half gallon hand-pump sprayer with water, put in a tiny amount of insecticide, a teaspoon or so… Shake, pump, spray from a distance… Put it on stream, cover one side of the nest. Spray for maybe 5-10 seconds, nowhere near the entire amount. Walk away, within a couple of days they’ll be absolutely dead. Same for above or in-ground yellowjacket nests as well.
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The bald face hornet and yellow jackets definitely target the face or head, I got nailed in the forehead once by a yellow jacket while exterminating a underground nest. Left a good size bump.
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The last time I got stung by one it felt like somebody shot me.
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I have bald faced hornet in my yard for years. I don’t know where they build their nest, but they always show up in my yard year after year. I didn’t bother them, they didn’t bother me. I agree with someone said that they somehow are able to recognize people’s face or scent. They eat garden bugs such as caterpillars, flies for me so I didn’t need to spray pesticide to keep my leafy veggies free of bugs. However , they start to damage fruits in later summer/early fall so I have to bag my fruits.
There’s pros and cons of having them around but they are part of nature’s ecosystem, I am willing to share my space with them.
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i read somewhere that they hone in on the co2 we breathe out, like mosquitos do. makes sense why they get us in the head.
i believe they have one of the most painful hornet stings in north america.
We destroyed an in-ground nest by running a hose into it at night for as long as it took for none of them to be flying in or out in the daylight. Others prefer the gasoline and match method, I’ve heard!
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I did the kerosene and match thing last time.
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