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Welcome again to the Faith Pest Control podcast. Hi, I’m Mike Stewart, your host and we’re here today with pest expert Fred Talley of Faith Pest Control, Faith Pest Control services all the fine folks in Jasper, Georgia, Blue Ridge, Georgia Ellijay, Georgia and pretty much anywhere in the North Georgia mountains. If you have a pest problem, Fred Talley is the man to take care of those problems. And now here’s Fred Talley.
So my key paper wasps are a type of Wasp among many that are commonly found here in North Georgia. Their name comes from the fact that they build their nest out of paper that they make using wood fibers and their saliva and other stuff. They’re not really considered to be dangerous. Treatment, a lot of times can be handled by the property owner given that they have the proper tools and equipment to do it. Self treatment, if you will, does not come without risks. So because if feel provoked or threatened, they will sting. They’re not typically aggressive. But you can imagine if they felt like somebody was tearing down their home, they could get a little bit excited. They’re commonly found outdoors. They can grow indoors, or nest indoors, but it’s not real common.
There’ll be out in your garden, there’ll be out in public parks, in the, in the forest, the woods, on the overhangs of your house, sometimes on the bottom side of tables or chairs that might be sitting on your porch or your deck.
A little side story here that just kind of come to my mind, my wife and I, we enjoy kayak fishing. And we have a local reservoir here that’s I don’t know, maybe four or 500 acres, and they don’t allow gasoline powered boats on on the lake so we feel relatively safe in our kayaks. Anyway, this particular reservoir has several areas of standing timber that that protrude above the surface of the water. And I like to fish around the standing timber. So one day I was there and fishing in the standing timber and I saw a wasp nest attached or built on one of the stumps, and I thought it would be kind of cool to make a video of the nest to put it on my website. Anyway, there’s a little bit of current on the lake that day is somewhat windy so I was trying to hold my phone still with one hand and make the video while holding my paddle with the other hand trying to keep my kayak still. Well this kind of turned out to be a pretty stupid move on my part as follows. Trying to keep my kayak still I inadvertently hit the wasp nests with my paddle. I got stung five times before I could get away from the wolves if provoked, they will sting you. But back to the podcast. They’re normally a brown or a black color with yellow markings. Their waist is narrower but it’s not spindly like that of an ant. And they’re normally half inch, sometimes maybe five inches, five eighths of an inch long and their legs hang down like when they fly. They can be difficult to identify. And they are actually fairly easily and regularly confused with other other paths, especially Yellowjackets and Hornets. They’re most easily identified by the nests they construct the paper whilst making like an open comb, paper nest as opposed to than this look like a large closed ball. You can see you can see the exposed sales of their nest look like honeycomb and can sometimes see wasps and their larva inside the sails of this hive. Bald faced Hornets and Yellow Jackets both Bill closed paper nest both can be very aggressive. So they need to be handled with caution. And with the proper skill and equipment. Bald faced Hornets are actually more pointed near the end whereas Yellow Jackets nest for bald faced Hornets nests are more pointed close to the bottom and whereas Yellow Jackets nest have more of a rounded shape. Bald faced Hornets most frequently will nest and shrubs or trees. But Yellow Jackets can be found in attics ground NASS and other locations and paper wasps that we deal with is pest control operators are generally attached to the home then more specifically to the overhang of the roof. You can’t really effectively control paper wasps if you can’t see their nest. You can look form again under hanging under the eaves of the underside of the roofline or on the side of your home. If you live in North Georgia paper wasps and the other stinging insects may be especially drawn to starting nests on the south side of your home as this area will get the most warmth in the afternoon sun. Once you’ve located a Piper wasp nest, you have a few options when it comes to control. You can physically remove the nest, you can chemically treat the nest, or you can hire a pest control operator to come treat the nest. If you’re having trouble identifying whether the wasp nest on your property belongs to paper wasps or another pest, don’t be afraid to take a picture of it and reach out to you know one of your local pest control companies. Most companies let you email him a picture and help you identify what the problem may be. Luckily, paper wasps are not particularly aggressive unless provoked and they’re Nasur open face and generally small less than I mean a big nest would be six inches in diameter moster one to two four in my experience, and they can be relatively easily treated with an over the counter chemical spray. Their products come in a canned or an aerosol, you combine pretty much anywhere the hardware store department store I wouldn’t even imagine at the grocery store. This if you’re going to use if you’re going to tackle it yourself. Just make sure to read the label and follow the label instructions. The over the counter wass treatments really only work well in situation. When you’re actually dealing with an open comb Piper wasp nest, while sprays available for homeowner purchase, are generally contact insecticides and need to be directly sprayed onto the queen in order to kill her and stop the lifecycle of the nest. It can be dangerous to attempt to do it yourself whilst treatments when the nest belongs to a more aggressive species like the bald faced Hornets or yellow jackets. So it is actually pretty important. If the nest is a closed ball of paper and you can’t see the honeycomb appearance inside. You probably should call your local pest control operator otherwise you’re likely won’t kill the nest. If you know your home is prone to Piper wasp nest you can physically remove it in avoid chemical that you can physically remove the nest and keep the Wasp activity low and avoid chemical application altogether. This makes sure that you’re dealing with paper wasps. They’re nasty very delicate, easy to remove by scraping. Just make sure that that you’re dealing with a paper wasps nest. If the NASS is just there with no Wasp present, the nest is probably dead and you can remove it with no issues at all. But remember that any closed paper nest could belong to yellow jackets or bald faced Hornets. When warm weather arrives, keep an eye on the eaves your home paper wasp nest start small. And while they don’t get too big, like I said earlier, probably six inches is a big six inch in diameter is a big one. You know there’ll be easy very easy to remove and contain fewer wasps The earlier you kitchen. Depending on the circumstances you know quarter the last the nest is you may need a broom or an extension pole like a painter’s pole works. You can use a water hose or pressure washer and last resort. I mean I’ve seen people just grab a nest with their bare hand that had active wasps on it. I’m not quite that courageous, but you can take a ladder and crawl up and knock it down. Many of the Wasp can simply just be knocked loose but when they’re high up or larger in size, the they tend to be somewhat more take somewhat more effort to get them detached from the house. You will most likely be able to see some of the paper residue that’s left behind where it’s been attached. If the nest is active, you do want to make sure the Queen can’t restart a new nest meaning you need to get to eliminate the queen. It’s best if you know when the one that you get the nest on the ground is stomp on the nest. This that will ensure that tomorrow wasps inside including the queen that lays the eggs are dead.
After any type of removal involving active wasps, bees or Hornets, you likely see some flying insect activity around the nest location for a few days after it’s gone.
It’s when the nest is removed there are often foragers out you know when when the nest is eliminated the in the foragers are out there out identifying food sources harvesting the food and bringing back to feed the rest of the family. And so they’ll return to the side of the nest and then they’ll they’ll determine that it’s no longer there. And they’ll just they’ll just move on. But it might take a day or two. If you’re not sure if the nest belongs to paper wasps or you’re not comfortable with you know, performing the the treatment or knocking it down by yourself, call a pest control operator they’ll be more than happy to come treat it for you. Make sure they’re reliable and preferably local to your area. He’s because they’ll come prepared with all the equipment and gear. Whatever protective clothing they might need to get the job done safely, safely and effectively and prevent them from being stung. In most cases, expect that the treatment will involve application of some type of some type of insecticide if you’re hiring a pest control company, they may not be able to physically remove the nest when they treat especially if it isn’t paper loss. Homeowners can scrape free and remove the nest once it’s completely dead. Any you know stubborn little bits of paper left behind may require some more thorough cleaning. paper wasps, like we said earlier get their common name from the paper like material they use to build their nest and they create this material by chewing bits of plant and wood fibers. There are many species of paper wasps they all share some common characteristic characteristics that you can identify pretty early on. If you guys sweet foods out during a family you know family picnic or whatever and you notice was flying around it very well could be a paper wass but it may also be something else like yellow jackets. Other stinging pests paper wasps are black in yellow, seeing paper wasps that sometimes brown and yellow but seeing paper wasps around outside can be an indication of a paper wasp nearby, but the nest may actually not even be on your property. The telltale sign of a paper wasp nest is virtually spotting their open column Piper nest, they’re most likely to pop up on the warm side of your house on the underside of the reed eaves where it’s easily accessed but it’s protected from the you know the wind and the rain.
If you’re concerned there might be an active wasp nest on your property but you’re not sure keep an eye on the area you’re watching in look like look for a distinct flight path.
Many people will can use the term distinct flight path with foraging behavior when it comes to wasps. So it’s important to know the difference. Distinct flight path involves the wasps consistently coming and going from to one specific spot which is of interest to their nest. This is not the same as wasp or bees Fords in on around plants. In the case of paper wasps, their direct flight path will be likely be coming and going under these your roof the underside of a covered porch. And then of course you should see the the nest itself. If paper wasps are popping up around your property, there really are a few potential causes.
They can be attracted dairies with standing water. If you have a birdbath, a swimming pool, a kiddie pool, a pond, a water feature in your yard or any other water source outside you could be attracting the wasps to your home. Even a leaky hose can provide the the Wasp with water.
They’re attracted to sweet smells. Do you have flowers or fruit trees? Or if you’re noticing sweeping around the desert table, you know your summertime picnics? These are items that light will likely draw paper loss. They will build their nest in protected areas, like I said and eaves and overhangs around your house and they they can become an issue in the warmer months. For whatever reason, it’s not real way too common any much anymore to have houses like this, but they can be especially attracted to houses with aluminum siding or aluminum roof because of the warmth that the metal provides when the sun heats it up.
That could be a reason why you may be seeing more paper wasps around your house. Given that they’re that the wasps the paper wasps are mostly not aggressive, and they help with pollination and breakdown of organic matter,
they choose the wood fibers, they do provide some benefit to our ecosystem. You know, I think it’s prudent to give them some space where they’re coming, you know, identify kind of where they’re coming from, where you’re finding them, what’s attracting them to that spot, and then if their presence is bothering you or you feel like it’s a threat, you may just want to consider removing plants or water sources that may be attracting them. Removal of nasties around your home is a is a good way to reduce the surrounding population of wasps and stinging insects. So check your eaves and roofline from time to time for any distinct flight paths. And keep in mind that other stinging insects can and will nest around roofs. So yeah, unless you see the open faced paper nest. Don’t assume you’re dealing with paper wasp because it could be more aggressive.
It faith pest control, we do offer a free consultation and a 100% make you happy money back guarantee. Now if you hire faith pest control, to get rid of your Wasp problem, your paper wasp problem, the end of 30 days you’re not 100% Happy will come back and will retreat your home for free. We’ll keep on trading it for free until you tell us that you are happy. That still doesn’t make you happy. We’ll give every penny of your money back that you spent on the original treatment. Plus, we’ll pay you an additional $25 for your time in trouble just for fooling with us. Bottom line is I want you to be happy with the service that we provide you where you won’t pay a penny period. If you feel like what I’ve said makes sense. Call faith pest control today. It’s 770-823-9202 and asked to speak to me Fred tally. I’ll be more than happy to speak with you and answer any questions that you may have.
Well, Fred, that’s great information. Hey, if you’re in the north Georgia mountains in Jasper, Blue Ridge, Ellijay, Georgia, or anywhere in the north Georgia mountains and you have problems with bugs, just listen to this podcast over and over again and share it with your friends, so you’ll know what to do. And then of course, if you’re like me, and you just don’t want to deal with it, call Fred. Fred will take care of you and make sure you get the problem solved. We do this podcast as a community service for all the fine folks in Jasper, Georgia, Blue Ridge, Georgia, Ellijay, Georgia, and anywhere in the north Georgia mountains. You can get this podcast from our website, or you can get it from any of the fun podcast services like Apple, Google podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon. Even if you just ask your Alexa Hey, play the faith pest control podcast latest episode, it will start playing and you can listen right there on your speaker devices. So until next time, this is Mike Stewart for the faith pest control podcast.
