✅ How to get rid of the ground wasp on the site on your own, how to destroy

Ground wasps are the popular name for some species of wasps that live in the sand, underground. These include sand, road, and digging. These species do not build nests, they live separately, they build holes in the ground to find prey for laying eggs. People call ground wasps paper wasps, which have chosen thickets of grass, stacked tree branches, various mounds, and old stumps to locate their nest.

How to deal with ground wasps

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In the European part of Russia, ground wasps are usually wasps of the genus Vespula, whose characteristic features are a bright, striped, black and yellow color. Depending on the species, an average of 3 hundred to 15 thousand wasps can live in one underground wasp nest in late July-early August. Since wasps are aggressive insects, close proximity to them on the site can be dangerous due to bites and a possible allergic reaction to wasp venom, including anaphylactic shock. How to deal with ground wasps in the countryside in order to effectively get rid of them and, at the same time, not get hurt in the process?

Species and distribution

A significant part of the existing species belong to ground wasps. You can meet them almost everywhere, with the exception of the icy Arctic and hot deserts. Sometimes nests are located on the surface of the ground, and some families dig a complex system of tunnels at a depth of several meters.

Sand burrowing wasps

Sand burrowing wasps are classified as solitary wasps and live in the ground. The size of adult individuals ranges from 5 to 20 mm. The body is usually elongated, the color is black with yellow, orange or red, depending on the species. They hunt insects, which they bring to the nest to feed the larvae.

Road wasps

Another family of wasps that live in the ground. Insects of medium or large size (from 15 to 45 mm) live mainly in regions with a tropical climate. Insects practically do not fly, preferring to crawl on the ground. Predators hunt mainly arachnids. The wasp drags the paralyzed or dead victim into the dwelling, where it lays eggs in its body, which the emerging larvae will feed on. The venom of road wasps is very toxic and the bite is painful.

German wasps

This species superficially resembles a common wasp, but most often the adult individuals are somewhat smaller (about 12 mm). They live in small colonies, preferring to settle in forests.

Floral

Flower wasps are small insects, rarely reaching a size larger than 10 mm. The color is traditional black and yellow, but the body is covered not with stripes, but with spots. These wasps are solitary. They make nests both in trees and on the ground. The building material for the nest is a mixture of sand, clay and its own saliva. Both adults and larvae feed on pollen.

Scolia

Another family of solitary wasps that make nests in the ground. The insects are large; depending on the species, the body size varies from 10 to 65 mm. The body is black with white, orange, yellow and red spots or stripes. Adults eat nectar, larvae are carnivores. Females lay eggs in the larvae of some species of beetles, which the hatched offspring feed on.

Preparing to fight ground wasps

If you want to try destroying an underground hive yourself, the recommendations below will help you make any treatment less dangerous, avoid common mistakes and generally increase the chances of success.

Do an allergy test for wasp venom. In commercial laboratories this service costs about 600–700 rubles, the same for bee venom. If the test gives a strong reaction or shows a high likelihood of anaphylactic shock, do not remove the nest yourself.
Before destroying a nest, learn how to provide first aid for wasp stings.
Buy a special protective suit or beekeeper overalls with a face mesh. Protection from several layers of closed clothing and other homemade research rarely provide the necessary level of tightness; wasps can find a loophole and bite.
The best time to destroy wasp nests is spring, when colonies are still few in number. The longer the summer lasts, the more wasps in the hive.
Apply at dusk or dawn, when it is dark enough outside that the wasps are still sleeping, but light enough so that you can see what you are doing.
If you are destroying a nest at night, use a dim source of diffused light and place it away from you, such as on a tree, but so that you can clearly see the hive area.

Regardless of how confident you are or what your allergy tests show, plan your escape route from each nest and stock up on antihistamines and sting ointment before treatment. Just in case.

Safety precautions

Fighting wasps is a very risky business, as there is always a chance of being stung. When defending their possessions, wasps can attack in a swarm. Basic safety rules should be followed, as large amounts of wasp venom can be fatal even to a healthy person.

Wasp stings

Wasps, like bees, are not as active at night as they are during the day. Therefore, all procedures to combat wasps should be carried out in the evening or at night. So all the individuals will be in one place and may not even understand what happened.
Protective equipment must be appropriate. Clothing should be tight and able to protect against stings. There should be no exposed skin. Wasps can quickly find such places and attack there. Therefore, there should be a special approach to choosing clothes. A beekeeping mask, specially adapted for such cases, helps to protect your face well.
Calmness is the main weapon of a wasp fighter.
If the wasp relocation procedure does not go according to plan and the wasps decide to strike back, you should stop the procedure and quickly move away from the nest. This must be done calmly and without panic. You can try again in a day, when the wasps have calmed down enough. Wasp in flight

It will help you learn in more detail how to get rid of a wasp nest in your country house, a video with the main methods of combating these insects. Using it as a guide, you can cope with such a dangerous neighborhood.

How to destroy a wasp nest in the ground

To remove a colony of ground wasps from a site, it is necessary to destroy their nest.

During the day, while watching for insects, find all the entrances to the wasp's nest in the ground.
Mark them by sticking white plastic knives or forks into the soil nearby to make the holes easier to find in the dark.
Prepare several buckets, according to the number of passages in the hive, as well as a couple of spare ones, in case you did not notice some branch.
Fill each bucket with soil and place it next to the passage for which it is intended.
For each bucket, prepare something heavy that can be used to weigh it down on top, for example, a brick.
Find and place stones next to each passage that are suitable in size to the diameter of the hole; they will be needed to plug the passage at a certain stage.
Wait until it gets dark, make sure there are no people around you without protective suits, pets or neighbors.
Cover each passage with a small stack, pressing it tightly to the ground; the caliber of the cells should easily allow liquids to pass through, but be small enough so that wasps do not get out through the cells to the surface.
Holding the mesh firmly to the ground, begin spraying the aerosol insecticide into the tunnel.

One hive uses the entire bottle of product. After you have finished spraying the insecticide:

If the mesh is soft, leave it, if it is hard, you can remove it or leave it at your discretion.
Additionally, plug the passage with a stone.
Fill the passage with previously prepared soil.
Turn the bucket in which the soil was in and deepen it into the poured soil, thus covering the passage.
For added protection, dust the bottom edge of the bucket itself and place a brick, stone, or something heavy on top of it to press it down into the ground.
Leave the entire installation in this form for 1–2 days.

Usually all the wasps already die during the night or the first day, but for reliability, the structure can be kept longer than necessary.

If you are treating with someone, several people may be administering each turn at the same time from different cylinders.
If you carry out the processing alone, first wall up the side passages with stones, earth, buckets and a press.
If you have not noticed any passage and the wasps are tearing out of it, you will need to quickly seal it, for which you should have spare buckets, earth and stones on hand.

Despite all efforts, it is extremely difficult to completely seal a hive in the ground. At any stage of the work, wasps may begin to fly out. You need to be prepared for this and not panic. The main reason for peace of mind in such a situation will be your beekeeper's protective suit. Perform all actions only in it.

If the area is chosen by wild bees

It happens that they settle in a hollow or in rooms: under the stairs, in basements, in attics. These insects are more peaceful than wasps and rarely attack without reason. How to get rid of bees? If the neighborhood is unpleasant for you, you can free yourself in two ways: by moving to another place or by destruction.

Two relocation options:

Attention! The method is dangerous! It is recommended to use only when absolutely necessary.

Fumigate the hive with a smoker. Place the lethargic bees in a bag and take them to another area. You need to act quickly: if the bees wake up on the way, they will throw out all their anger on you.

Invite a beekeeper you know. He may wish to tame your guests. If he doesn't need the swarm, ask for support in moving the colony to another location.

Stages of killing bees:

Fumigate the hive with a smoker to calm the inhabitants.
Spray insecticide inside.
Close the entrance tightly.
Place the hive in a large bag.
After the insects die, destroy the bag.

How to deal with ground wasps at the dacha using improvised means

There are many popular opinions on how to deal with ground wasps in the country, but they all somehow boil down to the fact that you need to fill, lay or spray something into the hole. As an alternative to insecticides, you can try using:

Boric acid
Antifreeze liquid
Boiling water
Soap/dish soap/washing powder and water solution
A solution of boiling water and red pepper powder
Water from a hose, placing it in the course and pressing it down with stones and earth

Do not pour gasoline, kerosene or other explosive or flammable oil-based liquids into the passages and do not then set them on fire. They will kill insects, but this is an extremely risky undertaking that can end very tragically.

Home remedies can help destroy an underground hive, but they can also act more slowly than insecticides, have no effect at all, only enraging the bees, or have only a partial effect. It is impossible to predict the outcome of such processing in advance.

What are wasps afraid of?

Wasps have accompanied human homes for centuries, and the question still remains open: “What are wasps afraid of, and how to get rid of them using folk remedies?

The only clear answer is that wasps are afraid of fire. However, using open fire indoors is completely unsafe.

You can also try treating the wasp nest with boiling water. Again, this needs to be done at night. If you carry out such an event several times, then some of the wasps will die, and some will leave.

When figuring out what wasps are afraid of, you can use folk remedies, but not a single one of them is effective. For centuries, nature has taught wasps to survive and find food for themselves and their offspring. A person does not yet know how to outwit an insect, so he is forced to use chemicals. When dealing with wasps, try to be careful. Use proven methods, and certainly protective equipment.

If there are children nearby, do not take risks by using chemicals yourself, contact a professional service, they are guaranteed to cope with the task, because their chemicals and protective equipment are much more effective.

Fighting ground wasps in the garden using SES

In any case, the fight against ground wasps in the garden is a large-scale undertaking that requires careful preparation and free time. The only option that allows you to do nothing yourself, remain out of reach of wasp bites and, at the same time, get the result in the form of complete destruction of the colony and nest in 1 day is to seek help from the SES.

The sanitary service Dez Group, certified by Rospotrebnadzor, has been destroying wasp nests in the ground, houses and open areas for more than 13 years. We use only modern, high-quality products that eliminate wasps but do not harm the soil and plants. You can order the service urgently or on a day and time convenient for you.

Varieties

There are many types of burrowing wasps; here we will only talk about the most famous ones.

Larra anathema wasp

She is a voluntary assistant to gardeners in the fight against mole crickets. Represents

the insect is black in color and is a solitary wasp.

Having discovered a mole cricket in the underground passages, the wasp drives it to the surface. There, the larra temporarily paralyzes the victim with three precise sting blows to certain chest segments. Then the wasp lays an egg under the mole cricket's front leg. After about 5 minutes, the mole cricket’s paralysis goes away, and it crawls back underground, where it leads its usual way of life.

The larva emerging from the egg, from the moment of hatching to pupation, goes through 5 stages of development in 12–30 days. All this time she lives on the mole cricket as an external parasite. The mole cricket dies shortly before the Larra larva transforms into a pupa.

Wasp ammophila

Sandy ammophila is a black insect with a bright red thin abdomen,

located on a thin stalk, and long legs. It is quite large, reaching 4 cm in length.

This wasp chose cutworm caterpillars that live in the ground as food for the offspring. Having found the caterpillar and driven it to the surface, the ammophila paralyzes the victim. Then, all the way to the hole, the wasp will drag the prey, which is several times heavier than the hunter, along the ground.

Having reached the destination, she drags the cutworm caterpillar inside the future nest, lays one egg on it, seals the cell and carefully camouflages it.

Philanthus - bee wolf

Philanthus is one of the types of burrowing wasps. It is a rather large and strong insect, measuring from 12 to 15 mm. Has a too large head compared to the body and strong jaws. The chest of the philanthus is black, the abdomen is bright yellow, and there are from one to three white stripes on the back. They called him the bee wolf because he attacks honey bees.

This happens as follows. The philanthus rushes at the bee when it, unsuspectingly, collects pollen from a flower. Having grabbed it with its paws, the bee wolf stings the victim in the neck and kills. Rhythmically moving his paws, he squeezes out the nectar collected by the bee from the bee's crop, which he licks with his tongue. Then the bee carries the completely empty bee back to her burrow to use it as food for her offspring.

Philanthus can cause serious harm to beekeepers if it settles next to the hives, since the bees stop flying out for honey and sit in the hives. The queen bee stops laying eggs and the colony gradually weakens.

Description of appearance

Wasps set up nests in the ground for several reasons - there is no suitable place in the immediate area, an overly attractive rodent burrow or an abandoned anthill has been discovered. Externally, ground wasps in the country are no different from those that set up a hive under the roof of the house, in the attic, balcony, or tree.

Characteristic features are a bright striped color with yellow-black stripes, thin wings, a small head, and small antennae. And also the presence of a sting, which the insect uses for self-defense during the hunting process when obtaining food. A photo of a ground wasp is presented below, and next to it is a representative of paper wasps that do not live in the soil.

Universal methods of getting rid of hornets in the house or on the territory

Important to know! Hornets are excellent builders. If you do not notice their presence on the site in time, they are capable of erecting a hive of gigantic proportions, which only professional exterminators can destroy.

The larger the insect house, the more space there is for offspring and population development.

By noticing in time single individuals that are exploring the area for settlement, you can get rid of many problems and financial costs. The simplest baits, which you can make with your own hands or purchase in a store, will help you cope with several representatives of this species. They are 100% likely to help remove all hornets.

Hornet

Plastic bottle trap No. 1. All you need to build a deadly bait is honey, a bottle and beer. The bottle is cut in half, beer and honey are poured into the lower part, stirred, and covered with the upper part of the bottle, turned upside down. The smell will attract victims; once inside through a wide hole, they will not be able to get out.

Plastic bottle trap No. 2. A hole is made in the side of an empty plastic bottle into which a special plastic trap is inserted. It looks like a hole on the outside and curved diverging rays on the inside. The shape of the rays prevents insects from trying to escape into the wild. On the other hand, opposite the hole, several small holes are made for ventilation and better distribution of the smell in all directions. Sweet drinks are poured inside the finished bait.

Note! If there is an apiary not far from the location of the traps, then it is better to refrain from using them or replace the honey with kvass, sour syrup, compote and similar sweet liquids. This will reduce casualties among hardworking bees, which are very attracted to the sweet smell of nectar.

A glass jar trap (great for getting rid of uninvited guests in the apartment). Prepare a jar with a thread for screwing on the lid. Sweet, fermented drinks or juices are poured into it. Holes are made in the lid itself, turning the sharp edges down, thereby blocking the possibility of escape. Screw the lid on the jar and wait for the dangerous bugs to be caught.

It is important to know! To make traps work more productively, insecticides are often added to sweet drinks. This helps to exterminate annoying flyers

Those who do not have time to make their own baits buy ready-made products from well-known manufacturers. To use them, simply add water and place them in the desired place, out of reach of children.

Hornet traps

The question remains: how to get rid of hornets under the roof of a house when they have already begun to build a nest? If the size of the newly formed nest does not exceed the size of a walnut, the formation is knocked down with an ordinary stick and after that it can be removed or burned. The main safety requirement is to work in the dark or twilight, when the hornets are most vulnerable. It is also good to remove traces of their presence in winter or late autumn.

It is important to know! If the home has grown a lot, this option will not help and will be very unsafe

Vespiary

Wasps in the ground build the same hive as on the surface. The building material is wood - tree bark, wooden fences, outbuildings. The insect spits out a special secretion, waits until the top layer softens, then scrapes it off with its powerful jaws. Carries it to the nest, digests it with saliva, resulting in a sticky elastic mass.

Inside there are numerous honeycombs arranged in several rows. The outer layers of the nest are more fragile, the material resembles toilet paper. The nest expands as the number of the family increases. The average size of a ground wasp hive is the size of an apple. In some cases, they can reach a diameter of 50 cm or more. Takes the shape of a sphere.

True ground wasps dig holes in the ground to find chafer larvae and other potential victims. They paralyze with poison, lay an egg on the abdomen, climb out, and bury the entrance. After a few hours, a larva appears and lives on the victim’s body, feeding on its entrails. In this way, the female provides the larva with favorable development conditions, but she herself no longer takes part in raising the calf.

Ground wasps

Burrowing wasps Sphecidae, road wasps Pompilidae.

Larra hunts a mole cricket.

These beneficial insects almost all care for their offspring, but different species have differences in the construction of shelter for the offspring and the way they feed them. They also bring different kinds of loot. There is, however, among them a species of burrowing Larra wasps, which lay eggs on a serious pest living in the soil of damp gardens - the mole cricket. Larra drives the mole cricket to the surface, temporarily paralyzes it with three sting strikes in three thoracic segments and lays an egg under the base of the front leg of this large insect. After a few minutes, the mole cricket crawls underground, and the larra larva hatches from the egg and parasitizes on it.

Sandy ammophila.

Ammophila dig a hole about 5 cm deep with a chamber that widens at the end. Having lined the burrow with a pebble, it often sets out for prey the next day. Having dragged the immobilized but living prey into the burrow, the female lays an egg and seals the entrance, filling it with sand and pebbles, or in another way. Then the wasp carefully disguises the entrance.

Sandy ammophila preys on a caterpillar.

Sandy ammophila preys on fall armyworm caterpillars living in the ground. Sensing a caterpillar underground, the ammophila digs it out of the loose soil and immobilizes it by stinging the nerve node of each segment, starting from the head.

The fluffy ammophila brings up to a dozen small moth caterpillars for each of its larvae, gradually adding food, and only then seals the burrow.

Many burrowing wasps bring adult insects for their larvae, hunting them. Most tuberous wasps (Cerceris) prepare small borers, leaf beetles, and weevils for their offspring, paralyzing them. Interestingly, they live in colonies, so the surface of the earth in such places is covered with craters of discarded earth, and is pitted with burrows, like a sponge.

Large-headed wasps (Crabro) gnaw passages in the rotting wood of old stumps and prepare various insects for their offspring - they catch flies, bedbugs, leafhoppers, butterflies, hay beetles and even beetles.

The nosed bembex (Bembex rostratus) is very interesting - it preys on adult flies. These are striped wasps with a wide abdomen that dig holes in loose sand. They bring dead flies to each larva for 2 weeks while it grows. The same burrow serves as a refuge for the long-nosed bembex in rainy weather, and approximately 60 flies or about 24 horseflies are required to raise each larva.

The tiny spilomena (Spilomena troglodytes) makes several nests in one straw, bringing paralyzed thrips, one of the smallest winged insects, there for its larvae.

Behavior, lifestyle

By mid-summer, a wasp swarm numbers hundreds of thousands of adults. Each wasp performs its own functions:

some build a nest;
others forage for food;
still others look after the larvae.

At the head is the uterus, which is exclusively engaged in the reproduction of offspring. Adults feed on flower nectar, fruit and vegetable juices, and honey. The larvae require protein food to feed them. For their sake, working females kill insects and circle around meat and fish products.

Ground wasps on the site become extremely active towards the end of summer and beginning of autumn. They often enter the house, circle in the yard, and do not allow them to work in peace in the garden. Insects are aggressive, the slightest movement of the hand in their direction is regarded as a threat, and they rush to attack. Accidentally finding a person near a nest can result in numerous bites from an entire swarm.

Ground wasps communicate with each other by making special sounds and signals. The insect notifies others about danger, threat, and the presence of food. In a matter of minutes, a whole swarm appears.

Bite danger

Wasps that live in the ground bite quite hard. At the site of the attack, swelling, swelling, redness, and a local increase in temperature immediately appear. As the wound heals, itching is felt. With a normal reaction of the body and proper first aid, the ground wasp bite goes away within 3-5 days. The bruise completely disappears within a week. To reduce painful symptoms, folk remedies are used in the form of compresses, lotions, soda paste, and laundry soap.

If you are bitten by a ground wasp, you must wash the wound to remove any remaining poison and disinfect the wound. Use medical alcohol, ammonia, as well as any alcohol tincture based on medicinal herbs - valerian, motherwort, glod, calendula.

Why are they dangerous for humans?

All wasps are active, agile and strong predators. Just one individual within a day is capable of catching and destroying dozens of harmful insects or their larvae - aphids, butterfly caterpillars and bedbugs that spoil ornamental plants and fruit harvests. Therefore, ground wasps are considered protectors of gardens and vegetable gardens.

But, settling in close proximity to a person, the earthen wasp poses a threat to him. The danger is that these striped insects fearlessly attack anyone who approaches their nest or tries to destroy it. The size of the victim does not matter to them, so it costs them nothing to attack a person.

The bites of ground wasps and hornets are painful, and the poison that gets into the wound causes a strong local allergic reaction. The bite site quickly swells and turns red and begins to itch. Swelling, hyperemia and burning from a single bite disappear after 1 to 3 days, however, it all depends on the state of health of the individual and the degree of his sensitivity to the poison.

It is much worse if there are a lot of bites, because the earth wasp can not only sting, and repeatedly, because, unlike a bee, its sting is not equipped with barbs and does not remain in the skin after a bite, but also bite the victim with its jaws. In addition, when attacked, the insect gives a signal to its relatives: it releases a specific alarm pheromone into the air, sensing which other wasps fly out of the nest to help and also attack the victim.

The consequences of a massive attack by ground wasps can be very dire, especially in people with hypersensitivity to wasp venom. The body’s reaction to the substances included in it can be very violent and manifest itself in the following symptoms:

a sharp rise in temperature;
headache;
weaknesses;
chills;
difficulty breathing;
attacks of suffocation;
nausea and vomiting;
abdominal cramps.

In extreme cases, it all ends in anaphylactic shock, convulsions, and loss of consciousness.

You can anger earthen wasps if you accidentally or intentionally disturb their home while gardening. You can also crush the wasp if you pick up a ripe fruit where it sits. They are attracted by the aromas of certain spices or perfumes, which contain certain essential oils. Therefore, it is better to get rid of wasps if you find one or more wasp nests in the soil of your garden or vegetable garden in the following places:

in beds with root crops;
in the center or near flower beds;
in tree trunks;
near paths, buildings;
in places where small children often play.

If the nests of earthen wasps are located in an area away from the house, main places of movement, vegetable beds and do not disturb anyone, then they can be left so that the insects can fight garden pests.

How to get rid of earth wasps

If there are no allergy sufferers in the family, the nest is located in a place that is safe for humans, and there is no point in fighting earth wasps. They attack only in case of danger, a threat to their own life or larvae. With their presence they help fight many pests of garden and vegetable crops. At the end of autumn, the swarm disappears and the nest becomes empty. Working individuals, the old queen die, young fertilized females look for places to winter in the wood.

If there is a danger to humans, there are several ways to remove wasps from the ground: destroy the nest, or reduce the number of insects in the area. The procedure for getting rid of the hive should be carried out in the evening, when the whole family returns to the nest to spend the night, or early in the morning, when the insects have not yet had time to fly away.

You can destroy a wasp nest in the ground by burning it. They douse it with a flammable substance - kerosene, gasoline, machine oil, and set it on fire.
You can destroy a nest in the ground with water. Pour a bucket of boiled water into the hole. If necessary, repeat the procedure again the next day.
A nest that becomes empty in the fall needs to be dug up. Destroyed in any way. This is required so that a new swarm does not settle there in the spring. Wasps have the ability to return to their original place.
Another extermination option is to drive an aspen stake into the nest. The interior is damaged and the family is forced to relocate. But there is a possibility that they will settle in the immediate vicinity.

Getting rid of earthen wasps on your own site is quite simple; the whole difficulty lies in observing safety measures. In case of incorrect actions or mistakes, a person is subjected to numerous bites. Everything needs to be done as quickly and clearly as possible. Wear a protective suit, head net, helmet or beekeeper uniform.

To reduce the number of insects, traps made of plastic bottles are placed on the site. Cut off the neck, turn it inside, secure it with tape, adhesive tape, and staples. Pour honey, jam, kvass, beer, juice, lemonade inside, and add a piece of meat. One trap can catch several dozen wasps per day.

Precautions when destroying a nest

Before you start removing wasps, prepare everything you need to protect yourself from possible attacks from stinging insects. First of all, take care of protective clothing. Do not go out to destroy wasps in a light thin T-shirt and trousers, as evil insects can very easily pierce the unreliable fabric and sting. It's great if you have a beekeeper costume, but if you don't, then put on:

clothes made of thick fabric that completely cover all parts of the body;
rough gloves;
high boots;
a hat with a net covering the face and neck.

Also make sure that there is somewhere to escape if you cannot avoid the attack of ground wasps. Leave doors in your home, building, or car unlocked. You can always hide in them from angry insects. You need to leave there only when the insects calm down and go back. It is also best to remove family members and animals from the treatment area.

If the wasp house is located next to your house, close all the windows and doors tightly so that the flying insects cannot fly inside. If you choose flammable liquids or insecticides to exterminate wasps, put on a respirator before starting treatment. Do not use fire near wooden outbuildings. When destroying a wasp nest, work carefully, do not rush or make sudden movements.

If precautions do not help, and you cannot avoid the bite, then use special medical equipment. Treat the bite site with iodine and take antihistamines. They will help prevent allergies and also reduce pain and swelling. Especially young children, old people and allergy sufferers cannot do without them. But, one way or another, no matter how old the victim of ground wasps is, and no matter how strong he is, if there are more than 15 stings on his body, consult a doctor without delay.

If ground wasps are constant and annoying neighbors on your site, choose a more suitable option for their destruction than fighting them yourself. To get rid of them, invite specialists from special services. They will remove wasps quickly and professionally. And, although it will cost you more than the amount you will spend on drugs or fuel, you will not have to fear for your own health and the health of your family. If wasps have settled in the ground at the dacha, the decision about what to do with them, leave them or get rid of them, can be made by each person independently. If the decision is made to destroy, you can use the methods available in one case or another.

Remedy for earthen wasps

Dangerous roommates can be poisoned with special drugs. Use boric acid or broad-spectrum insecticides.

Gel baits are laid out on the site, designed to destroy ants and rodents - Great Warrior, Fas, etc.
Dilute a bag of boric acid - 10 g, 1 liter of water, mix thoroughly until completely dissolved, add 1 tbsp. spoon into the bait - jam, honey, juice, etc., sprinkle pieces of fruit, meat, fish with powder.
Fill the nest with insecticides, crush the top soil at the entrance to the hole, and add it to the bait. It is better to use odorless preparations so as not to repel insects. Effective products - Lambda Zone, Get, Delta Zone, as well as any dusts in powder form - Clean House, Baygot, Trianon, Super Fas.

The poison enters the body of insects through contact and intestinal routes. Disrupts the functioning of the nervous system, causing paralysis and death. Complete destruction of the family is observed within a week. You can destroy a hive without much effort. The advantage of poisonous baits is that wasps drag them into the nest, feed the queen and larvae. Removing pests using poison in a summer cottage requires caution.

About wasps, their habits and the hive

In appearance, the wasp cannot be confused with any insect. Her black and yellow striped belly and thin “waist” can be recognized immediately.

The whiskers, which have taste buds at the ends, help the wasp find sweet substances on plants. They mainly feed on nectar, but will not refuse to eat honey, candies and other sweets from the table.

Dissatisfied individuals sting with their ovipositor. Also, this organ performs the function of reproduction. A wasp sting is very painful. However, there is a more terrible reason for the bite to be afraid of it. The fact is that many people have an allergic reaction after an attack by this insect. Wasp venom can cause anaphylactic shock, which can lead to death. Also, serious inflammation may develop at the site of the bite, since these insects do not disdain to feed on waste from garbage cans.

Wasps wake up on warm spring days. First, a couple of individuals fly around several territories to select a place for arranging a nest. They then create a home in which a small number of insects live. In this case, they do not pose any danger to humans.

Over the course of a few weeks, the group can grow 7 times. By the end of summer the population reaches its peak of reproduction. It is in August that wasps change their character radically. They become aggressive and can attack a person for no reason.

Ground wasps - what kind of species

Ground wasps are not described in any entomology reference book. The name of insects appeared among the people. This species includes all wasps that build their nests underground. What makes insects settle in such a place? Wasps usually settle in secluded places on tree branches. If such a place is not found, the queen decides to build a nest underground. In some cases, this happens because the wasps do not want to bother themselves with additional construction of structures, or there is a suitable food source nearby. Usually insects live in such a secluded place for one season.

There is another type of wasp that lives mainly underground. These insects live alone, laying eggs in the bodies of captured flies. By the beginning of the new season, the larvae have fully developed, so that a swarm of wasps flies out of the hole. It is very difficult for an ordinary summer resident to understand the variety of striped hymenoptera, but experts distinguish them by the shape of the body and the pattern of the wings.

There is an opinion that wasps are safe for the owners of the site, but this is not at all true. There are cases when a swarm is indifferent to human activity for months, but at the slightest provocation the insects begin to show aggression. Often the signal for an attack is a threat to the safety of the nest. Wasps may consider fast movements or human screams as a reason to attack.

Note! Wasps can be useful - in one day an individual catches 70 pests: bedbugs, caterpillars and larvae. The nest can be left if it is located in rarely visited areas of the garden. If insects have settled in potato beds, they must be driven away, otherwise they will attack people when harvesting.

Polists.

The most common and noticeable among stinging wasps are representatives of the genus Polistes from the family Vespidae. Their length is slightly less than 2.5 cm, the body is slender, but without a long stalk-like constriction, and the color usually consists of yellow spots on a black, brown or reddish background. They build open honeycombs from paper cells that are suspended on thin stems from the eaves, walls and ceilings of old buildings, as well as from the branches of trees and shrubs. Like all social wasps, females of Polista are divided into oviparous queens (queens) and very similar in appearance, only smaller workers that do not mate and do not lay eggs. Only the young queen survives the winter and begins building a nest in the spring. In some species, several females can lay one nest at once (polygyny), although only one can cope with this task. The nest consists of a more or less rounded honeycomb hanging on a stalk with cells opening downward. The building materials are grass stems, old wood and similar materials: wasps chew them into a sticky fibrous mass, which is then shaped into the desired shape. When dry, this mass turns into hard gray paper, strong enough for even a thin leg made of it to withstand the weight of a honeycomb swaying in the wind. As soon as the stalk and the first empty cell are ready, the queen stops building and lays an egg inside. Then the next ones are built around the first cell, filled with eggs as they are completed. The hatched larvae are fed with pieces of insects chewed by the queen. The larvae are legless, grayish-whitish in color. They hang upside down in the cells without falling out of them, since the small ones are glued to the walls, and the large ones are simply pressed tightly against them by their overgrown body. As the larvae grow, the cells are built up, i.e. lengthen, and more and more new ones are added to the old ones along the edge of the honeycomb. At this stage, all the work - building the nest, foraging (searching for prey), laying eggs and feeding the offspring - is done by the queen.

The queen (in spring) or workers (in summer) feed the larvae with a mush of chewed insects. While eating, the larvae secrete saliva, which is licked off by the adults. This exchange of food is called trophallaxis. This phenomenon is common not only among wasps, but also among ants and termites.

When feeding the larva, the wasp holds a spherical lump of food in front of its head. Feeding does not last long - about 10 seconds. Then the rest of the food, again rolled into a ball, is offered to another larva, etc. One serving can be enough for four. Having completed development, the larva seals its cell with a dense silk cap, which sometimes continues inward, forming a more or less complete cocoon. When the adult emerges from the pupa, the empty wasp cell is cleaned and a new egg is laid there.

At the beginning of summer, all adults emerging from pupae are workers. As soon as there are several of them in the colony, they free the queen from worries about foraging, building a nest and feeding the larvae. In late summer and autumn, males and new queens appear. What factor determines the development of their genital organs is unknown. As winter approaches, males, workers and old queens fly away and die, and only young, already fertilized queens survive until next spring. They usually overwinter under the bark of dead trees, in rotting wood and similar places.

How to get rid of earthen wasps on your site on your own

The most effective way to destroy a wasp nest is by fire. 2 liters of fuel (kerosene, gasoline, machine oil) are poured into the hole, after which the liquid is set on fire. However, this method cannot be used near warehouses with flammable materials. If the nest is located in close proximity to buildings, you can use boiling water. Hot water is quickly poured into the hole and covered with a stone. The key to complete destruction of insects is a sufficient amount of liquid - you will need up to 2 buckets of boiling water. It is recommended to repeat the procedure the next day.

The most effective way to destroy a wasp nest is by fire.

Ground wasps can be poisoned with special preparations. You need to pick up an object that will serve as a plug for entering the nest, and saturate it with poison. It is poured into the hole and then sealed tightly. Preparations for killing wasps:

You can also kill pests by placing calcium carbide near the entrance to the hole. Its pieces are filled with water, resulting in the release of a gas that is fatal to wasps.

You can enhance the effect of the drugs by placing a plastic bag over the socket. It is important to secure the ends of the polyethylene well with tape or press it with something heavy to the ground to block the access of air and prevent insects from flying out. You can make a hole in the bag through which the poison will be poured, then seal the hole.

You can fill the hole with bleach or any other household chemicals

How to deal with ground wasps on the site without special preparations? You can fill the hole, on which the bag is previously placed, with bleach or any other household chemical.

Important! An empty nest must be dug up and destroyed in any way. This precaution will protect against the colonization of wasps in the new season.

Preventive measures

In order not to have any problems with wasps, you need to do everything possible to prevent their appearance in the country. Preventive measures will help to do this. These include the following recommendations:

Keep your area clean. Always keep trash cans closed and do not create any dumping sites.
It is prohibited to leave any food items outdoors. Also try to cover pet food bowls.
Flowers are something that attracts a large number of dangerous neighbors. For this reason, it is recommended to treat all flower beds with special pesticides. However, keep in mind that these substances can be dangerous to the human body and pets.
To prevent the construction of nests in cavities of the house or other structures, watch for cracks on the surface and eliminate them in a timely manner.
Try not to plant plants that have a strong odor. They attract pests.

What to do if wasps have settled under currant roots

If the insect nest is located in the roots of shrubs, insecticides must be used with caution. How to remove wasps from the ground on the site without harming the plants? Pests can be driven away using more humane methods without the use of chemicals.

Experts consider poisoned baits placed under bushes to be the most effective means of getting rid of insects. Insecticides are dissolved in sweet syrup, jam, honey or juice, and the poison is placed near the entrance to the hole. You can use boric acid, dust, helium baits fas, great warrior, odorless preparations lambda zone, delta zone, get. As soon as the dishes are empty, the bait is added. Usually one week is enough for a swarm of insects to die.

Note! Experienced summer residents recommend spraying watermelon and melon peels with the preparations, as they attract insects well and can be spread throughout the area.

Hammering an aspen stake forces insects to seek new shelter

The popular method of destroying a nest is driving in an aspen stake. With this option, the internal structure of the hole is destroyed, which forces the insects to look for a new refuge. It is important not to damage the root system of the bush, so this method is used in extreme cases.

You can also exterminate pests using baited traps. Cut off the neck of a plastic bottle and turn it over to the remaining part inside, securing it with tape, staples or electrical tape. Jam, honey, beer, kvass, juice, lemonade or a piece of meat are poured inside the trap. In one day you can catch several dozen insects in this way.

Using a mixture of fly agaric caps and honey is effective. 100 g of honey product and chopped mushrooms are diluted in a glass of water, and the resulting mixture is boiled for 3 minutes. After cooling, the bait is laid out not far from the nest. You need to wear gloves when preparing and laying out the poison. After the insects die, the mixture must be removed.

You can protect currant bushes by properly organizing the area. Experienced summer residents have noticed that grass with a pungent aroma repels insects. Next to the bushes you can make beds with cilantro, basil, mint and parsley.

There is a method of killing insects using a vacuum cleaner. The tool must have a wide hose. It is important that its mesh or lattice is thick, which will not allow the wasps to escape into the wild. The hose is secured near the entrance to the hole. A small amount of soap solution is poured inside the vacuum cleaner, and then insects begin to be sucked in. The duration of the procedure is 30-40 minutes, upon completion of which the dead wasps must be removed from the vacuum cleaner bag.

Important! When destroying earth wasps, you should protect your body from bites as much as possible: wear thick clothes with long sleeves and gloves. A beekeeper suit is well suited for such purposes.

Use of traps and baits

Traps have become widespread due to the ease and safety of getting rid of striped insects. A fairly effective remedy for wasps is temporary. After all, there is no guarantee that all representatives of the swarm will fly into the traps. Besides, the next generation is likely already waiting in the wings in the remaining hornet's nest.

However, if you can't find the source of the threat, distracting them is also a good option. Especially when you are planning a picnic on the street or children are running around the yard.

You can find ready-made traps on sale, but it won’t be difficult to remove wasps from the house with your own hands.

The main thing is to know what will definitely attract their attention and act as bait. These are aromatic fruits and berries

Products that are “under the temperature” work great: fermented jam, compote, beer, wine. Wasps fly to fresh meat and fish.

Usually the trap is a transparent container with attractants - baits that distract wasps from people. It’s easy to fly into it, but impossible to get out. The simplest one is easily made from an ordinary plastic bottle. For this:

Cut off the upper cone-shaped part.
Bait is poured into the bottle to a third of its volume.
Remove the lid from the cut cone.
Insert it back with the neck inward.
They are installed near the swarming site and hung on trees.

Wasps, flying inside, will not get out and will die, drowning at the bottom. To speed up the process, boric acid or some poisonous drug is added to the attractant.

If you don't have a bottle on hand, you can use leftover fruit or berries in another way. Watermelons and aromatic melons work especially well. They are cut into pieces, doused with odorless poison and left on the street.

You can also buy special poisoned baits that wasps carry to the nest: when they die, they poison the swarm.