Oh how I loathe thee, creeping juniper wasps

I have lived in this house for 4 years now. All the while I have pondered what to do with the patch of creeing juniper in my backyard.

The patch measures approximately 10-15 foot by 30'ish foot.

I have always known that wasps and hornets take up residence in that thicket but, until this weekend I had no idea how bad it really was.

I chose, friday night, to begin removing the thicket and re-claiming that portion of my backyard for my children (and for ease of mowing, as it was an oddly shaped patch) and geezuz the number of nests.

15! Individual nests in the patch. And all actively occupied.

I was abke to pull for no more than 10 minutes at a time before the nest were stirred up enough that I had to get outta dodge or be attacked. It took me ALL WEEKEND to pull out what amounted to 5 stumps worth of mature creeping juniper.

I know what you are thinking "why didn't you spray first".

Well, if you've never seen CJ let me describe this crap.

It grows to about 18" - 24" thick of this mass of pine tree like vines, yes vines. The top layer appears to the eye like a pine but underneath is a mess of spaghetti like vines ranging from 3/8" to 3" in diameter and all interwoven into a dense matt. Some of the vine I pulled out had run the fulll 30 length of the patch.

Now imagine that the forementioned nests are dispersed deep within the matt. In other words, untill I found each nest I had no idea where to spray.

Even after the matting was gone, I had wasps returning to the location and running me off.

Thank goodness it's gone now.

Now I just have to figure out how trashed the soil is from the acid left by the pine.

Now I just have to figure out how trashed the soil is from the acid left by the pine.

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pH test kit from Lowe's + horticultural lime. Should fix you up for about $15.

If you ever have to do that again, just keep a can of wasp/bee spray with you. It kills them almost on contact, but don't get it on yourself - it's usually a neurotoxin.

I feel much the same way about yellow jackets. They nest in the ground, under the roof, in outdoor lights, etc. Since I'm in a wooded area, there isn't any way to get ride of them all. Happiness is dumping 10 ounces of insecticide down one of their holes! I like the foaming type, as they get stuck in it until they are DEAD, DEAD,DEAD!

I had juniper bushes in the parkway at my last house. Took a heap of gypsum to fix the pH.

kerosene soaked rag on the end of a stick...burn the lil bas*ards out.

Dude, you're lucky you made it out alive. I'm terrified of bees, and wasps are like super bees.

I wonder if there was one queen or 15?

This may be a dumb question, but couldn't you have waited until winter? At my parents old house, they had a window that somehow got filled with wasps nests. Luckily the wasps couldn't get in the house, but there was a bunch of them. They waited until the winter and opened the window, destroyed the nests and fixed the window. Not a single sting.

david_42 said:

I feel much the same way about yellow jackets. They nest in the ground, under the roof, in outdoor lights, etc. Since I'm in a wooded area, there isn't any way to get ride of them all. Happiness is dumping 10 ounces of insecticide down one of their holes! I like the foaming type, as they get stuck in it until they are DEAD, DEAD,DEAD!

I had juniper bushes in the parkway at my last house. Took a heap of gypsum to fix the pH.

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I ran over one of their nests yesterday mowing the lawn. Little bastards got me twice before I made in back in the house. Those little bastards are going down tonight.

cubbies said:

This may be a dumb question, but couldn't you have waited until winter? At my parents old house, they had a window that somehow got filled with wasps nests. Luckily the wasps couldn't get in the house, but there was a bunch of them. They waited until the winter and opened the window, destroyed the nests and fixed the window. Not a single sting.

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I never did get stung, but did have a blood red wasp get as close as 4 inches to my face.

I suppose I could have waited til' winter but, I honestly had no idea how bad the infestation was. I knew of only one nest and that was only because I had seen the wasps drop into the brush. From that I assumed too much.

I was taken completely by surprise on the number of nests. Each time I found one I would douse it with spray.

Sherpa FE said:

kerosene soaked rag on the end of a stick...burn the lil bas*ards out.

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That thought had occured to me frequently. Unfortunately, the local authorities wouldn't have the same frame of mind as do we.

If I could have done that it would have solved 3 problem with the strike of a single match; get rid of the patch, clear the branches so theres nothing to haul, and add alkaline to the soil from the wood ash. Down side would be that the soil would sterilize from the heat and I'd have a mud patch to deal with.

Few things are more fun than squirting Great Stuff into bee holes.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Down side would be that the soil would sterilize from the heat and I'd have a mud patch to deal with.

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You dont mean like nothing would grow there do you? Mix up the soil a bit and some grass would take off.

Got stung on the knee by one of those bastard yesterday playing golf, my knee is all swollen and hurts like hell today, not a happy camper. I did find the fugger and smash him good with my driver though.