How to Kill a Wasp

Dealing With a Single Wasp

Make sure it's not a bee first. Not every yellow-black bug with a stinger is a wasp. There's a big difference between wasps, yellow-jackets, and honeybees, and since there's never any reason to kill a honeybee, it's a good idea to learn to differentiate between them quickly so you don't make a mistake and kill a good pollinator. Wasps and yellow-jackets are usually skinny and smooth, and build small cone-shaped nests that are quite papery. Wasps aren't pollinators and are quite pesky, so it's usually ok to swat them when they come into your space. Honeybees are hairy, shorter, and more rounded than wasps. They're usually harmless when left alone and are a critical and endangered part of the ecosystem. Never kill a honeybee.

Open all the windows and doors in the room. If a wasp has gotten trapped in your house, the easiest way to get rid of it isn't swatting, it's opening up a way for the wasp to get out, where it really wants to be in the first place. Open up the exterior windows and doors, and then close off access to the rest of the house and wait for the wasp to leave. This shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Make sure you're not opening windows that are right next to a wasp nest outside, before you try to open the windows. If you're outside and you see a wasp, just leave it alone. Swatting at single wasps can attract other wasps, which can become quite dangerous.

Try trapping the wasp with a jar. Use a small lidded jar to trap the wasp and release it outside. Wait for the wasp to land somewhere, then sneak up on it with your open jar and a piece of paper. Trap the jar over the wasp on the wall or the table where it lands, then slide the piece of paper underneath to trap it inside. Always wait for the wasp to land on some easily accessible surface before you try to trap it. Swinging wildly at a wasp will get you stung more often than it will trap the wasp. If you're allergic, don't do this by yourself. Get someone else to try to trap the wasp, or just open the windows and steer clear of it. If you must do this, wear some thick gloves and cover all the exposed areas of your body before you try. Release or freeze the wasp for the easiest and most humane ways of getting rid of it. If you use a piece of paper, just set it down with the paper on top of the jar and the wasp still inside while you back away. The wind will blow the paper off eventually and the wasp can escape.

Make a wasp trap from a plastic bottle. Wasp traps are sort of like slippery funnels with soapy water at the bottom that wasps become stuck in. They're often made of glass and sold commercially, but you can make one yourself as well from a used plastic bottle. Use a razor knife to cut off the tapered top of an empty two liter plastic soda bottle, turning it upside down to seat the nozzle down into the empty bottle. Tape it into place using masking tape. Fill the empty bottle about half-full of water. Squeeze a few drops of soap into the water and shake it to get it sudsy, then coat the neck of the bottle with honey, jam, or some other sweet stickiness to attract the wasps. Ideally, they'll slip down the spout into the water and get their wings soapy, becoming trapped.

Swat the wasp if necessary. Anything that flies is susceptible to the flyswatter. Cheap, plastic flyswatters are some of the most popular pest-killing devices for a reason. They're easy to use and quite effective, if you use it properly. Sit with your swatter raised and wait for the wasp to land somewhere within reach. Wasps tend to buzz around a bit more than flies do, but it'll land eventually and let you strike. Flick your wrist quickly down on the wasp to snap the swatter. The wasp will often just be stunned, so you can scoop it up and deposit it outside, where it can either recover and fly away, or die anyway. Don't keep swatting and mash it into the table. If you don't have a flyswatter, a shoe, a hefty book, magazine, or a glove all make effective alternatives for this technique.

Dealing with the Nest

Get rid of nests early in the year. Nests are designed by queens and built by workers in early spring, and the colonies grow throughout the late spring and early summer until reaching peak size somewhere around August. The end of summer also finds wasps at their most aggressive and protective, making it a dangerous time to try to get rid of them. Early in the year, the nests are smaller and more manageable. Get in the habit of patrolling the area around your home for wasp nests in the early season, before they've grown to dangerous sizes. If you kill the queen, there will also be no risk of the nest being rebuilt that year. If it's late in the season, it's probably best to wait it out and let the frost kill off the pests in the next 30-60 days. Then, you can knock the empty nests down to ensure that they won't be repopulated next year.

Don some armor. Anytime you go hunting around for wasps, you need to keep yourself well protected. You probably don't need a full-on chemical protection suit, but taking a few steps in precaution can keep you from coming home with nasty stings if you get swarmed. You need to wear thick, long sleeves and pants, heavy gloves, a hood that covers as much of your face as possible, and eye protection. Even if it's super hot outside, don't skimp on the layers and the thickness of the clothing. If you get swarmed by wasps, it's important to not over-think it: run as quickly as possible away from the wasps. While some people report that swinging articles of clothing or turning abrupt corners can be effective at shaking a swarm, the best way to get away is to run as fast as possible and get inside.

Find the hive. If you're having a consistent problem with wasps in your area, it can be quite frustrating. But don't keep swatting them one at a time. Get rid of them at the source and get them away from your home. Find the nest and kill the nest and your problem will solve itself. Yellow-jacket nests are quite small, while wasp nests will be somewhat larger and more bulbous, like a papery football. Wasps tend to build their nests in loose piles of wood, along rafters, or in garbage cans that are seldom used. Check under porch gaps, and anywhere in your home with a large void or construction gap. Sometimes, nests can be buried behind walls, making them quite difficult to get to. Use a stethoscope or a water glass to hold up to the wall and listen for the buzzing. It might be necessary to drill into the wall to apply insecticide.

Spray the nest with pesticide spray. When you find the nest, it's important to get rid of it as quickly and safely as possible, and the most effective technique is using insecticide spray to kill the wasps at the source. Some commercial aerosol sprays are available that you can apply from as far as 20 feet (6.1 m) away, keeping you a safe distance from the nest. The ECO PCO line of sprays are made of botanical compounds, making them somewhat safer than chemical-based sprays. Alternatively, residual insecticide sprays like D-Fense SC and Cyper WP can be applied to the area immediately surrounding the nest, killing the wasps indirectly, from a safe distance. Always defer to the manufacturer directions when applying any kind of pesticide spray.

Use wasp-repellant dust. Insecticide dust is an effective long-term strategy for dealing with wasps, maintaining its efficacy for up to six months, and making it deter wasps for even longer in some cases. It's easy to use and widely available. The brands Tempo Dust, Sevin Garden Dust, or Dusters are both effective brands of using on wasp nests. Apply dust around the nest opening first thing in the morning, applying about a quarter cup loosely in the general area. Don't clog the opening, so the wasps can move freely and spread the dust around independently. One of the dangers of using dust is what makes it effective: it stays dangerous for a long time. If you have pets or small children, applying dust to a nest near your home might be dangerous. Use caution.

Use soap and water. It may be somewhat primitive, but with some good aim, plain soapy water is a somewhat effective way of destroying a nest and killing off the wasps with household supplies. Mix about a third of a cup of dish soap into a half gallon of water and load it into as powerful a spray applicator as you can find. You want to be able to stand fairly far away from the nest as you spray it with sudsy water. Shake the sudsy water to get it will integrated, then spray the soapy water liberally around the opening of the nest and get out of dodge. Reapply this soapy water several times over the next few days.

Use smoke and water. One effective natural way of eradicating wasps is to combine natural wood smoke and water to get the wasps out of the area. When wasps sense fire in the area, they'll vacate the nest and allow you to destroy it safely. Use a small grill to build a tiny and contained wood fire safely underneath the nest. Let the smoke rise steadily for an hour or two, while the wasps leave. Come back to the area with a hose and spray the nest down, knocking it down with a stick if necessary, destroying it.

Making Your Home Inhospitable to Wasps

Remove abandoned nests in winter. Wearing thick clothing and heavy rubber gloves, you can safely dig out the remnants of abandoned nests after the wasps have been killed, or during the winter when the frost has killed them off naturally. If you've sprayed insecticide on the nest, it's important to dispose of it in the garbage, properly. Use a hammer or a board to knock nests down and remove them from the area. Again, if you leave a nest intact, it can be repopulated. It's still a good idea to wear protective clothing, just to be on the safe side. Even if you're sure most of the wasps are gone, you want to protect yourself from insecticide remnants, as well as the stray wasp.

Seal gaps in your home. Wasps often build nests in small cracks and safe areas that are exposed to the outdoors. Keeping track of these areas as they develop and plugging them up to keep nests from forming will solve your problem before it starts. Use silicone caulk sealant, applying a small bead of the sealant along the cracks you find, then smoothing them out with a scraper or your finger. Let it dry according to the manufacturer's directions.

Eliminate loose piles of wood and refuse in your yard. Wasps will often build nests in piles of firewood, or in piles of outdoor refuse that accumulate. If you've got piles of yard tools, or other odd, assorted materials on your property, try to keep it cleaned up as much as possible, or wasps will take up residence.

Clean up rotten fruit under fruit trees. Wasps are more likely to populate areas where there is a lot for them to eat. If you've got fruit trees nearby on your property, it's a good idea to clean up the rotten fruit as much as possible and as quickly as possible, or wasps will become more attracted to the area. Generally, wasps will be attracted to fruit trees whether you clean up the fruit or not. It's still a good idea to clean it up to keep the wasps under control.

Keep outdoor garbage tightly sealed. Rotting food scraps are also attractive to wasps, making it critical that you keep your outdoor garbage cans tightly sealed to avoid letting them take up residence. If necessary, change out your cans regularly, if they attract wasps.