Carpenter Bee, Wasp and Hornet Control

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YellowJackets

There are many native yellowjackets in Ohio, but the dominant species is the German yellowjacket. They often make their nests within wall voids, and a mature colony can contain 5,000 adults. Yellowjackets are more than just a nuisance; they can create huge issues for homeowners and businesses. In fact, most of the calls we receive for stinging insect control are regarding German yellowjacket nests.

Yellowjacket season in Cleveland, OH runs from July – October. They remain relatively unnoticed until then. The yellowjacket’s diet changes from proteins to carbohydrates in late summer and autumn. That’s why you’ll often spot them dive-bombing your Labor Day picnic. Their insatiable taste for sweets turns them into a formidable threat to outdoor living. Keep an extra close eye on your pop can during this time — there’s little worse than going for a swig and kissing yellowjacket tail instead!

Yellowjacket Control Tactics

Unfortunately, you will find yellowjacket nests in the ground, in logs, or in the walls of your home. Most yellowjacket nests are in inaccessible areas, which protects them from predators. They can be under a shrub, in a chipmunk burrow, a compost pile, stacks of firewood, landscape timbers, or your walls. The list goes on.

Retail wasp and hornet sprays only work if you hit the nest with the spray. Since they hide their nests deep in cavities, the cans sold at stores do not usually work. They agitate the colony. If the colony is inside your walls, yellowjackets can start coming inside. You do not want this to happen.

Thankfully, our Cleveland bee and wasp exterminators have access to non-repellent products, which are highly effective in controlling yellowjackets. These products are designed not to agitate the colony, providing a fast and effective solution. While you’ll still want to avoid the area for the rest of the day, our treatments are like stealth killers—far superior to anything you could do yourself!

Paper Wasps

Paper wasps are generally less aggressive than yellowjackets. You’ll frequently notice them emerging from hibernation in attic spaces during springtime. Our office receives several stinging insect control calls when paper wasps swarm about rooftops. After their post-hibernation celebration, native paper wasps usually blend back into nature. You may never see a native paper wasp up close unless you find yourself in a meadow.

The European paper wasp gives other paper wasp species a bad wrap. They are much more aggressive than other species. European paper wasps have black and yellow coloration and look like yellowjackets. Paper wasps, however, have longer legs. These pests build open comb nests in fences, signposts, exterior light fixtures, playground equipment, and window frames.

Paper Wasp Control Tactics

European paper wasps often build their nests in easily accessible areas, making them a cinch to remove. We spray the nest and remove it. In spring, we dust or spray higher elevations for wasps to stop their rooftop swarms. We apply products using a telescopic pole with an attached duster/ sprayer.

Bald Faced Hornets

Unlike honeybees, bald-faced hornets (click to learn more) can sting their victims repeatedly. Not many people enjoy discovering their basketball-sized nests in their yards! This is not a stinging insect that you want to agitate.

It’s common to see people staring in disbelief at huge nests dangling off low-hanging branches or on their homes. How did such a giant nest develop so quickly? Why have they not gotten stung yet?

Bald-Faced Hornets Control Tactics

We freeze the nest activity by applying a fast-acting product to the entry hole. Once activity ceases, we cut the nest down, bag it, and remove it from the site. For good measure, we spray the area where the nest was to control any stragglers.

Mud Daubers

Mud daubers are prolific stinging pests in Cleveland, OH. While they don’t usually sting humans, they’re often considered pests due to their activity in and around the home. Many people see them buzzing around in high numbers but are unsure where the nest is. There are three kinds of mud daubers in Cleveland, OH: the yellow-and-black mud dauber, the organ pipe mud dauber, and the blue mud dauber. All are solitary, stinging insects.

These mission-oriented predators go around collecting spiders and mud. They use their stingers to paralyze the spiders and entomb them in a mud gallery, along with one of their eggs. Once the egg hatches, the larva feeds on the living yet still-paralyzed spider. After dinner, the mud dauber larva pupates within the mud nest. Finally, it emerges as an adult mud dauber.

Homes are great spots to build mud nests. If you have evergreen bushes with many spiders and an irrigation system, mud daubers will love your house. They are most troublesome when located in window frames or soffits. Emerging adults often venture inside instead of out.

Mud Dauber Control Tactics

Mud nests can easily be removed with a scraper tool. We work with the customer to implement cultural controls. You can eliminate these pests from your area by applying mulch to exposed soil and cutting back on irrigation. Our service often involves treating the perimeter of the home for spiders. Like paper wasps, mud daubers are most active around the roofs of houses. To stop heavy mud dauber activity, we use extension bee poles to dust any crevice showing activity.

Carpenter Bees

Carpenter bees are important pollinators. Nonetheless, they can also be very destructive to a home. They bore into porch ceilings, cedar siding, arbors, and trim — anywhere with a shoddy paint job. If you have carpenter bees, you must paint or stain certain parts of your home. You can deter carpenter bees from nesting by covering any exposed wood with a thick coat of paint. The bees cannot chew their way through a well-painted wood surface. Porch ceilings are prime nesting spots because they are often stained instead of painted. They also find places that are not painted, like the underside of porch railings. People with cedar trim or cedar shake get hit with carpenter bees the worst. To add insult to injury, the real damage comes when woodpeckers retrieve the larvae from inside the wood.

Carpenter Bee Control Tactics

Long-term carpenter bee control entails treating the affected wood with fresh paint or stain. Removing certain flowering plants may be valid because carpenter bees are pollinators.

Our treatment involves dusting or foaming galleries. Because caulk is difficult for them to chew through, caulking is a great way to fill in any damage from nesting activities and can prevent future nests. Exposing the treated holes for a few days before you caulk is best. That way, any bee not in the nest during treatment will have a chance to come into contact with the applied product. If entry points are sealed prematurely, carpenter bees might return to the site and cause further damage.

Honey Bees

Most people know honeybees’ important role in the delicately intertwined ecosystem. For the most part, people don’t consider them pests. However, honeybees occasionally reside within structures, which can sometimes create issues.

Ideally, homeowners and business owners with a honeybee problem would call local beekeepers to relocate honeybee colonies safely. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to relocate nests once they’re established inside buildings or homes.

Honeybee hives, as you may have guessed, produce large amounts of honey. When honey is left within a structure, it invites subsequent problems. It attracts wildlife, such as raccoons. If raccoons don’t get to the honey, you can bet that ants and cockroaches will — and then you’ll suddenly have more than one pest problem! Extracting bees often pays for itself, considering possible alternative scenarios.

European Hornet

The European hornet is the only actual hornet found in Cleveland, Ohio. (Bald-faced hornets are classified as aerial yellowjackets.) Eurpoean hornets are rare compared to other stinging pests in Cleveland.

You’ll find these nests overhead by their fecal matter. A key identifier is a black liquid dropping on the ground underneath the nest.

They have a darker tone and are larger than other local stinging pests. Their control is similar to that of German yellowjackets.