Can You Remove a Wasp Nest Yourself? Advice for Colwick Homeowners
Lawns, banks and flower beds hide nests in plain sight, and the usual trigger is a mower, a strimmer or a spade, so knowing the signs can save a nasty surprise.
A nest you do not see until it is too late
Nests in the ground are among the hardest to spot. The entrance can be a small hole in a lawn, a bank or beneath a hedge, no wider than a finger or a coin. There is no nest to see, only a tunnel leading down to a chamber beneath the surface. The first you know of it may be when the mower runs over the spot and a cloud of wasps pours out.
Colwick, on the eastern side of Nottingham, has gardens and verges like anywhere else, and the same applies. A summer afternoon of garden work is exactly the sort of occasion when a ground nest gets disturbed, because the vibration of machinery is felt by the whole colony.
Mention in your call whether the hole is on a slope, in a flower bed or under a hedge. It tells the technician what to expect on arrival and helps the visit go smoothly.
Signs to watch for
You can often tell there is a ground nest before you step on it, if you know what to look for. Walk the garden slowly and keep your eyes on the ground and the base of banks and hedges.
- A steady stream of wasps flying low to the same spot.
- A small round hole with loose soil around it.
- Wasps landing and walking down into the hole.
- Bare patches in the grass or on a bank, with traffic going in and out.
- Wasps following a line across the lawn from the direction of the hole.
If you see any of this, mark the spot from a distance with a brightly coloured item, such as a garden cane with a ribbon, placed well clear of the entrance. Do not walk closer to do so.
Why mowers and strimmers are the trigger
Ground nests respond to vibration more than to sight. A mower or a strimmer produces a lot of it, and a colony beneath the surface will feel it from several metres away. The wasps boil out and attack whatever they can reach, which is often a person with bare legs and a noisy machine in their hands. Stopping the machine does not stop the response.
The same goes for digging, hammering fence posts, moving paving slabs and turning compost. If you suspect a ground nest anywhere near, do not do any of these tasks until the nest has been treated. A few days with a long lawn does no harm.
If you have already disturbed it
Leave the machine and walk away, calmly but quickly, towards a building or a car if possible. Cover your face with your arms as you go and do not stop to swat. Once indoors, check yourself and any children for stings. Wasps that followed you may be on your clothes, so shake out jackets and shoes outside the door.
Wash any stings, remove the stings if visible and use a cold pack. Treat swelling of the face, lips or throat, wheezing, breathing difficulty, dizziness or a widespread rash as a reason to phone 999. Do not go back for the mower until the nest has been dealt with, even if it is lying in the open. If allergy is a concern, speak to your GP, and say so when you book so we can take it into account.
Why the usual home fixes fail
Pouring water or other liquids into the hole, covering it with a slab, or filling it with soil is a common response, and none of them removes the nest. The colony simply digs out another exit or emerges around the edge of whatever you placed there. Fire and smoke are hazardous and ineffective. The nest is deeper than it looks, and you cannot judge its size from the surface.
Keep children and pets away from the area, and tell neighbours if the hole is close to a fence or boundary. A ground nest can have flight paths into the next garden too.
It is worth planning garden work around a suspected nest. Postpone mowing, strimming, hedge cutting and digging in the affected part of the garden. If the hole is near the edge of the lawn, you may be able to mow the rest, but keep a wide margin and use a machine that is as quiet as possible. Better still, leave the whole area until the nest is treated.
Children are particularly at risk from ground nests because they run, play and fall without looking where they put their hands. A football landing near the hole is a good example: it is natural to want to fetch it, and dangerous to do so. Retrieve it later, once the nest has been dealt with, and tell children not to chase anything into that part of the garden.
Remember also that ground nests can be found in less obvious places, including under paving slabs, in raised beds, behind sheds, beneath decking and in old rodent burrows. If you see wasps repeatedly disappearing into any of these, treat them as you would a hole in the lawn.
After the nest has been treated, the technician will tell you when it is safe to use the area. You can then refill the hole and level the ground.
Getting help
We treat ground nests as we do any other, at a fixed £95 per nest, with an additional nest on the same property at £35 each. There is no call-out charge, the price is confirmed on the phone beforehand, and no work is done without your agreement. We work seven days a week, offer same-day service and cover homes and businesses. You will have a trained technician at the door, working under full insurance.
The number is 0115 937 5117, and the contact page has a booking form too. Tell us where the hole is and whether anyone has already been stung or is allergic.
Wasps on your property in Colwick?
Fixed price £95 per nest, no call-out charge, same-day service available.