They seem to be empty now, but do you leave them there so they don't come back to the same place, or do you knock them down so they don't come back to re-inhabit them?
Old wasp nests
- Thread starter atikovi
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Knock that sucker down! The original wasps won't come back but something else might move in.
OK, there are 3 or 4 fist sized nests.
If you knock they down you will know any nest you see is new.
I knock them down just on principle... 
Knock it down or leave it, doesn't matter.. They will not come back to the tattered nest. A new one is constructed somewhere else when the weather warms up. Honey bees are the only ones that might move into a vacant "hive".
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On a home or shed/etc, I'd knock them down and wash residue off. Elsewhere, depends on the effort required. They will chew off old nest material and use it to make new nests faster, as well as any weathered bare wood you have outdoors.
I usually remove. It's kinda like picking up the yard, I wouldn't leave pine cones and branches and leaves down. I don't crazy about removing immediately after killing the nest, but if I have any reason to be up there doing work, then off they come.
I leave them be, unless they're truly empty.
Mud daubers don't bother me.
Mud daubers don't bother me.
Mud daubers are fine but red paper wasps are the direct spawn of Satan himself
I guess it depends on the kind of wasp. Once I flooded a nest that was established in the soil of a potted plant. If they had built the nest in regular ground it would have probably been OK, but in a pot it was easy to just flood them completely out.
I’m not a wasp psychologist, but If the Queen Wasp returns to a nice nook where last years hive is unmolested, she might build another one one next to it. In cold climates, all the worker wasps die and the Queen hides out in a crack somewhere where hopefully ( for future wasps), she does not die.
The Wasp Whisperer. Kill, Kill,Kill !
The Wasp Whisperer. Kill, Kill,Kill !
I used to hose the wasp down then knock the nest down (the not too big nests). The grubs make excellent sac a lait bait!
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I take them down and stomp them. I don’t care if it’s empty or not I don’t fool with bees.
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