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Sympathies, Uncle B. What with the price of EpiPens these days, it’s good neither of you two have allergic reactions to bee and wasp stings!

This idea just popped into my head. It seems likely there are multiple reasons not do do this, so I’m not not NOT suggesting actually doing it. The idea is stick a shop vac wand in the roof/ceiling space and suck up as many of the beastly things as possible. Then, with the vac still running, spray the wasp killer into the vac. Then turn off the vac, immediately sealing it up with duct tape or the like. Let sit overnight. If you have a really long extension cord (every home should have a 100′ 12-gauge extension cord!) you could carry the still-running wasp-filled vac well away from house and feline and avian pets before administering the coup de grâce.

If you do that, please take video.

If you are afraid to kill them with wasp spray because of the residual organo phosphate neurotoxins you can use brake cleaner instead. It kills them by evaporative cooling. Freezes them to death.

Hmm… some interesting ideas there.

For myself, I favour the use of a small tactical nuclear device. There may be objections from the neighbours, of course, but some people lack a proper sense of vengeance.

For a couple of years I kicked around the idea of putting a pesticide inside the tank of a wet/dry vac, and using it to vacuum up fire ant mounds. But JavaMan refused to let me use his vac. He can be awfully narrow-minded.

Uncle B – Mind your sense of vengeance doesn’t get “overdeveloped” . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkWJfNO–QM

Shop vaccing Wasps?

It HAS been done, apparently successfully.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ytMcIpIRL3w

I can’t speak to wasps but I’ve had to deal with several yellowjacket infestations and the trauma of the shop vac seems to kill them without the need for additional poisons. Just had to cut out a 10″ x 15″ section of my bedroom ceiling to address a yellowjacket nest. Little bastards ate through the drywall and invaded my room. Fun fact: yellowjackets will repurpose your drywall to use as building materials, part of the comb I pulled out of my ceiling was bright white.

@Some Vegetable – Thanks for that video! Very interesting…
I got the shop vac part right, but not the killing method. Using soapy water is FAR superior to insecticide. And as YT commonly does, there’s a bunch follow-up video suggestions, and one of them was a fascinating (but too long) video of removing an underground hive of yellow jackets, also using a shop vac…and a full body protection suit.

I have been vacuuming them up — a really improbably number of them today! I considered sucking poison into the vacuum, but instead I’ve just been stoppering the vacuum attachment with a wad of paper towel.

And yes — once, the paper towel fell out and wasps began flying out of the Hoover.

I suppose a flame thrower is out of the question then.

Apparently my yellowjackets were either exceptionally fragile or I was exceptionally fortunate. Banking on door number two. Good luck!

Drione powder and puffer on a pole. Drione is a natural pyrethrum dust that’s safe for food prep areas. Dehydrates the bugs instead of poisoning them instantly. Put 1/4c in the puffer, use the pole to get it up to the hole after dark, puff puff puff. And it will kill the whole nest.

Also works on roaches, fleas, bedbugs, spiders. A pound of it will last you for years.

Delta Dust is the synthetic version of the same stuff, and can handle moisture a bit better.

Been there, done that, they work.

Might take a couple days to wipe out the whole nest. Then get up there and seal the hole.