Wasp, Hornet and Yellow Jacket Nest Removal in Ellicott City

Wasp nest removal calls in Ellicott City pick up in July and peak in late August and September, when colonies are at their biggest and least patient. Mowing over a ground nest or trimming a hedge with a nest inside is how most people find out they have one, and it usually happens along the same stretch of yard every year.

Three kinds cause most of the trouble here. Yellow jackets nest in the ground, in old rodent burrows, in stumps and in the hollow spaces behind siding. Paper wasps hang open, umbrella-shaped combs under eaves, deck rails, shutters and the grill cover. Hornets, both the bald-faced kind with gray paper nests in trees and the big European hornet that likes hollow trees and wall voids, round out the list. If anyone in the house is allergic to stings, please don't take on a nest yourself.

Yellow jackets under the lawn and inside the wall

A yellow jacket ground nest is just a small hole, often under a shrub, at the edge of a bed, along a path or at the base of a stump. Most people only see it when the yellow jackets come pouring out. On wooded lots in Valley Mede and out toward Woodstock, old stumps and rotted roots make easy nest sites. In the old stone and frame buildings near Main Street, the gaps in the walls do the same job.

A nest inside a wall is a different job from one in the lawn. The tech treats through the entrance and will probably tell you to wait before sealing the hole. Seal it too soon and the wasps can chew through drywall into a room. What tips people off:

• A steady stream of wasps going in and out of one hole in the ground
• Traffic into a gap behind the siding, the trim or a stone wall
• Chewing sounds in a wall, or a soft spot in the drywall
• Wasps crowding the trash cans and every outdoor meal in late summer

Hornets in the oak, paper wasps on the deck rail

Bald-faced hornets build gray, football-shaped nests, sometimes high in an oak or tucked into a shrub by the front walk. One way up where nobody goes can often be left alone, since the colony dies off after hard frosts. One by a door, a window or the mailbox is another story. European hornets are big, brown and yellow, and they're the ones that bang into lit windows at night. They nest in hollow trees and sometimes in wall voids and attics. Techs reach a lot of nests with poles and usually treat at dusk, when the foragers are home.

Paper wasp combs are smaller but often sit right over a door or along the deck rail of a newer house, which is where people get stung. Price comes from the company and depends on the insect, where the nest is, how hard it is to reach and how many there are. The same rotted trim and old stumps that wasps use also draw carpenter ants, and summer ground nests often show up during tick and mosquito yard visits.

Until the tech gets there

Bring the kids and the dog in, and keep everyone clear of that part of the yard. Don't mow near a ground nest, run a string trimmer along that stretch or hit it with the hose. Gasoline and matches are a bad idea anywhere, and worse next to a wood deck or a dry lawn. Plugging the entrance while the wasps are still inside just sends them looking for another way out, sometimes into the house. Watch where they come and go so you can point the tech to the right spot. Any sting followed by trouble breathing, a swollen face or throat, or hives spreading across the body is a 911 call, before anything else.

After the colony dies off in the fall, that's the time to close the gap it used. The same sealing work keeps out mice and stink bugs, so it's worth doing once and doing well. The walk-around checklist in our stone foundation guide works for wasp holes as well as mouse holes.

Related: Tick and Mosquito Control, Ant Control, General Pest Control

Serving Old Ellicott City, Dunloggin, Turf Valley, Valley Mede, St. Johns Lane, Columbia, Catonsville, Clarksville, Woodstock and Marriottsville, Elkridge.