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wasps - mud daubers

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Vintage Veloce

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View media item 108621So I found a couple of these nests in the garage attic. A couple with exit holes like this and a couple still with the larva inside.
I had seen a couple wasps flying around this past summer but hadn't noticed the nests before...

So, I'm thinking I need to put some hardware cloth or something on the vents. On one end of the garage the vent is covered with 1/2" mesh. On the other end is an exhaust fan with 1/4" mesh. All the nests were on 1/2" end. I don't want to restrict the air flow too much when that fan is on, it pulls pretty hard.

I probably should cover the vents on both ends with 1/8" mesh... but does anyone think I could get away with 1/4"?

Also, there is lots of stuff in that attic, I probably didn't find every nest. The cable in the picture was actually in a box that I happened to look in and found that nest! I'm a little worried about sealing the attic and locking a hatching bunch of wasps inside... any ideas about that?
 
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southalabama

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In my opinion 1/4” too large.

They’ve caused airplanes to crash and outboard motors to run hot by stopping up the engine and water pump.
 
J

JRC3

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Southwestern OH
DAWN kills all.

And then these creepy bastards.


Either way, screen that **** off, 1/4 or 1/2 is only good for birds.
 
A

AP514

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Pearland, Tx
Let me know how that works out for you.... If you find something that works. I might give it another try.
So many here in Texas I just live with it...
never going to get rid of them and they will ALWAYs find a way in....
 
L

lonestardiver

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Even if I could close up all the other holes in my shop, the areas around the roll up doors will be not able to be sealed so they will always have a way in.

If one starts to build a nest where it impacts me then I take care of it. Most of the time, they are out of the way and I never see it until a year or so later if I am digging around looking for something.
 
N

nadogail

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Coronado, CA
IMHO, 1/2" mesh will keep out birds, 1/4" mesh will keep out mice, Fly Screen is required for flying insects.

I have some plug in Zappers with LED lamps to catch skeeters, they seem to work fine.
 
S

Sierra977

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Partial solution is paint the ceiling of the problem area Sky Blue. Oldtimers do it to porches etc. Discourages wasps from building nests there. Works for my house/garage.
Like this
View media item 108624
 
C

CJM8515

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IDK why, but every time I get one of their nests i spray it with carb/brake clean and they not only mostly die, but they dont come back.
 
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V

Vintage Veloce

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Some great idea here thanks!
I ordered some hardware cloth with 1/8" holes to cover the vents. Apparently that is the size to stop bees and wasps. And I'll get a trap to hang in the attic so if any wasps wake up in the spring they have a place to go.
I found this sticky trap with pretty good reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078HSHQR3/?tag=atomicindus08-20

The attic and shop below are otherwise really well sealed, so I really don't expect anything will get in that doesn't fit through that 1/8" mesh.

Thanks for the help!
 
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ConCretin

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This thread reminded me of something you guys might get a chuckle out of.....

I bought a boat with twin outboards and upon getting it home proceeded to do a bunch of maintenance on the motors including new water pump impellers. Upon launching I was distressed to see that one of the outboards wasn't peeing. Assuming I made a mistake with the water pump but not wanting to re-load the boat on the trailer and haul it home, I decided to limp the 4 miles to my dock on one motor and deal with it there.

Upon reaching my dock, I backed the boat as close to shore as I dared, Wading into knee deep mud and waist high water, I wrestled the lower unit off. I then lugged it up several flights of stairs and across the lawn to my shop, narrowing escaping the big one. I repeated the entire impeller replacement process and finding nothing obviously wrong I reversed the procedure and re-installed the lower unit.

Upon starting the motor, I was horrified to see that I still wasn't getting a pee stream. My ever helpful wife suggested that 'maybe the little pee hole is plugged'. I was just about to suggest she leave such technical determinations to the experts when I recalled one of the YouTube videos I'd watched to figure out how to replace a water pump impeller.

A southern gentleman by the name of D Ray was quite explicit that one must carefully check for mud daubers and the mischief that cause. Uh oh. Could that really be the problem?

It dawned on me like a thunderbolt that while we don't have the little buggers in Maine, the boat had spent it's life in Florida before I'd hauled it home. Wading back into the river for the third time I looked up under the motor and could see the little pee hole was indeed plugged. A simple poke dislodged the mud and released a bit of water. Starting the motor resulted in a nice steady stream of both water and mocking of yours truly by all involved including my now quite smug wife.
 
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seedtime

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Kenockee Michigan
They seem to make their tunnels on the backside of anything. But my brick siding seems to bee their favorite place. I’m planning some attic work later this month, almost certain I’ll find some evidence up there.

Now I connect both the male and female hose ends when not in use. I’ve had a few get mucked up.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app
 
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Gummi Bear

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Sunset, Texas
Mud daubers are just a fact of life around here


They look scary, but I’ve never been stung by one. I leave them alone, and they leave me alone. They’re constantly around in the warmer months.


As for the nests, no matter how I try, those sneaky little buggers can get into anything.

If you’re wanting to use mesh to keep them out, better use some metal insect screen. Aluminum or stainless. Don’t bother with fiberglass screen (lots of bugs will eat that here in the south). I wouldn’t put it past them to wiggle through any kind of hardware cloth.


Red wasps and yellow jackets are just ornery, and must die.




I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...

Henry David Thoreau
 
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V

Vintage Veloce

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Gummi Bear said:
They look scary, but I’ve never been stung by one.

If you’re wanting to use mesh to keep them out, better use some metal insect screen. Aluminum or stainless. Don’t bother with fiberglass screen
Click to expand...

This is what I ordered. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S04AC88/?tag=atomicindus08-20
27 gauge galvanized wire with 1/8" squares. I have similar stuff up there now, but it is 1/2" squares... not sure what I was thinking with that!

As soon as my wife saw one of the nests she fled the attic! And we regularly use that space, up there at least once a week... so the wasps have to go. Besides the two vents it is a totally sealed new building. They won't get in if I install the mesh properly.
 
P

PCustoms

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LLWillysfan said:
It dawned on me like a thunderbolt that while we don't have the little buggers in Maine, the boat had spent it's life in Florida before I'd hauled it home.
Click to expand...

How the heck do you figure that?

Plenty of stuff got plugged up by some muddy insect nest growing up in Maine....
 
S

southalabama

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I spent much a one year hunting fossils with a buddy on the weekends up the river in his boat. After about overheating the motor we figured out the mud dobbers had clogged the drain hole. We were up the river without many tools. We ended up using a stick to clear it. Fallen limbs were rotten and broke. We used a limb off a live tree. After that I put a couple stiff wires in his boat.
 
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jptbay

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608
Damn things plugged up the tiny exhaust pipe on my Stihl power broom.

Took a while to figure out why it wouldn't start...
 
E

ezover

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3rd rock from the sun
LLWillysfan said:
This thread reminded me of something you guys might get a chuckle out of.....

I bought a boat with twin outboards and upon getting it home proceeded to do a bunch of maintenance on the motors including new water pump impellers. Upon launching I was distressed to see that one of the outboards wasn't peeing. Assuming I made a mistake with the water pump but not wanting to re-load the boat on the trailer and haul it home, I decided to limp the 4 miles to my dock on one motor and deal with it there.

Upon reaching my dock, I backed the boat as close to shore as I dared, Wading into knee deep mud and waist high water, I wrestled the lower unit off. I then lugged it up several flights of stairs and across the lawn to my shop, narrowing escaping the big one. I repeated the entire impeller replacement process and finding nothing obviously wrong I reversed the procedure and re-installed the lower unit.

Upon starting the motor, I was horrified to see that I still wasn't getting a pee stream. My ever helpful wife suggested that 'maybe the little pee hole is plugged'. I was just about to suggest she leave such technical determinations to the experts when I recalled one of the YouTube videos I'd watched to figure out how to replace a water pump impeller.

A southern gentleman by the name of D Ray was quite explicit that one must carefully check for mud daubers and the mischief that cause. Uh oh. Could that really be the problem?

It dawned on me like a thunderbolt that while we don't have the little buggers in Maine, the boat had spent it's life in Florida before I'd hauled it home. Wading back into the river for the third time I looked up under the motor and could see the little pee hole was indeed plugged. A simple poke dislodged the mud and released a bit of water. Starting the motor resulted in a nice steady stream of both water and mocking of yours truly by all involved including my now quite smug wife.
Click to expand...

that's funny stuff there. love those stories when i am not the subject lol.
 
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Jinks

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Daytona Beach
Brakleen! I keep several cans in the shop. It's a great cleaner & de-greaser, but it kills mud daubers on contact. I often spray a nest under an eave & can hear their little dead bodies hit the pavement. They won't return to that location for quite some time, must be the smell......:dunno:
 
J

JRC3

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Southwestern OH
Jinks said:
Brakleen! I keep several cans in the shop. It's a great cleaner & de-greaser, but it kills mud daubers on contact. I often spray a nest under an eave & can hear their little dead bodies hit the pavement.
Click to expand...

DAWN (or the like). About a teaspoon in a quart of water. I use squirt bottle, an old dish soap bottle with a snap top is very similar. I've decimated thousands of wasps that way. Back when I cleaned residential windows FT I use to call myself "the self-proclaimed killer of all things that fly and sting."
 
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Wes Tex

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Jan 12, 2012
Messages
362
I plan to try DAWN next spring. Working at night in the summer, i have shot down all kinds of flying insects with Berrymans B-12 carb spray. It is also good for cleaning carburetors.
 
L

lonestardiver

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May 6, 2017
Messages
62
Winter time is the best time to dispose of the mud nests. They are making their final metamorphosis/over wintering until spring. By destroying the nests, it affects numbers for the next generation.
 
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