Hornets nest ( I think)
 

My sail boat has a Sitka Spruce wood mast.
It is on top of boat lying dwn of course , pretty typical
There is a larger and larger hornets or wasp nest growing on the very end of the mast.
I really dont care as I try to be considerate of all earths critters ...
Do they eat the wood they have their nest attached to?
If so I can not afford to be so generous to them.
Other then that winter will take care of them.

It would be best to get one for identification.
At sunrise is probably the best time.
These guys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_bee look like bumblebees and will do damage.

But some wasps are beneficial: Stingless Wasps Recruited in Fight Against Emerald Ash Borer - ICTMN.com

No pics? :(

Hornets and wasps will chew wood to make the paper for their nests, however they usually go after other plant matter, or softer wood, decaying wood, etc.

Bald hornets are some mean bastages. Fire works best.

If they are not going to damage my mast, they may stay and run their course albeit i do not understand them.
In a few weeks it will be COLD here , no way will they survive up there.
I will try to get a pic tomorrow,,,however its just another gray looking thing to me...LOL

I am thinking there are the bald face or white face variety.
I know they are not Yellow Jackets or honey bees.
I have had to move honey bee hives B4.

I'm a live and let live kinda guy except when it comes to the wasps and fire ants around here.

Highly aggressive and will **** your **** up just because they can.

I exterminate with extreme prejudice the second I see a nest or mound starting to form.

Big round gray nest is hornets. They are very aggressive. Much worse than wasps or honey bees. Wait until it is cold and destroy the nest. They typically return to the same place every year...so it is best to watch for them each year and knock them out early before the nest gets huge (hard to spray because they are so deep in the nest). They are actually beneficial as they kill other bugs, but they are not easy to live with...so you need to get rid of them. I get a nest on my house the size of a basketball every year. I killed them all and destroyed their nest last year (1st floor eaves). This year they are under the 3rd floor eaves where I really can't get to them...but I also feel safe from anyone getting into them and being stung.

The only advice I can give is DO NOT SHOOT AT THEM. As a 12 year old boy it seemed like quite a good idea :eek:

So far we are all friends, I walk past and under the nest every day.
The nest did not start to grow until last couple weeks.It was a small thing all summer.
I know most people would destroy them. I need a reason.
Like i said, winter here will kill them off anyway.We get 20F below zero and more !
It seems suicide they even did this anyway.
One would think they would want shelter of some sort.

The main reason to take them out besides the general mean factor is that the attach point from the next to your mast is made from one of the toughest materials that exists. That little stump could survive a nuclear blast, good luck removing it!

I need to refinish the mast anyway...So if you guys do not think there is any real damage going on up there...I will leave them be.
I figure they have a purpose on the planet, not like people, the earth would not ever miss us.
Now if they decide to play fighter pilots I will turn them into kamikaze carnage.
So far with a loud M/C driving underneath them and all the other stuff I do here...we have piece .

They probably won't do harm to the mast. If a person seriously disturbs them they can inflict 50 stings in 5 seconds so there is a risk if you need to move about their nest. Some are allergic to the sting and getting hit by a bunch of them can be fatal. We used to get a bunch of wasp and hornet nests at my last house and I typically got hit every year by one or the other.

Ok
I have been reading..They die off in winter. Only the Queen survives to lay eggs the next year.
She goes and hibernates somewhere and leaves the tribe to go it alone.
I was watching them from about 15 feet away (they are at least 12 feet up too)They have a bee line all going and coming back from same direction.
There is a apple tree 20 feet from the nest, they are not interested at the moment.

Shouldn't your Thunderbird be in the water? Sailing season ain't over yet!

There's a reason they spell idealistic different than realistic.

Jim,
You must have a avid interest? (to remeber my boat )
It should be in the water LOL.
I left it out this summer, it needs some luv again-
Everything has its wants....

A short blast or two with a flame thrower should do it. :)

Ok. Well hopefully whoever owns the apple tree will get tired of destroyed apples and trap them. Do the world a solid and kill them.

If you've ever been attacked by hornets, me thinks you would quickly change your mind. Taking out a nest is going to make zero dent in the hornet ecological foray. That was a miserable day in the life of me, my wife, and my poor dog who now need psychological counseling because when he sees one he goes into a panic attack!!!

Hornet nest:
http://hornetnestsfreeremoval.com/me...1hbirdfeed.jpg

Wasp nest (Aerial yellow jackets):
http://www.sussexeps.co.uk/wp-conten...-2-225x300.jpg

Wasp nest (Paper wasp):
http://fatal-funnel.com/wp-content/u.../wasp-nest.jpg

Wasp nest (ground dwelling yellow jackets):
http://umccc.org.au/files/WaspNest%20300x223_0.jpg

Wasp nest (mud daubers):
http://www.harpercollege.edu/ls-hs/b...sts%283%29.JPG

I'd wager 9 out of 10 Engineering and Surveying firms have had a field crew present the office staff with a hornets nest "trophy" in the dead of winter thinking they were all gone.....until the next morning if the office were left at a toasty 68F overnight!:D

Cashflyer - yes Hornets Nest.
I am thinking I am going to have to name them individually .
I was out under and near the nest all day (shade tree mechanic ) beating salted rusted brake drums and the like .
No one bothered me.
They are on the job getting it done.
No union there .

If you decide to spray them, the spray does not seem to have quite as quick an effect as it does on wasps. Don't expect them to just fall off immediately and die. When I sprayed a big one once...hundreds...if not thousands came out. Once the started outing out, it sounded like a chain saw. I had quickly retreated inside and watched from my window as a cloud of the attacked everything in sight...including the window glass I was watching from. They would have likely killed an animal that accidentally got into their nest. I had to spray the best many times before they were all gone/dead.

For now they get a reprieve .
If they break the treaty I will address them faster then Obama can purse a sentence ...LOL
I read they are mostly meat eaters...
The are having nothing to do wit the apple tree next to them.

wrong, bring on the 9mm.


https://vimeo.com/130597562

The type that builds the paper nest in the image above on post 21 are the mean nasty ones.

I remember it quite well. :eek: they out ran (flew in their case) us and got us.

I have heard if you throw a rock at them you will be stung B4 it hits the nest !

I heard if you throw a rock at them you need to be committed on a 72 hour mental health hold!!!

Late night. Long distance spray. Nuke them.

Had a small hornets nest under the pool slide. Alien space ship looking thing, white markings on body and face. Little shiet says, mid day, with the position of attack pre-launch assumed, "Are you looking at me. I don't see anybody else, you must be looking at me". I said, "No Sir" and backed off slowly. I ask him if we could use the slide. He lays down a snarky "Do you feel lucky?"

Later that night................

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1441839717.jpg

Mine was a ground hornet nest. Sat out there with 2 cans of spray and a beer. The beer was making it difficult, so I only used one spray can at a time. Took over an hour to eradicate those bas***ds!.. Then I flooded the hole. Then I buried it and put a big rock on top. Then I .................................................. .

NAh
I have named 1/2 the colony now.
We " BEE" BFFE ! LOL
B1 b2 b3 b4- he was there after he was GONE...
and some more
b5 b6 b7 b8 b9 and he dont count...............LOL

My neighbor had a ground hornet nest on his property. He tells me he snuck up with his shop vac (turned on), stuck the hose in the entrance and ran. Said he let it run for a pretty long time and got most of the hornets. He covered the end of the hose and let the vac set for a day or so - enough time for the hornets to die and dumped them out on the ground for the animals & ants to eat.

Truly folks, My question was "Are they going to hurt the mast?"
The answer was probably not.
I have no interest in killing them for no good reason.

Folks that have never dealt with these critters would call BS on that story. BUT.....last year we had a nest in the attic. They chewed thru the ceiling in MY closet (NOT hers!!!) and started coming into the bedroom. So my wife grabbed the vacuum and sat by the hole for a loooooong time. Finally I covered the hole with duct tape, and that's the end of my story!

Oh yeah. We have a Dyson. Never loses suction, and tears them up as they pass thru the turbine chambers.

He has a pretty good sized shop vac. That's the story he told to me, and he isn't much of a BSer. I forget how big he said the nest was, but I remember he was pretty big.

My last house was a mini ranch out in rural SoCal. It got hot in summer and the bugs were prodigious. We would see 20-30 paper wasp nests sprout up under the eaves, in the junipers, under my patio deck. I would only kill off the ones who were the most threatening by the back door or near a walkway and leave the others alone. One time I was mowing the lawn and brushed my elbow against a juniper... Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam! 5 stings to my elbow in two seconds and then they were gone.

We noticed a major issue with yellow jackets at the end of summer one year and my neighbor discovered an underground nest in a gopher hole in his south 40. He pushed a lawn mower over it and ran, the yellow jackets poured out and completely covered every inch of that mower with bugs. There must have been 50,000 of them in there. Late that night he retrieved his mower and stuffed a bottle of concentrated malathion into the hole. That killed them off but his yard is now a hazmat superfund site.

Hornets eat yellow jackets I have read.