Mud Daubers or Hornets? A Pest Problem in Ocean Grove.

Challenge

I was sent out to a home in Ocean Grove, NJ to treat and remove what the customer thought were mud dauber wasps. They informed our office that the nest was by back door lamp.  When I arrived, she quickly showed me around back to see the nest. Immediately I realized I was dealing with hornets that had built a large nest inside a lamp.  

Solution

Although the treatment for both hornets and wasps can go the same route, the huge hive here had to be dealt with differently considering the unique circumstances. Using an aerosol fogger, I hit the interior of the hive as well as the exposed honeycomb up around the light bulb. Followed by a residual application to kill off any foraging hornets that try and return later.

On some hornet jobs, the nest can removed immediately and a residual can be left behind to kill off the remainder. As this nest was encased within the lamp, removing the nest that day could have been dangerous. I left the entire nest and returned the following day, dismantled the lamp and was able to completely remove the entire nest without damaging the lamp.