Paper wasps threaten employee safety - Bee & Wasp Removal and Control in Wanaque

Challenge

While servicing one of my commercial properties in Wanaque, a borough in Passaic County, the property management office asked me to inspect an outdoor electrical outlet by the air conditioning unit on the side of one of their buildings where stinging insects appeared to be nesting. Sure enough, as you can see in the picture, a paper wasp nest was built right under the clear cover. 

Paper wasps have the slender “wasp” waist and long legs most people associate with wasps. They may be brown, reddish brown, or black and yellow. These insects are named based on the construction of their nests. They gather fibers from plant material, which they mix with their saliva, to make nests that appear to be made from a brown or grey “papery” material. These wasps build a small paper nest with a single tier of open cells to lay their eggs and rear their young. The nest has no external covering and resembles an umbrella (and is why these wasps are sometimes called umbrella wasps). These nests are commonly attached by a short stalk to the underside of an eave, picnic table, or other structure — even, like here, under the cover of an electric outlet! 

Paper wasps are social wasps that live in colonies similar to bees and ants. There is a queen and all of the supporting workers that keep the colony thriving. The other social wasps we regularly receive calls for are hornets and yellow jackets. All of these wasps will aggressively defend their nest when disturbed, whether on purpose or by accident. If a wasp nest is located near a door or other “high traffic” location placing people near their nest, there is always the risk of stinging, and the nest must be removed. If a nest is located somewhere on the property where the nest is out of the way and not likely to be disturbed, it is best to just leave it alone. Wasps can be beneficial by reducing other insect populations on the property because they capture caterpillars and other insects to feed their young.  

With this commercial property, workers are always accessing this area to access the air conditioning unit and use the outside electrical outlet — at least before it was converted to a wasp nesting site!  There was no issue that this wasp nest had to be removed for safety reasons.

Solution

Care must be taken when treating and removing wasp nests. With electrical outlets and outdoor electoral boxes, you have to be especially careful because some pesticides can damage them. Wasps are attracted to outdoor electrical outlets to build their nests because they provide shelter from the elements and other predators. So, during the summer, don’t be surprised if you open up the outdoor electrical cover and find an unwelcome surprise waiting for you. 

For this nest, I used a quick knock-down aerosol insecticide that contains pyrethrins as the active ingredient. Pyrethrins are natural-botanical insecticides made from chrysanthemum flowers. When insects come into contact with this chemical, it penetrates the cuticle and targets their nervous system, quickly killing them. I applied just enough chemical to eliminate wasp activity in and around the nest. I then removed the nest remnants from the outlet. Now, if property maintenance personnel need access this outdoor outlet, no one will have to risk a painful sting in order to do their job.