Help! My front garden has been taken over by these nasty, scary creatures. I am seriously allergic to bee and wasp stings and would love any advice as to exterminate them.

I've contacted our regular exterminator and it is going to be $500 to have them spray/sprinkle magic dust/whatever the hell they do. My husband wants to try to exterminate the buggers himself - we feel like we are being ripped off by our regular guy.

Is this a do-it-yourself project? I know that only the females sting and that these cicada killers are around seasonally, but I've read that that they will return annually if not abated in some way.

Do you know where their burrows are?

Nadine Wrote:
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> Help! My front garden has been taken over by
> these nasty, scary creatures. I am seriously
> allergic to bee and wasp stings and would love any
> advice as to exterminate them.

Oh! Are you a cicada?

if they are in fact cicada killers. if cicadas are around, theyll be around. so unless you kill off all the cicadas in a 1/2 radius of your house, theyll be around every year.

they might be english hornets, i confused them with cicada killers for a long time. english hornets look like giant yellow jackets. theyre huge, make a big sound, look very very mean and fly "solo" when hunting for food. however, theyre the most docile, and despite their appearance, least aggressive of the wasps.

cicada killers are predominantly black, with 3 or so yellowish white bands on their butts.

Yes - the burrows are HUGE - like giant anthills - and are actually under several of my large hydrangeas and lilacs. The exterminator says that most people think that these are rat or chipmunk burrows because of their enormous size. No one will come to my front door, as these nasties are flying all over the entrance.

gotta pretty much deal with them Wrote:
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> if they are in fact cicada killers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_cicada_killer

As with Carpenter Bees (bumble bee clones) they look pretty harmless...except to cicadas.

Really - no one is going to suggest putting a firecracker in their burrows? Has anyone tried to spray them with a bee killer, for example. I just want to get these cicada killers out of my garden and front door. Exterminator confirmed that they are indeed cicada killers and I don;t want them to be Nadine Killers.

Nadine Wrote:
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> Yes - the burrows are HUGE - like giant anthills -
> and are actually under several of my large
> hydrangeas and lilacs. The exterminator says that
> most people think that these are rat or chipmunk
> burrows because of their enormous size. No one
> will come to my front door, as these nasties are
> flying all over the entrance.

Good. In the early evening. Spray some hornet killer down the burrows (they are least active then). Next, place a tarp, black plastic, contractor bag over each burrow. Anchor them down with large lawn staples or bricks, rocks, etc. Remove after 24 hours.

Nadine Wrote:
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> ...Has anyone tried to spray them with a bee killer...

http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read/8/614310/614445.html#msg-614445

"solution"'s solution sounds similar.

Nadine Wrote:
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> Yes - the burrows are HUGE - like giant anthills -
> and are actually under several of my large
> hydrangeas and lilacs. The exterminator says that
> most people think that these are rat or chipmunk
> burrows because of their enormous size. No one
> will come to my front door, as these nasties are
> flying all over the entrance.


Think of all the positives, no Jahovas witnesses will come a knockin

So you know that these are the Cicada Killer wasps...

and you haven't bothered to research this at all? Because if you took two seconds (here, let me GOOGLE that for you) you would learn that

These are not aggressive wasps
They are not interested in humans
Only the females can sting, and even then only if you stepped on it or grabbed it with your hand.

Yes, they look scary, they are very large, but they aren't hurting anything.

^^^^ I am an active gardener; I love to pull weeds, water my plants, mulch, get my hands dirty, etc. There is a high probability that I could get stung pulling weeds or puttering around. I carry an Epi-Pen and have an anaphylactic reaction to stings.

Solution...I heart you and will have husband do the hornet killer/tarp method.

Thanks for saving us $500.

Train them how to kill stink bugs! If not, you'll wish you did in a few months!

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/cicada-killers-c-258.html

Nadine Wrote:
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> Solution...I heart you and will have husband do
> the hornet killer/tarp method.

Tell your husband good luck, and as long as you are hearting me, I'm not sure how you pronounce it but I believe its Menage a trios......

I just finished taking care of this very issue this past Saturday. Like others have said, these wasps normally don't sting (only the females have stingers). They tend to make their nests anywhere there is dirt...so an easy fix, if you don't want to go with the tarp soloution is to mulch up there area they have a nest. This will keep them from digging into your soild. Before you do that, wasp spray the nest, then dig the nest up (I dug the nest up and sprayed afterwards, but if you're really worried about getting stung). I think I spent $40 on bags of mulch and the spray.

I had Cicada Killers (CKs) immediately in front of my townhouse. It was only one, then two, then even more the next year. The last time I had them, there were (7) nests in the ground in front of my house and they do in fact look like giant ant hill.

A previous post stated "They are not be 'interested' in humans." Hmmph. That may be a fact, BUT, my mind doesn't know any better and when one comes near I start flailing my arms all over the damn place and start to run like I am on fire, whiel at the same time screaming hysterically like a little girl. I am 6'3 and 260lbs, and didn't care how I look as long as I am AWAY from THEM!

I got on the 'net to research and find the best way to rid my yard of CKs. The pesticides worked for THAT YEAR ONLY. Finally I found some info on a .edu website, did what it stated, and after a few days/week they were gone and still have not returned. I promise this works. Scary, but works.

CKs DO NOT like moisture/water. They leave at dawn to go feed/hunt. They will return for good in their nest at dusk. Upon leaving for work and getting up, SOAK their nest entrance with a good, heavy stream of water. You must do this at least in the morning and then hopefully BEFORE they return at dusk. IF it is HOT outside, you may need to do it 3x a day to make their area like mud. If you can’t then twice a day with do it I am sure. On the weekends I SOAKED IT/THEM for minutes at a time.

Note: Even if they DO return while you are spraying, they WILL NOT come after you. When I first tried it I was watering like clockwork. Then I got a little lazy at night when I got home. I would do it either late at night or too early in the morning. They came right up out of their nests and were PISSED!

Again - keep in mind the " ...not interested in humans thing." didn't mean a damn thing to me at that time. I dropped the hose and SPRINTED right back in the house and watched like a frightened cat; all swollen up with my hair on ends as the CK got out of the next soaked and muddied (I Guess).

When they left their nests during my spray, they would hover around the nest "looking" for another place. I made sure I FLOODED each and every single CK ANT HILL that was around. I did this for bout a week and damn if they didn't stay away. When I first started doing this in the morning, I would see them come back to their nest that evening and they would just hover the soaked nest for like 20 seconds, fly off, return a few minutes later to “check it out” I guess, then leave. I just soaked it again for a minute when they flew off the first time.

Yes my water bill may have gone up a dollar or two that week, but it was worth it.

Even if I got cocky and neglected to water after a few days and one came back, I would just spray the hell out of the nest again.

Each year since, there may be one who would make a nest. I would do my thing with the water. As time went on they didn't come back. To this date I have not had any at all. Now, having sad that, another dude in the complex has hundreds of them it seems like, but it doesn't bother him he said. WHO SAYS THAT?! FORGET THAT!!!!

The website said CKs - and I am paraphrasing here - get frustrated with their nest being wet and move elsewhere to find a home. Again, to-date I haven't had them come back.

Good luck. They are intimidating as hell, but they are like by damn kid in as much they don't like water.

One last note: Do NOT use the hose on the Jet Setting for the entire time. I used the Jet to crush the entrance to their burrow and then once I knew they weren't in there, I just soaked the hell out of it.

Good Luck!

thank you for this idea! I'm going to give it a try. We had them last year and paid $175 to exterminator to get rid of them (about 20 hills). It worked last year but they're back this year again. Since I know what they are, I wasn't too worried, but I really can't go in that area since the CK seem very curious and tend to follow me around when I go out there. A little unnerving. This method seems non toxic and worth a try. Sometimes its hard to see the tunnel entrances if you want to spray the nest inside the hill. This water method seems easier.

thanks@

You are absolutely correct in stating the tunnels can be hard to see because of the angle they make the nest, or because the grass is "hiding" them. I just made sure to soak anywhere in the immediate area where I saw them.

In the late morning or early afternoon I would walk along where I would see them so I could look straight down for any nests. You could even mark it with something so you can stand even more away with the hose. I would gauge 6'' or so both left and right to make sure I got good coverage and not missed it. Even after it rains I would go back - depending on how heavy, long the rain was.

I have them in front of my place but I just let them go. They don't bother me and I don't bother them. They seem harmless and their here and then their gone.

I used to lifeguard at a pool that had them, I had a big can of wasp killer that shot a good 20 feet and I hit plenty in the air and on the ground and they simply flew off. After about 2 weeks of that I finally got a 'kill' I posted it up on a bulletin board by the wing as a trophy of sorts, and about 2 or 3 hours after I had 'killed' it it started slowly moving its legs and eventually flew itself free of the tack but couldnt fly due to the tear in its wing, it got smashed and discarded, but the fact that such a fearsome looking wasp survived being soaked in bug poison was disconcerting. They sound like a chinook helicopter going by your ear when they fly by and make girls out of men. They belong in uncharted Papua jungles rather than Fairfax.

30 giant hornets can annihilate a colony of 30,000 bees in 3 hours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDSf3Kshq1M

RankineCycle Wrote:
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> 30 giant hornets can annihilate a colony of 30,000
> bees in 3 hours.

The thread is about cicada killers, not giant hornets.

(I just look at the CKs fascinatingly since they're so huge when I sit on the front steps feeding the birds - I wonder if they come out in 17-year cycles, too? Would sorta make sense, huh?)

This is interesting about the sting:

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"...I had to grab one and hold it to my arm to be stung. It felt like the tiniest pin prick. A ¼"-diameter painless white bump surrounded by a 1"-diameter red spot developed, but they went away within an hour. I have repeated this many times, and it's always the same. A graduate student volunteer had the exact same experience. I suspect that the few reported painful cicada killer stings were actually delivered by European hornets, which they resemble, or other mimics; see above.) In spite of their large size, loud buzz and bright coloration, cicada killers are wimps. These effects are all part of their big bluff. If they sting you, they call their own bluff, so they avoid it as much as possible. I've tried to get them to bite me, too, but their mandibles cannot get a grip on my skin..."
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http://www.showmejoe.com/thriller/control.htm

stung Wrote:
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> RankineCycle Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 30 giant hornets can annihilate a colony of
> 30,000
> > bees in 3 hours.
>
> The thread is about cicada killers, not giant
> hornets.
>
> (I just look at the CKs fascinatingly since
> they're so huge when I sit on the front steps
> feeding the birds - I wonder if they come out in
> 17-year cycles, too? Would sorta make sense, huh?)


You selfish motherwanker. Nadine is seriously allergic to bee and wasp stings and said she would love any advice on how to exterminate them.
Attachments:

RankineCycle Wrote:
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> You selfish motherwanker...

Your large image is purdy, but it ain't a cicada killer.

@ Stung: it's a giant hornet. watch the vid.

tarzoonian Wrote:
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> @ Stung: it's a giant hornet. watch the vid.

I know what it is; and I know what this thread is (was) about.

tarzoonian Wrote:
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> @ Stung: it's a giant hornet. watch the vid.


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no, that's not what it is.

the hornets in that youtube are japanese giant hornets, the hornet in the photo is an english/european hornet, which is decidedly different than a japanese giant hornet in almost every aspect.

different unless you think a bull shark and a sunfish are the same.

'I am 6'3 and 260lbs, and didn't care how I look as long as I am AWAY from THEM!'

I'm still trying to get over this part.
Forget the CK's, you need to go on a diet.

I few years ago I had like 10 of these outside my front door... They're scary as hell despite being harmless.

Rained really hard for two days and they were gone afterwards. Flooding them out with a hose or possibly using gasoline or insect killer should work.

Get em at sunset when they go back down in their viet cong spider holes.

I am going to go way out of a limb and say you have NEVER played a sport of any kind, nor have you ever partaken in any fitness activities outside of golf or fishing. So I will give you some info on size proportion to weight, then BMI:

When I quit sports, I kept on lifting. It keeps me from looking like a Blow Fish.

I have a waist size of 38". Yes I am a big man with very broad shoulders, but not fat, at least in my humble opinion. Could I stand to lose 20? Probably. However, I am a Power Lifter and thus we all are usually on the chunkier side as opposed to those who are Body Builders. It just goes with the territory.

My Body Fat is @ 20% - maybe a little higher - and for a man who is 47yo, I will take that. I am very humbled by what I can do at my age. Plus my wife of 22 years likes it OK and we are happy.

If ever you would like, I could meet up with you somewhere and maybe you could form your own opinion. Someone who is 5'10" and 180 can be flabby and totally out of shape compared to someone like me. It depends of many things. Just a thought.

Still, I can out run those damn Cicadas. :-D

Nadine: If you have truly determined that you have Eastern Cicada Killer wasps on your property and know the location of their ground burrows; you have it 99% licked. Purchase a readily available bee/wasp/hornet spray with 10+ foot shot/spray available from most grocery stores and home centers... and take care of it. They will die quickly and you can resume with gardening and enjoying your yard, again.

@OP - definitely get back to us, let us know how it worked out for you, ok?

can you still buy "Sevin" around here? We had those in Springfield and applying the powder in and around the holes took care of them. They're big & scary as hell but I've never heard of anyone being stung by them.

OP here ...still dodging calls from exterminator's hard sell guy who quoted a price of $500 (!!) to spray the CKs.

Husband STILL has not done the water/tarp (and for good measure, hornet killer spray) methods suggested by friends here, but will add this to his Honey Do list for the weekend.

You guys here are pretty cool. Thanks. Will check in again with a full report.

Raising a cold glass of cyber beer to all who helped me.

I have had these in my yard over the last couple of years. What I do is go out at dusk with a can of hornet spray with the 20" range. I then hose down the holes that they are digging in my yard. I was told this will kill the Cicada Killer and the eggs that they leave behind. If I see them in the morning I have one of those battery tennis rackets and zaps them and knocks them for a loop. I follow up with the good old foot stomp. They have never stung me or attacked me. Good luck.

Bigdog Wrote:
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> They have never stung me or attacked me...

Me neither.

That's why I leave them alone.

we have had the same issue this yr in central ct. I have found that after seeing them go into the burrow,I fllod the hole and the wasp backs out - disoriented. and then I keep the water flow on them while I sqwish them with my feet. My brother -in-la loves to place a mayonaise jar up-side-down over the whole and find 5 or so dead in the jar the next day when he gets home from work.

boiling water down each burrow, and sprinkle the shit out of yard with water.... source-- took 5 years trying.... also tennis racket will take out 20 of them n the morning and give you some excersize

I bought some spray and went after the nests.