Wasp and bee removal in San Diego

Yes, it's one job. Wasp control, wasp pest control, pest control for wasps, pest removal for a wasp, and pest control for a wasp nest all describe the same visit: find the nest, identify the species, and treat it directly. Getting rid of a wasp nest properly means treating the nest itself, not the wasps flying around it. Spraying foraging wasps around a patio does nothing lasting, because the nest keeps producing. A beehive exterminator call is different again, since honey bees get relocated where that's possible rather than treated.

They reduce, they do not eliminate. UC IPM says lure traps can help reduce the number of localized foraging workers, but they don't eliminate large populations, and that trapping isn't suggested for other social wasp species. Placement matters: put traps away from areas where people gather, such as picnic tables, and in a backyard place them along the edge of the property line as far away from the patio as possible. If what you actually have is a nest rather than foragers at the barbecue, trapping will not touch it.

Hornet removal is the same call here. What people find and call a hornet nest in San Diego is usually a yellowjacket or a paper wasp. UC IPM describes aerial-nesting yellowjackets, Dolichovespula arenaria and D. maculata, that build paper nests attached to the eaves of a building or hanging from the limb of a tree, with the entrance normally a hole at the bottom, and says these aerial nesters are extremely defensive when their nests are disturbed. That is the insect most people mean by baldfaced hornet. The licensed company identifies the species on site before it treats anything, and nest shape is the giveaway: an enclosed grey paper nest hanging in a tree against a paper wasp's open umbrella of cells under an eave.

You can, and UC IPM spells out the risk. Aerosol formulations labeled for use on wasp and hornet nests can be effective, but the products must be used with extreme caution, wasps will attack if they sense a poison being applied to their nests, and even the freeze-type products aren't guaranteed to stop all wasps that come flying out. It says to wear protective clothing that covers the entire body, including a veil over your face and gloves. For a ground nest it warns that underground nests can be quite a distance from the visible entrance, so the spray might not get back far enough to hit the wasps. Its own conclusion: if wasp nests must be eliminated, it is easiest and safest to call for professional help.

Not as a first move. UC IPM says honey bees often nest inside cavities in trees or houses and are unlikely to sting unless trapped or stepped on, so a swarm or a hive is a relocation question before it is a treatment question. Ask the company whether it refers honey bee work to a beekeeper, and ask before you book rather than on the day. A colony established inside a wall is the harder case, because the comb has to come out or it causes problems of its own, and those options should be put to you before anything is decided.

UC IPM's quick version does most of the work. Yellowjackets are 1/2 to 1 inch long with jagged bright yellow and black stripes, their narrow waists are barely visible, and unlike other common wasps they scavenge on food. Paper wasps have long slender waists, build paper nests with many open cells under eaves, and are rarely aggressive. Mud daubers are dark-colored and thread-waisted, build small hard mud nests, and rarely sting. Honey bees are less brightly striped than yellowjackets and have more hair. A photo is usually enough to sort it out before anyone schedules a visit.

No source on file puts a clock on it, and UC IPM's own caution runs the other way: partially intoxicated, agitated wasps are likely to be encountered at some distance from the nest entrance, even the day after an insecticidal treatment. So treat the area as live for at least a day, and keep children and pets clear of it. Ask the company what it expects, and what happens if traffic has not stopped when it said it would.