A mixture of Dawn dish soap and water has proven to be both economical and very effective.
I use a Super Soaker (toy water gun) to apply the mixture from a distance.
The wasps drop dead almost instantly.

Fire ants, sneaky bastards, they dont care if you have steel toed boots, they quietly sneak up your boot then inside, and as if on que they all bite at once painful, if you step on the hill they leave numerous bite marks that hurt like hell then itch for a week...

I caught a scouting party trying to establish a foothold in a cabinet in my grill this weekend when I was getting ready to grill some salmon. Opened the door to receive some angry “piss off” buzzing but they didn’t attack. Wrong move.

I waited for nightfall and gave the small nest a big blast if break cleaner since I didn’t want to use poison in my grill. Mission accomplished: two dead adults and a handful of juveniles, no friendly casualties.

Bastards. May you roast in hell.

Those friggin' "cow ants" as we call them here are really wingless wasps, and as stated you can't hardly stomp 'em to death! I've had multiple bites as a kid, and have no desire to EVER get hit by that again.

I was picking up range brass at a local IDPA match several years ago and while picking up a bunch of .45acp brass I somehow picked up a velvet ant. How I did that I don't know, but I did, All I can say is that really hurt. That stopped my shooting for the rest of the day.

I have had kidney stones before, and I think that I would rather have another kidney stone before I get stung by one of those damn ants.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:

Dirt dobbers will give you a sting that you will NEVER forget. Even though they prefer to shy away from you, if you accidentally put your hand down on them, you will get nailed.


We also have the velvet ant. Step on one and you will wear steel bottomed shoes outside after that experience. They are the spawn from hell. No matter how much you stomp on them, they laugh it off. Literally.

I didn't know that a dirt dobber would sting - someone told me they don't. I read this a week a ago and had dirt dobber nest near where I needed to work. I hosed it down with wasp spray the night before.

I was at a pistol match when I saw a very interesting looking insect crawling. A friend quickly said - don't touch, don't step on it. It was the first velvet ant that I'd ever seen.

quote:

Originally posted by asonie:
gave the small nest a big blast if break cleaner since I didn’t want to use poison in my grill

Might want to look at the MSDS for your brake cleaner before coming to that conclusion. Plenty of nasties in the ones I looked up, even the 'non chlorinated' brake cleaners.

Oh, also, brake cleaners seem to be quite flammable, so be careful to remove the residue if spray got anywhere near areas of your grill that will get hot. (That said, wasp spray is also highly flammable - don't ask how I know.)