The other odd thing about European Hornets is that they can fly at night, and are attracted to light. Caught one in a window screen one night - window was open and the office was lit. Something hit the screen hard and kept thumping at it. At first I thought it was a very confused hummingbird. Shut the window to trap the thing, then got some better light on it. Turned out to be a very pissed-off, thumb-sized hornet.

I figured I'd deal with it in the morning, and left it there. In the morning, it was dead...not sure why. Anyway, on closer inspection and with some Google-fu, the size, the reddish-brown back and its nocturnal flying identified it as a European Hornet. They seem to like lights at night as they eat moths, etc. that are also attracted to the lights.

Hasn't been a problem - they seem to keep to themselves.

We had huge ground borrowing hornets in NY. Easy 3-4” long. Nothing would kill them. I poured gasoline in the ground and torched them. Scary creatures.

quote:

Originally posted by Karpteach:
We had huge ground borrowing hornets in NY. Easy 3-4” long. Nothing would kill them. I poured gasoline in the ground and torched them. Scary creatures.

Those are cicada killers.

'At's not a knoife - this is a knoife....

I'm looking into an Stihl SR200 fogger. We have mosquitoes, ticks, wasps and hornets. I understand this, with the proper chemical, repel these unwanted insects for about 3 weeks per application. It also rids my trees of tent caterpillars.

I really am not prepared to acknowledge the possibility that giant hornets could fly at me at night. I encountered Japanese giant hornets while out in the Japanese countryside -- I think that's what's in the photo of the crazy man holding some kind of demon on his fingers -- but that was on a trip to Japan. That's Japan. A lot of crazy shit goes on in Japan.

But giant hornets dive bombing me at night here in Massachusetts...

I'm just not prepared to acknowledge that...

So, tonight, my wife comes in from the garage and says, there are a lot of bees in the garage. I go to check it out. When I opened the door, I could hear the buzzing. There were probably 15 of these European hornets buzzing around the lights. I made one of those meat traps on a board with water. Hopefully, I will get the strays. I am betting that we have a nest in our garage attic.

Calling the pros tomorrow. No way will you catch my ass up there looking for them.

I think I have seen and encountered less stinging monsters this summer than ever before.

However , early fall seems to amp their activity up. I think all the wet weather we had this summer slowed their activity.

I found this image online. I'm just going to go ahead and thank God I haven't seen either of these.

quote:

Originally posted by PorterN:
I found this image online. I'm just going to go ahead and thank God I haven't seen either of these.

we have all of them here in VA,

only been lit up by bald face hornets (out of what is on the pic)

hurt very much,

worse than yellow jackets

Here is one that was dispatched with a board. It was a smaller one, about the size of a quarter. I saw others that were 50% larger.

That thing looks surprisingly tame. Either it's dead, or that guy has a huge set of brass balls to be letting it land on his hand.

quote:

Originally posted by Doc H.:
'At's not a knoife - this is a knoife....

I saw two hornets here in NW Houston for the first time within the last two weeks.

Hornets not yellow jackets or red wasps or bees but larger mofos that had a hornet head.

I have been trying to kill wasps of late once I learned that they kill my monarch caterpillars so it has been on wasp bitches.
But when I saw the two hornets I had to reassess my strategy. Someone above mentioned a badminton racket, I think that is exactly what I have been looking for, something I can swing fast that is rigid with some surface area.

We live in insect capital of the world (Houston) so why not, lets add hornets to the mix now too!

HK Ag

quote:

Originally posted by HK Ag:
Someone above mentioned a badminton racket, I think that is exactly what I have been looking for, something I can swing fast that is rigid with some surface area.

HK Ag

The rackets work, BUT...Bees and hornets release pheromones that will identify threat to others in the hive. If you step on them, pick squished ones up, or carry the racket too close to the hive, you could initiate a painful invasion upon yourself (que Apocalypse Now music).

quote:

Originally posted by HK Ag:
I saw two hornets here in NW Houston for the first time within the last two weeks.

Hornets not yellow jackets or red wasps or bees but larger mofos that had a hornet head.

I have been trying to kill wasps of late once I learned that they kill my monarch caterpillars so it has been on wasp bitches.
But when I saw the two hornets I had to reassess my strategy. Someone above mentioned a badminton racket, I think that is exactly what I have been looking for, something I can swing fast that is rigid with some surface area.

We live in insect capital of the world (Houston) so why not, lets add hornets to the mix now too!

HK Ag

Badminton rackets have several good attributes. You swing hard enough and you might get dismemberment. The strings provide almost no resistance, so you can get a bitchin fast swing in. And as I said, Euros are slow, almost slow motion.