I think I messed up... Antagonizing paper wasps

I am learning that the downside to having a thriving pollinator garden is that wildlife will want to nest in the most inconvenient places. Two weeks ago I discovered a paper wasp nest in my mailbox. I was hoping to remove the wasps in a humane way, but I have not been successful.

First I removed the nest after dusk, but they just rebuilt it again. Then I tried to plug all the holes in the mailbox so they could not get in, but that proved impossible; there are gaps where the door hinges open and shut that could not be filled. So all I succeeded in doing was encouraging the wasps to create a second nest inside the mailbox, this time right on the inside of the door.

The past week I focused on the this second nest. If I left the door open, they would seemingly abandon the nest only to return to it the second the door was closed again. Yesterday, after a few days of leaving the door open and confirming that I had not seen them at the second nest in a while, I knocked the nest off (again). May the permaculture gods forgive because in my desperation I then decided to spray the mailbox with insecticidal soap in hopes that would deter or eliminate them. It did nothing. Today I opened the mailbox, and they were right back at it.

Only now the normally docile wasps are getting more aggressive. Today a couple of them chased me away from my yard when I stopped to look at my flowers more than a few feet away from the mailbox. This was devastating because normally my garden is like a Disney fairy tale with wasps, bees, and other insects buzzing all around me and paying me no mind. So not only did I fail to remove the wasps, but I also made myself a target to their hostility.

I don't want to risk missing mail throughout the summer from mail carriers who understandably don't want to take the risk (I put a warning sign on the mailbox), and I don't want the mail carriers to get hurt if they do attempt to deliver mail to my box. I just unplugged some of the holes at the back of the mailbox in hopes of encouraging them to stay away from the door at least. What else can I do at this point?

I don't know your area.  Here, we have wasps and hornets that make paper nests.  We hang decoy nests which look like paper lanterns and the dollar store sells them. And then spray their next with water from a distance, in the evening to desolve the paper and make them move house.  In the morning they see the decoys and make a nest elsewhere.

It took a lot of experiments like yours to figure this out.  I don't know if it would work on a different kind of wasp.

They can also smell their nest locations so it helps to clean the aria well to remove the pheromones.  

I am pretty sure I have either read or seen a video about actually "moving" the nest.

So you first would need to have a spot you feel you can move the nest to that wouldn't create new problems.

You would then have to research best practices for doing this. My vague recollection is that they had a way to "glue" the nest to something they could then transfer and attach at the new location.

I have also heard that wasps can recognize a small number of human faces. Unfortunately, they've now learned that you are "unfriendly", so you will need to work on rebuilding trust.

As for the gap in the hinge part of the mailbox, can you tape a strip of old bike inner tube over the hinge? It would have the flexibility to still let the door work? (Many bike shops will give you a mostly dead inner tube if you just ask - saves them binning it. I have found lots of uses for them.)

I don't know about your species of paper wasps, but the Aussie ones pack a punch!  (Polistes humilis)  I got in the way of their flight path, the sting was something else, on the side of my face.  
Is it possible to just leave them to it - they prey on other insects - move the current one at night, maybe wrap in fly mesh first, and get a new mailbox for the mail delivery?

r ransom wrote:I don't know your area.  Here, we have wasps and hornets that make paper nests.  We hang decoy nests which look like paper lanterns and the dollar store sells them. And then spray their next with water from a distance, in the evening to desolve the paper and make them move house.  In the morning they see the decoys and make a nest elsewhere.

It took a lot of experiments like yours to figure this out.  I don't know if it would work on a different kind of wasp.

I have never seen such decoys. I heard of using up crumpled up paper bags, but I have no clue if that is actually effective.  If I ever get these wasps out of the mailbox, I will definitely have to add a decoy. Thanks!

Stephen Sully wrote:They can also smell their nest locations so it helps to clean the aria well to remove the pheromones.  

That's a great point. I will have to give the mailbox a good clean if and when I ever get them out.

Jay Angler wrote:
I have also heard that wasps can recognize a small number of human faces. Unfortunately, they've now learned that you are "unfriendly", so you will need to work on rebuilding trust.

As for the gap in the hinge part of the mailbox, can you tape a strip of old bike inner tube over the hinge? It would have the flexibility to still let the door work? (Many bike shops will give you a mostly dead inner tube if you just ask - saves them binning it. I have found lots of uses for them.)

That is brilliant! I happened to have a bunch of old inner tubes laying around, and I just used some to cover the door hinge of the mailbox.  Thanks for the suggestion!

The sad thing is that I knew they could recognize faces so I purposefully tried to cover my face when I did the dirty work. I guess it did not work too well Luckily, the wasps have not been as aggressive the past two days, but I don't know how much of that is because I was maybe outside less during the middle of the day.

Unfortunately, I opened the mailbox earlier today, and there was a new nest on the inside of the door. They looks like a different kind of wasp this time, one with yellow stripes whereas the previous ones were brown. My immediate thought was yellow jackets, but I shut the door too quickly to confirm. I pray it is not yellow jackets because I definitely do not want to get on their bad side. Hopefully the bike tube will do the trick, and I won't have to deal with them too much more.  

Jill Dyer wrote:I don't know about your species of paper wasps, but the Aussie ones pack a punch!  (Polistes humilis)  I got in the way of their flight path, the sting was something else, on the side of my face.  
Is it possible to just leave them to it - they prey on other insects - move the current one at night, maybe wrap in fly mesh first, and get a new mailbox for the mail delivery?

If this inner tube cover I put on today does not work at keeping them out, then I may just have to let them have it for the summer Luckily I caught up with my mailman yesterday, and he was not too fussed about it.

Angel Hunt wrote:

r ransom wrote:I don't know your area.  Here, we have wasps and hornets that make paper nests.  We hang decoy nests which look like paper lanterns and the dollar store sells them. And then spray their next with water from a distance, in the evening to desolve the paper and make them move house.  In the morning they see the decoys and make a nest elsewhere.

It took a lot of experiments like yours to figure this out.  I don't know if it would work on a different kind of wasp.

I have never seen such decoys. I heard of using up crumpled up paper bags, but I have no clue if that is actually effective.  If I ever get these wasps out of the mailbox, I will definitely have to add a decoy. Thanks!

They look like this
https://a.co/d/0c7P0pjn

Most nesting bees and wasps use pheromones to locate their nest Decoys work because they often predate other species nests or larvae.
Number one, always clean or remove in the dark. That protects you and allows you to work. Next, use something that replaces the “home” smell. Several essential oils fit the bill. Peppermint, clove and lemongrass are strong and bees dislike them. Get a spray bottle and add 1/2 cup of water with 10 drops of peppermint essential oil, possibly with clove oil and some liquid dish soap. The soap acts as a surfactant (breaks down the surface tension of the water) to allow mixing. I would suggest spraying down the entire mailbox, both inside and out to completely eliminate the pheromones and blind the wasps’ ability to recognize the site as home.

While wasps and bees are vital in the garden, they have plenty of safe spaces to use for nests. If you feel bad about eviction, it’s possible to provide dry, sheltered spaces for them away from your travel paths.

Remember, the dark is your friend.  

I don't have any strategies to share, just wanted to stop by and say I empathize. We had a similar issue last season and I felt terrible knocking down a large nest after many years without conflict. Genuinely, it felt like I was betraying my friends

Update: I think the wasps vacated the interior of the mailbox! I spent the past few days avoiding the mailbox because after I covered the door hinge gap the wasps became more agitated and aggressive as they tried to figure out how to get back into the mailbox. I watched them circling the mailbox these last days, and I was not sure if they ultimately breached. But today I noticed that they started building a new nest on the bottom exterior of the mailbox, which I took as a sign of resignation. So this evening I checked the inside of the mailbox, and hallelujah! There were no new nests, and the previous nest at the back of the box appeared abandoned.

Now I have to give the mailbox a good cleaning. I guess basic soap and water should do it followed by the spray Richard suggested?

Richard Henry wrote:Most nesting bees and wasps use pheromones to locate their nest Decoys work because they often predate other species nests or larvae.
Number one, always clean or remove in the dark. That protects you and allows you to work. Next, use something that replaces the “home” smell. Several essential oils fit the bill. Peppermint, clove and lemongrass are strong and bees dislike them. Get a spray bottle and add 1/2 cup of water with 10 drops of peppermint essential oil, possibly with clove oil and some liquid dish soap. The soap acts as a surfactant (breaks down the surface tension of the water) to allow mixing. I would suggest spraying down the entire mailbox, both inside and out to completely eliminate the pheromones and blind the wasps’ ability to recognize the site as home.

While wasps and bees are vital in the garden, they have plenty of safe spaces to use for nests. If you feel bad about eviction, it’s possible to provide dry, sheltered spaces for them away from your travel paths.

Remember, the dark is your friend.  

Thank you for the tips!

Aaron Pate wrote:I don't have any strategies to share, just wanted to stop by and say I empathize. We had a similar issue last season and I felt terrible knocking down a large nest after many years without conflict. Genuinely, it felt like I was betraying my friends

Thank you. It is nice to hear. My friends and family don't always understand why I feel conflicted in these situations. Their mindset is that wildlife should promptly be disposed of/annihilated without a second thought.

Angel Hunt wrote: My friends and family don't always understand why I feel conflicted in these situations. Their mindset is that wildlife should promptly be disposed of/annihilated without a second thought.

Many people only see the "bad" or the "inconvenience" and don't take the time to learn that some wasps are important pollinators, and some are major caterpillar harvesters. Many can learn to co-exist with most humans safely and respectfully.

The first time I saw a wasp "hunting" through my leaf cabbage patch looking for the small green caterpillars of the Cabbage Butterfly, was an eye-opener for me.  I am quite prepared to remove a nest that is in a dangerous spot, but if I can avoid doing so, I will.

I'm glad you've managed to get you current squatters to find a better spot!