Hugel Hives

I was out watering my hugel yesterday. I dumped the first 5 gallon pail around the sides from the top, then set down the second pail and opened the spout to drip irrigate. I then walked down from the top and started my loop to check on the growing things and was about to pull some spotted knotweed out when I noticed a bunch of buzzing activity near it. Looked like a nest of ground hornets?

I don't really know anything about hives except for cultivated honey bees and the good ol paper wasps. Earlier in the day I had walked into a storage shelter and spent about 5 seconds trying to rearrange my stack of birch bark when what had seemed like a few black flies suddenly seemed like a dozen loud ones. I looked up to see a perfectly round paper wasp nest about 2 feet in front of me.

My reaction to bolt was immediate an instinctual, but I got nailed on my temple and my hip. Surprisingly they weren't that much more painful than a horsefly bite, but definitely not a battle I was going to dive back into. That night the temps dropped down near fifty, and an 8' 2x4 came out of the dark to knock the hive off the wall and across the shelter. The next night, the hive was poked with a long stick and carried out into the nearby field.

Back to what I'm completely guessing are ground hornets because I've heard the name and buzzy little insects are swarming out of the same spot in the side of the Hugel. It is just over the edge from the top, I'm surprised none of them came after me while I was up there walking around with the buckets. Right after I knocked the wasp nest like a pool ball, I went over to the hugel and used the 2x4 to mash up the spot where I recalled seeing the buggers swarm out from.

The next day (today) I went back to water and paused on top to look down at the spot. After a while, I spotted a few buzzers poking around the same area. They were in constant motion so I didn't get a good look at them, but they didn't seem to be streaming in and out, but definitely were hanging around.

Is this enough description for anyone to tell me who this is and what they have going on there?

Should I try to flood them out, bury them in more dirt, invite them to a picnic with some honey scones and tea, ...?

There are several beesand wasp that are ground nesting:

https://permies.com/t/86920/bee-behavior-intrigues-comment

https://permies.com/t/48717/ground-bees-garden-relocate

https://permies.com/t/36887/composting/Ground-Hornets

https://permies.com/t/35472/Wasps-pest-control

https://permies.com/t/49618/Ground-Wasp-Control

Iv never delt with them personally but i know ground wasp can be easily flooded out if you want to with water. My grampa connected his truck exhaust to the entrance and he just killed them all that way. It seemed pretty effective and they didn't freak out really during it.

Probably one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula

They're relatively placid right now if you give them some clearance. You might even be able to weed and water immediately next to their hive. In a month though, they'll be real dicks. They are very effective predators and keep the population of many pest insects down, so whether you should kill them or live with them is complicated.

I saw the suggestion in some of the other threads to use Diatomacious Earth on the hive. Would this kill them or just irritate them and encourage them to relocate?

Coydon Wallham wrote:I saw the suggestion in some of the other threads to use Diatomacious Earth on the hive. Would this kill them or just irritate them and encourage them to relocate?

It will kill them, horribly. It gets in between the joints in their exoskeleton and grinds away chitin until they are immobilized, and then they eventually die.

But, it works well over the short term and is non-toxic for you and your animals.

Chance Lunceford wrote:It will kill them, horribly. It gets in between the joints in their exoskeleton and grinds away chitin until they are immobilized, and then they eventually die.

I will withhold that option until they prove aggressive to surrounding activity then.

I think I'll leave my drip bucket directly over the hive today. Would this or anything else lead to them abandoning this location for another while there is still time to prepare for winter?

I have driven them off from an established hive by putting the hose right into the mouth of their nest and leaving it on for 48 hours. But even then, it doesn't always work. I don't think a bucket of water will do anything but hydrate them.

Coydon Wallham wrote:
I will withhold that option until they prove aggressive to surrounding activity then.

I think I'll leave my drip bucket directly over the hive today. Would this or anything else lead to them abandoning this location for another while there is still time to prepare for winter?

Yeah, soaking their nest can help, especially if you do it repeatedly. Like, do it everyday for the next week or so.

Or, you could do what a 7 year old might do: Find an ant hill, make a trail of sugar from the ant hill to the nest, and then pour a pile of sugar directly into the nest.

Then stand back and watch entomological warfare ensue.

Well, no sign of activity the last couple of days as I stood there and watched for a minute or two. Seems like the original mashup treatment was enough to convince them to move along...