Stupid pesticides

So my wife has this thing about wasps. She hates them. Something about her parents deck and perpetual nests, I'm not exactly sure. Frankly it doesn't matter - she doesn't care for them. So when I spotted a growing nest outside our kitchen window, action had to be taken.

Since I was taking a day off work, I headed down to the store. My youngest decided he had to come with me, so packed him in the car and headed to the local Home Hardware. Of course my son fell asleep before the first corner, so I was browsing the wasp "solutions" with 37 lbs of deadweight in one arm. Nothing like a good aerobic workout!

Found Raid Max Wasp & Hornet Bug Killer. Looked like it would do the trick - plus it was on sale! Headed home and re-read the directions, specifically the one that said "wait until evening." Excellent idea! So I waited. Well, had dinner and played CounterStrike: Source until it was after 10pm and then headed out.

The can claimed a 2 to 2.5m foaming distance. So I inserted the straw (applicator wand sounds like some kind of hygiene product) into the nozzle and spray. Foam everywhere - on the wall, on the window, but not really on the nest. Now I have to find the straw in the dark. It did its best foam impression by shooting off the nozzle immediately. Without the straw to focus and accelerate the contents of the can, there would be no 2m reach. Off to get the ladder and start again. Get back to find some dazed wasps crawling on the window ledge, trying to figure out why it was so hard to focus. "Dave's not here man" they said. They looked cold so blanketed them in foam. I think they like it - they went to sleep right away and stopped moving. Then I covered the nest from 0.5m.

Brilliant idea from the directions - I decided to "insert the [straw] into the nest opening and fill it" (still can't call it an applicator or wand). Found the straw and stuck it under the foam. Squeezed the trigger and the straw shot out and nearly hit my eye. Cursing (softly - still don't know the neighbours that well), I headed to the nearest tap to rinse my eye. After rinsing my eye, I read the first aid directions and found out the 2 minutes of rinsing was not nearly enough and that I should spend FIFTEEN MINUTES rinsing. Nuts to that - there's more foam left in the can!

Discovered the extra second round of foam had increased the weight so much that it had fallen off the nest entirely. Foamed up the nest, lightly this time and fetched the hose. I figured that this stuff is so awesome that it would probably turn my wall interesting decorative colours if I left it alone. Rinsed off the wall and window, leaving the nest covered.

So the product was effective - killed about 5 wasps and 1 human. Well nearly - I guess I'm technically not dead. However the foam doesn't seem to be that important. Other products will kill the bugs on contact and work from longer distances, so you can just soak the outside of the nest and kill any that come to investigate directly. I guess it is much the same as CounterStrike - guess they aren't really that different after all. But I can hardly recommend this foam spray stuff. Get something that will actually spray the distance. By "actually" I mean one that doesn't require a straw to be attached before it works as advertised.