Wasp sting home remedies?

So I'm out in my front yard, working on trimming a HUGE bush. One of those low-growing ones that spreads way out and it was threatening a hostile take-over of our neighbor's nearby flowerbed. In the interest of not antagonizing the neighbors and also to make the bush less hideous, I grabbed my clippers and started trimming. I trimmed from underneath working my way upwards, so it wouldn't be ugly when it was done.

About half-way done, I lift up a large branch, reach in to clip it off... and at least half a dozen big wasp-like creatures attacked me. I don't know if they were wasps, or if they were hornets or yellow-jackets since I didn't wait around for introductions. I yelped, dropped the clippers, and ran. I was kneeling by the bush so they only stung the front of my legs, thankfully not my neck or face, but it still hurts pretty badly.

Anyone know of a good easy-to-make home remedy that'll ease the swelling and pain a little bit? I'm putting ice on the stings right now and that makes it little bit better, but a long-term solution of some kind would be... nice. Yes, I know I can buy them at a pharmacy, but I'm not going anywhere on these legs, and I REFUSE to let The Guy leave the house since he is severely allergic.

I'm going to wait until it's cool and dark tonight, and then, I will kill them. I will kill all of the disgusting, evil, vicious little bugs. They. Must. Die! :mad

 

My mother made a paste of baking soda and water and dabbed it on the sting marks when I was younger.

 

I will try that... thanks

 

The baking soda paste is great! It took down the swelling immediately around the sting very nicely, and the pain as well. I made more paste and put the glass in the fridge so it will be cold when I apply more of it later, and for now I'm really enjoying being able to put pants on and walking around without excruciating pain.

Thanks again!

(Sorry for the double post, my edit button has vanished.)

 

OUCH, Mimsy, those are mean buggers.. You are right, they must be dealt with! :mad Wasp or Hornet spray, and zap them after dark...They won't fly in the dark. and you will see a pile of their little waspy bodies in the morning!

 

I have zapped two smaller nests in our backyard already, and I have one of those yellow plastic tube traps hanging on the back patio... when the baking soda mix had made my legs feel better so I could walk again, The Guy and I went to the Lowe's across the street and got a second trap, for the front yard. I already have the spray since last time I found a nest, and when twilight comes around, those little bastards will regret they ever thought about stinging me! :guns

Yes, I'm taking this a little personally... LOL

They attacked me! Big mistake on their part! But they must also die because The Guy is allergic to them, and if they sting him, we're going to need far stronger things than baking soda.

 

You are on a mission girl! Go get them.. MAKE THEM PAY! :boxing
I take it they don't know who they are messing with, eh? You must show them... :major

 

Too bad the lesson will kill them... I am armed and dangerous!

http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/044579/044579412413md.jpg

Anything named "Ultra-Kill" just begs to be bought and used on something! :-D

 

hmmm i might need this for later...
im attempting bee hive removal tonight. wish me luck.

 

Yikes! :eek

Good luck! Be ready with the baking soda!

 

Watch out. She's got a can and not afraid to use it.:-D

And it DOES work for bee stings also.

 

A can with a 20-feet range, no less...! LOL

It's frighteningly effective. Lowe's sells it for less than $3 per can (I'm sure Home Depot would have a similar product) and despite the low price tag, it has so far done everything it promised to do. When I used it on the nest in the back yard last week I soaked the entire nest and the following morning there were over half a dozen dead wasps around it. The can claims that the poison in it works for a couple of days, so if some of the wasps were away and come back 48 hours alter, the poison is still going to be strong enough to kill them.

The rose bush the nest was in was completely unharmed.

Yes, the warning label covers two thirds of the can...

 

Oh, yes, Mimsy! "Ultra-Kill" is just begging to be in your hands too! Always keep a can handy... I like to zap them when they first begin, and I take no prisoners! :-D

Oh, you have to have that 20ft range, because they will start to drop out...

Hey KingSteve, are you armed too? Better get your spray cans ready! I don't think it makes much difference on the brand name, just so long as it works... you will know by morning :-D

 

oh yeah, im armed with similar stuff. im even putting my motorcycle helmet on before i do it. full face shield and everything.

 

A Knight going forth to do battle with the fearsome.......Bees?:-D:-D:-D


Whatever works,huh?

 

OK, this I have to see! Full helmet too? :-D:-D Come on, as long as you are armed, they can't get ya.. Besides, you are going to spray AFTER dark, and they don't fly in the dark.... Just spray them, and you will see a nice pile of bodies in the morning! :-D:-D:-D I don't even wear a helmet! :-D

Pictures, King, Pictures!!!!

 

I bet you mocked the rabbit too, huh? :boxing

Do no underestimate the fearsome killing powers of nature's smaller but wicked and evil creature with nasty big sharp pointy teeth!

 

Aside from the ice, the only thing I've taken is the baking soda-and-water mix that hrlow posted about. I put it in the fridge to make it very cold, then dabbed it on the stings. It's now at the point where it only hurts if I actually apply pressure, so for obvious reasons I leave them alone. I'll put more baking soda on in a little while, for good measure.

No one in my family is allergic to bee stings, so I'm not worried about that part at all. I'm just irritated from the pain.

The Ultra-Kill spray will massacre them! Muahahaha! :guns

They hurt me. I tend to take things like that very personally. As soon as it's dark, those disgusting little things will wish they were never born! Or hatched. However they came to life. :-D

 

Stocking and taking a mild antihistamine prescribed by your doc, is prudent.
Unfortunately, not being allergic to something now is never a given for the future

 

Good point. We do have lots of antihistamines in the house, on account of The Guy being allergic to pollen, so if it flares up again I'm taking one of his pills. He already made me promise I would.

Since it's dark now I went outside, lifted the branches up, and then I emptied the can of Ultra-Kill all over the lower part of the bush. I'm buying a new can tomorrow so I can spray a second time as well. They will all die. All of them. :guns

 

i sprayed mine last night too for the first round. round 2 is taking place at 9:30PM central tonight!
I didnt go with the helmet, but i did put my jacket on though. Those things are armored.

 

Me too! LOL I was getting concerned about those two!!! Glad they had their 'training'! LOL! You two are BRAVE!:-D

 

Its rough out there, but i made it through. Someone has to defend the people from those evil bees... SuperSteve to the rescue

 

Or the evil yellowjackets! :boxing Apparently that's what mine are...

When The Guy went out this afternoon to get the big garbage can back to the garage (Monday is garbage day) he say a few of the circling around the bush. For obvious allergy-related reasons he didn't stop to count them, he just made sure to tell me about them so I can start Round Two later tonight. I have two new cans of Ultra-Kill, and plan to empty at least one of them under the bush again.

I will keep doing this for as long as it takes. They stung my legs! I am not a forgiving person. http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-violent045.gif

 

If they are Yellow-Jackets, look for an opening in the ground. They like underground nests.
Used to drench the ground around their holes with gasoline.Soaks down and pretty much dissolves them.

 

Oooooh! I have gasoline! It's in the red little tank-bottle next to the lawnmower! I'll take that bottle and a flash light out to the bush tonight. If I find a hole, I will fill it with gasoline... and they will all die!

I like this idea. I like it a lot... :guitar

EDIT:
Whoa, wait. I just realized the gasoline will probably kill the bush too... right?

 

Sometimes, it's a good thing :-D

http://scienceblogs.com/clock/upload/2007/06/burning%20Bush.jpg

http://scienceblogs.com/clock/upload/2007/06/THE-BURNING-BUSH.jpg

 

roflmaoroflmaoroflmao For the top one, anyway.

 

Hi Mimsy, do keep us posted! This is almost too funny roflmao roflmao
I hope you get ALL of them... the ultra-kill should do the trick....:-D

 

Me just found out there's carpenter bees in my back yard. They knocked this up this morning.

http://www.terragalleria.com/images/us-se/usal38196.small.jpeg

 

Ship those bad boys over here. I could put them to work.
This morning? Should finish 3-4 before nightfall.

 

I found the nest. As it turns out, it is not under ground, which means, those little buggers are dead now. :major

I sprayed the nest again tonight, for good measure, and then I took some pictures of it. That's my hand in two of them... I thought it would give you a better idea of the size of the nest.

I tried to upload the pictures, but I kept getting an error, so I put them on Photobucket instead and did my best to resize them to a reasonable image size. I did preview before posting, if they are still too big, I apologize.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/ChiliCat/IMG_0446.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/ChiliCat/IMG_0447.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/ChiliCat/IMG_0448.jpg

KingSteve, how's your war going? http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-violent045.gif

 

Hi Mimsy, GOOD JOB! The pictures are fine to me, not too big at all... Looks like you won this war! :major I hope King is doing as well... That is one bad looking nest! Glad you nailed them...

 

well theres a reason humans are the dominant species on the planet. a little chemical warfare and some strategic placement of spray is all it took. those little bees didnt stand a chance. i even saw one try to get back in his hole and i couldnt help but smile, evily(thats a word today) before i got my bee killer out and sprayed him too. thatll teach em.:major

are you keeping your nest are a war trophy mim-z?

 

err hive. not nest...:booger

 

I'm considering it... or maybe leave it as a warning to other wasps that try to move in and take their place. http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-devil01.gif

 

an "abandon all hope" sort of thing?

you know i really wouldnt want to be on your bad side. glad im not a bee.

 

Good for you two! You nailed them all!!! I have three paper wasp nests in my living room! LOL They do make nice conversation pieces.

One is HUGE, bigger than a football. After spraying them, they all just fell out of it thru the bottom hole!:-D Very cool looking... Keep it Mimsy, then no other bees or wasps will want to take up housekeeping there!
A GOOD JOB WELL DONE!

 

Oh, come on Laura, once you spray them, the little buggers kick the bucket, then you got a nice HUGE nest! LOL We had paper wasps build a nest right over our garden... Not a good thing... I still have that nest, and it really is cool.. Sprayed it to keep it all in one piece, and left it on the tree branch it was on... Really cool.. I'll see if I can find the pics of it one day, and post them....

 

After due consideration, I have decided to leave the nest where it is, with all the wasp corpses underneath it, as a warning to any other little black and yellow pest that might think it's a good idea to settle down in my front yard... the mass carnage will frighten them off!

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-violent044.gif

That's the idea anyway. In case that doesn't work I have bought one of these:

http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/042853/042853720179md.jpg

Once fully assembled and deployed the trap gives out an irresistible smell that draw in all wasps, hornets, and yellowjackets around. They crawl in towards the smell, the trap design prevents them from getting out, and they starve to death in there.

I take my wasp-killing killing very seriously. :major

 

Sounds like a plan, Mimsy! I think you have the battle won :-D

I hope that 'warning' works.... Just might, too..... :major

 

Give them H..eck, Laura.
You know what to do,so put it to use.

 

I could almost feel sorry for them.



NOT.

 

I specifically asked the people at the Lowe's store about that when I bought my Ultra-Kill spray, since the reason I bought it in the first place was a small nest I found on a rose bush. They told me that the insecticides they sell will not harm plants, only the creatures listed on the label of the can. Assuming all insecticides work that way, your bush should be fine.

We welcome you to the circle of Wasp Warriors :major