'Monster' nest of over 200,000 wasps destroyed in Auckland

A "monster" wasp nest in South Auckland has been destroyed with exterminators taking two days to get rid of over 200,000 wasps.

The multigenerational nest was in a Conifer tree on a farm in Karaka, and stood at 1.6 metres high, and 1.5 metres wide.

It took two technicians two trips to treat it completely and is the biggest nest lead exterminator and wasp expert Lloyd Carpenter had seen above ground in 20 years.

"It's one of those nests that's been living away undisturbed for the last few years," he told Morning Report.

"Probably because we've had such warm winters, as generally they die off each winter, but if it's a warm enough winter, the nest just keeps going and we get these monster nests in Auckland.

"Quite large in size, and quite a surprise for the homeowner (as) she found it as well."

Carpenter described the noise of that many wasps sounded like a Formula One car was in the backyard.

He said special tools are required to get rid of a nest that big.

"We actually have a pressure duster... imagine a fire extinguisher on steroids.

"We put the powder in, we charge it up with compressed air, and that allows us to shoot the powder at quite a high rate."

He said two technicians go in from either side in multiple spots, and inject the powder straight into the nest, which is covered off and kills the wasps.

"It does agitate them while we do it, so we did have bit of an angry wasp crowd but it's all part of the job, really," Carpenter said.

He said generally his team are required when nests reach a size bigger than a tennis ball, with sprays from most hardware stores sufficient for smaller nests.

Carpenter said it is difficult to prevent wasp nests, with bait such as Vespex only effective certain times of the year when wasps on feeding on different things.

"Quite often with our wasp control, because it's reactive, people get in the garden on a nice weekend, find that wasp nest, and at that stage, it's kind of too late, really," he said.

He also explained the differences between stumbling on a wasp nest as opposed to a beehive.

"I always describe it as when you get close to a beehive, it's 'hi, how are you?'. When you get close to a wasp next, it's 'what do you want?', so they are a lot more aggressive," Carpenter said.

He said there was cases last summer where they were attending houses every day for a couple of months where someone had been stung by a wasp.

rnz.co.nz