Huge nest hidden in trees near Farmingdale, NJ bank branch

I was recently dispatched to a busy bank branch located in Farmingdale, NJ. The bank manager contacted Cowleys because customers were complaining of a hornets nest that was hanging in a tree above the entrance to the building. This was a dangerous situation for customers and employees alike. Upon arrival, I saw that I was dealing with baldfaced hornets, which are a type of aerial yellowjacket, based on the distinctive grey paper nest. These wasps are large, about 3/4 of an inch, with white markings on their face (“baldfaced”) and abdomen. Also, these insects will keep expanding the size of the nest as their colony grows. A mature nest, which can grow to the size of a basketball, can easily house hundreds of these aggressive, territorial stinging wasps.

I’ve been a pest control technician for a number of years, and still, to this day, nothing gets me more ramped up and excited than treating and removing an active hornets nest. It’s a pure adrenaline rush, or as Tom Cruise would say in Top Gun — my highway to the danger zone! All your senses are on full alert knowing that these insects can deliver painful stings. Stinging insects are a different challenge than dealing with pavement ants or pantry pest beetles. 

Since this nest was in a busy commercial location, it had to be removed quickly so that the bank could get on with business as usual. There was too much risk having a nest staying there given its sensitive location even if the nest was dormant. So, for this particular situation, i used a liquid application with a few additives to speed up the process. These additives that I selected would kill any insects virtually on contact, making this job a fast one. I sprayed the product directly into the hornets nest knowing that this is where it would cripple them the most. After about a minute and a half of treating, I stood back to watch the results. Dozens upon dozens of hornets were crashing and burning into the pavement below. It was raining hornets! I could tell these guys were agitated and would have loved to have their stinger embedded in my flesh, but they were already mortally wounded. Too bad, how sad!

Once the nest was no longer a threat, I removed the nest from the tree, opened it up and treated the interior, which was still crawling with some dazed and confused wasps. Now the threat was gone. Bank patrons could safely come and go from the building without risk of a hornet attack. No one was harmed except those mean, nasty hornets!  After I told the bank manager that these hornets officially closed their account with the bank, I was on my way to deal with the next emergency.