The Surprising Solution For a Hornet’s Nest in Your Tree

Many residents of the Hudson Valley are now just discovering that they have a hornet's nest on their property.

As the leaves begin to fall from trees, homeowners throughout New York are finding out that an army of hornets has been living next to them all summer. While most people attribute these giant paper-like nests to wasps, they're actually the work of hornets.

Wasps make smaller nests that look like an upside-down umbrella attached by a single stalk that could be stuck to the corner of the porch roof, shed or fence. Hornet nests are much bigger and usually hang high in a tree.

What to do if you have a hornet nest on your property?

Recently, I was working outside my house when a neighbor pointed to my tree and said, "Impressive nest!" Thinking it was the work of the many birds that visit our feeder, I came over to look and was shocked to discover a massive hornet nest hanging about 20 feet above me.

The giant nest was literally buzzing with activity, as hornets could be seen flying in and out. I went into panic mode, wondering how I would get rid of the nest. After some quick Googling, I discovered exactly what I needed to do. The answer was nothing.

According to experts, if the hornets aren't bothering you there's no reason to do anything about a hornet's nest on your property. Since it takes about 4 months to make a full nest and I am just finding out about it now, the stinging insects have obviously had no impact on my family at all.

In fact, doing something about the nest now would only be a waste of time, since hornets die out and empty the nest by the end of October.

What to do with an empty hornet's nest?

What's interesting is what happens to the nest after it's been abandoned. Hornets will not return to the same nest next year, so if you want to, you can decide to just leave it there. Birds will peck at it during the winter looking for dead hornets to eat and it should eventually fall to the ground before spring.

But, there is a very good reason to act quickly and preserve the nest. It turns out that hornet nests can be quite valuable.

Why are hornet nests valuable?

People are actually spending good money purchasing hornet nests on places like eBay and Facebook Marketplace. Some, believe it or not, use them as decorations in their home. The nests will last forever if kept indoors. Designers use the decommissioned nests as a decorative feature that brings the beauty of nature indoors and are willing to pay for ones that are especially "good looking".

Others purchase the nests to put them on their porch. The empty nest serves as a warning to bees and wasps who will steer clear of an area already claimed by the stinging insects. It's also a proven deterrent to those tenacious wood bees, keeping them far away from your tasty deck.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do with our nest yet, but one thing I'm certain of is that I'm going to make sure it's completely vacant before I get anywhere near it.