Baldfaced Hornet Control in Wimberley, TX
Picture a closed paper globe, gray-brown and swirled like old newsprint, hanging from an oak limb, with black-and-ivory wasps slipping in through a single opening at its lower end. That is the nest most Wimberley callers describe when they ask about hornets. Leave a nest like that alone if it sits high and far from daily traffic; get it checked if it hangs over a doorway, a deck, a swing set or a strip of grass you mow. Text or call (210) 281-1064, or use our online booking.
First, look at who is flying in and out #
The nest alone won't settle it, because more than one Texas wasp builds gray paper. Watch the entrance from a good distance for a minute.
- Baldfaced hornet: about 3/4 inch, mostly black, with ivory-white marks on the face and the rear tip of the body. Wings fold lengthwise when it lands.
- Mexican honey wasp: smaller than a honey bee, dark, and calm around people. Its nest is a rounded paper ball out in the leafy canopy. See Mexican honey wasp control in Wimberley.
- Yellowjacket: half an inch, yellow and black, and nearly always living underground or inside a wall rather than in a branch. See yellowjacket control in Wimberley.
- Paper wasp: builds an open comb with the cells showing, not a covered ball.
A photo taken with a zoom lens is plenty for a technician to start with.
What the Texas records say #
Texas A&M AgriLife lists the baldfaced hornet as the only "hornet" reported in Texas and then points out that it is really a yellowjacket relative (AgriLife field guide). The Texas Apiary Inspection Service says the same. Beyond that, the sources we use give no Texas range map and no count for Hays County or the rest of the Hill Country. We can't tell you how often Wimberley residents run into this insect, and we won't pretend to. The practical takeaway: get the insect identified before deciding what to do.
Trees by the house, trees by the creek #
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Edwards Plateau that holds Wimberley is juniper and oak country (TPWD ecoregions). AgriLife says baldfaced hornets mostly hang their nests in trees, now and then on the side of a building or under an eave. On a wooded Wimberley lot, scan:
- Branches that overhang the roof, carport or deck
- Low limbs above the route your mower or trimmer takes
- The shady eaves of sheds and workshops
- Trees beside gates and mailboxes you visit every day
Town has its creekside trees too. The city made 7.24 acres along Cypress Creek, just east of Wimberley Square, into a nature trail and preserve (City of Wimberley). If a big paper nest ever catches your eye on public ground like that, give it room and mention it to the city; don't throw anything at it.
Should it come down? #
A colony at full size runs a queen and 200 to 400 workers. AgriLife says hornets are slower to attack than paper wasps or yellowjackets, mostly because their nests sit up out of reach, but each wasp can sting again and again, and the sting is intensely painful.
Usually fine to leave:
- High in a tree at the back of the property
- Over ground nobody uses until frost
Worth treating:
- Within a few steps of a door, porch or eave you walk under
- Above a play area, pool deck or mowed lawn
- Anywhere near a household member with a sting allergy or heart condition
What not to do: spray only the paper shell, which Penn State Extension says stirs up the colony and raises the sting risk for days afterward; poke it with a pole; or cut the limb it hangs from. If the wasps chase you, protect your head and get into a house or vehicle.
Pest Trappers' approach to tree nests in Wimberley #
The visit starts with identification, since a Mexican honey wasp nest and a hornet nest call for different decisions. The technician then checks the height, the access and how close the nest is to the places your family uses, walks you through the choices, and applies any product only as its label directs. Some nests are simply left in place. You get a price once that assessment is done. Pest Trappers LLC holds Texas Department of Agriculture structural pest control license TPCL #0887549 and is a family-run business. For background, see the baldfaced hornet guide; for everything else we cover locally, see the Wimberley page.