Yellow jackets...

Made from plants-eco friendly - far better than using a known carcinogen -i am surprised that someone so educated would suggest using gasoline

A can of brake clean works well. And it evaporates fast. Plus it kills them in seconds and those that don't die right away can't fly. But that is just me, it is still probably not the best for the enviroment. Makes you wonder if it kills them so fast, what does it do to us.....but that is another subject. Kills them through the nest as well as the nest material absorbs it really well.

Actually most of the gasoline would evaporate into the air LONG before percolating down into the ground to the ground water level. I'm just not keen on using gasoline right next to my house. Not only will the fumes likely get into the house, but it is definitely a fire hazard I would rather not take. The yellow jackets could get so angry that they would burst into flames. Then where would I be?

I checked on the nest today and the yellow jackets are all over the place at the back of the house. First I need to clear away the gardening pots around the hole before I do anything, as they will make it tough to put a cover over the hole after I spray into it.

Originally Posted by smallet

A can of brake clean works well. And it evaporates fast. Plus it kills them in seconds and those that don't die right away can't fly. But that is just me, it is still probably not the best for the enviroment. Makes you wonder if it kills them so fast, what does it do to us.....but that is another subject. Kills them through the nest as well as the nest material absorbs it really well.

That reminds me. I used some GM adhesive remover on a fire ant mound a while back and that really wiped them out. The stuff has a very powerful odor that made me woozy even out in the open air.

But again, being right next to my house, I really don't want that odor getting inside and maybe asphyxiating Connie and myself...

Yellow jackets ugh, got stung three times last year all in about 2 minutes.
We have those big wood borer beetles and we found if you see them go in the hole and then spray WD40 it kills them, just a little fyi.
I would really like something for yellow jackets easy enough for us slow moving more mature people (old). Something that won't also kill the bees.

hope your fire dept is nearby

Originally Posted by kgmax1228

Made from plants-eco friendly - far better than using a known carcinogen -i am surprised that someone so educated would suggest using gasoline

My point is that whatever you use is going to have toxic effects. Pyrethrin will kill non-target insects as well as using most other means of insecticide including non-conventional means such as gasoline. I am not advocating using gasoline, I was merely offering a suggestion that I know people who use it as a method of yellow jacket control.

The most eco-friendly method that I have heard of is to put some sweet smelling fruits near the hole around dusk and let the raccoons and skunks come get that. More often than not they will take the yellow jacket nest too as the larva are a great energy source. I have used this method twice with great success.

Good idea-eco friendly

After having parked my horse on a yellow jacket nest when I was a teenager, and getting stung literally hundreds of times by the little terrorists, I fear them like nothing else.

When they come into the house, I spray them with 409. Works in seconds.

But removing a nest? I don't know what I'd do. Probably move out....

I wonder if subduing them with smoke, like they use to subdue honeybees, would work, and then you could do whatever it is you're going to do with the nest?. If you can get the smoke through the rocks, it seems like it would give you a couple of minutes or so to get through the rocks and to the nest before they became active again.

Originally Posted by kgmax1228

Good idea-eco friendly

And hopefully the raccoons get stung a lot, because I hate them. Evil predators.