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Yellow jackets...

Rich Z

Rich Z

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About a week ago, I was outside pulling up grape vines and their attendant root network when apparently one of the roots went through a yellow jacket nest. Luckily only one of them got me, but still, not exactly an experience I want to experience very often, if at all, again. So I broke out some general insect spray we had sitting around and sprayed the nest. Must have worked, because I haven't seen any more yellow jackets around there.

So today I was putting some sections of watering hose together, and noticed some yellow jackets in back of the house flying into a hole right next to the house foundation. Damn... The hole is in through rocks that we had bordering the foundation wall, so spraying poison into it and sealing the hole so the suckers don't come at me will be a bit more difficult.

I've heard that tackling them at night is the best bet, as they can't see very well at night, but then again, neither can I. I don't think having bees pouring out of a nest and me and them running around blindly in my back yard would be a whole lot of fun.

The spray poison I used wasn't really designed for bees, as they seemed to keep flying around quite a while after being sprayed. Don't think I would want to get stung by bees also carrying around a load of insecticide besides their sting. I think that sucker that got me also bit me, as when I saw him on my forearm, at first I thought it was a yellow fly hunkered down taking a bite.

Anyone tried any yellow jacket nest removal that worked well for them? The nest is in the ground, obviously. I've read people using boiling water, gasoline, even flour, to do the job. I've read that the nests can get VERY large by the Fall months, so I don't want to wait until I have some huge colony of these suckers to have to deal with. I wouldn't be real keen on neither Connie or myself getting stung multiple times if they just get aggitated over something. Years ago I had a few sting me apparently because they got aggitated over the weather. Stong winds from an approaching hurricane seemed to get them as concerned as it did us.
 
I think I would hire a pro just to be sure.... suppose you turn out to have gotten allergic for them by now? Even if not, multiple stings can be life threatening or at least cause serious problems.
 
yellowjackets

call Billy the exterminator (A&E TV) They use Pyrethrin - no more Yellowjackets :dancer: :dancer:
 
The state park where I did my research would use gasoline or spray. Both worked fairly well. I have always used the wasp/hornet spray and that works okay after a couple sprays after a couple days.

Night is for sure the best time as they are more subdued and can't see was well. Also, their sentinels aren't as active....those are the little guard yellow jackets that usually hang out at the entrance of the hole and release a hormone if danger is near and that alerts the rest of them. If you can nail those sentinels, then you have an extra 5 seconds or so before the others release the hormone.
 
Gasoline?

use that and you will kill EVERYTHING,plus contaminate the ground water!! BAD IDEA!! :realhot: :realhot:
 
Gasoline?

Florida is porous limestone rock-ANY amount of toxic substance ends up in the water-from there, into all living things-NO GOOD!!! :angry01: :angry01:
 
Pyrethrin

Made from plants-eco friendly - far better than using a known carcinogen -i am surprised that someone so educated would suggest using gasoline :dancer: :dancer:
 
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.
 
smallet said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
kgmax1228 said:
Made from plants-eco friendly - far better than using a known carcinogen -i am surprised that someone so educated would suggest using gasoline :dancer: :dancer:
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.
 
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