We have been invaded by a yellow jacket nest in the middle of the front yard. We have sprayed twice with a 20 percent foam spray. They are still here. 1. Would there be an extra problem because we have mole trails beneath the yard? 2. Any ideas other than setting them on fire. I wouldn't want to break any city ordinance.
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Yellowjackets are another dangerous wasp encountered around homes and buildings. Nests are often located underground in an old rodent burrow, beneath a landscape timber, or in a rock wall or wall of a building.If the nest can be located, it can usually be eliminated by carefully applying a wasp spray insecticide into the nest opening.
Sevin (tm), or Ficam (tm), dust is also very effective provided a handduster or similar type applicator is used to dispense several puffs of the insecticide dust in to the nest opening (an empty, dry liquid detergent bottle, filled no more than halfway with dust and shaken before dispensing works well).
Treatment should be performed late at night after all yellowjackets are in the nest and less active. It's best to pinpoint the nest opening during the daytime so you will remember where to direct your treatment after dark. Approach the nest slowly and do not shine the beam of the flashlight directly into the nest entrance as this may startle the wasps; instead, cast the beam to the side to illuminate the nest indirectly and place the light on the ground rather than in your hand. Similar to hornets, yellowjackets are extremely aggressive when the nest is disturbed. It may be prudent to call a professional pest control company, particularly when access to the nest is difficult.
Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky
Most people know and fear the yellow and black striped yellow jacket wasps that are common, uninvited guests to late summer picnics. Their stings are painful and for those people allergic to insect venom, they are dangerous. Many people confuse bees, which are fuzzy and only feed on flower nectar, with wasps, which have shiny bodies and are predators. What most people don't realize is that yellow jackets capture enormous numbers of flies, caterpillars and other insects to feed their young. They have been seen bringing in more than 225 flies an hour to a single nest; one study found that over a three day period, just two wasps collected 20 grams of imported cabbage worms. It is usually only in late summer, when their populations are at their peak and wasps are attracted to plants with ripening fruit or aphid honeydew deposits on the leaves that most conflicts arise between humans and yellow jackets. Although they are touchy defenders of their nests, most stings are a result of accidentally trapping or pinching a wasp.
Between 0.4 and 0.8 percent of humans are allergic to social wasp and bee venom. Nearly 80 percent of all serious venom-related deaths occur within one hour of the sting. If symptoms are more serious than localized swelling, reddening and pain or mild headache and fever, a physician should be consulted. Multiple stings are especially dangerous. Some people may develop sensitivity to venom after repeated stinging episodes over a short or long period of time.
You can avoid being stung by following a few rules:
Remove all outdoor food sources attractive to wasps. Feed pets indoors and keep garbage cans tightly covered and wash cans regularly to remove spilled food. Bury fallen fruit and table scraps deep in compost piles and don't compost meat scraps or bones.
Watch where you sit or step (don't go barefoot!). Be especially careful to look before reaching into berry bushes or picking fruit. Thirsty wasps are attracted to moisture so be cautious when sitting on or handling wet beach towels.
Never swat at a yellow jacket hovering around you--it is a good way to get stung. Instead, quietly move away or let the wasp leave of her own accord. The only exception to this is if you have accidentally disturbed a nest and hear wild buzzing. In this case protect your face with your hands and RUN!
Pick fruit in the early morning or evening while it is cool and most wasps are still in their nests.
To reduce yellow jacket problems at picnics and barbecues:
Minimize the length of time food is available by keeping it tightly covered until just before it is to be eaten. Clear away scraps and dirty plates as soon as the meal is over.
Serve sweet or alcoholic drinks in covered cups with drinking straws through the lids so wasps can't get inside and then sting you in the mouth as you drink. When drinking out of a can, keep the opening covered with your thumb between sips.
Some yellow jackets and hornet species scavenge for meat in addition to preying on live insects. Others are attracted to the sweets and sugars of candy wrappers, soda cans, and pastry deposited in garbage cans. These local populations can be reduced by removing the waste frequently and maintaining tight lids on all trash receptacles. Pesticide strips containing dichlorvos (Vapona or No- Pest Strip), attached to the inside of garbage can lids, will also help to reduce both fly and yellow jacket presence.
Set up baited yellow jacket traps around the edge of the picnic area or on the end of the table to attract wasps away from the food to capture them. Small disposable cardboard traps or reusable ones made of wood and metal screen are sold at garden centers. They work by attracting wasps to bait placed under an inverted funnel. When the wasps have had their fill and instinctively fly upwards toward the light at the end of the funnel, they are trapped in an enclosed chamber above. One can buy any variety of ready-made traps with a wide range of effectiveness. The following two companies (among others) have produced successful traps:
Seabright Laboratories, 4026 Harlan Street, Emeryville, CA 94608, (800) 284-7363 or (415) 655-3126
Sterling International, Inc.
P.O. Box 220
Liberty Lake, WA 99019
(800) 666-6766
[FAX: (509) 928-7313]
In early and midsummer, 1-2 traps should be enough for most picnics. In August and early September, however, 6 or more traps might be necessary. For much of the season, the best baits are Spam, ham, fish, cat food or meat scraps. Later in the summer, when wasps need less protein because they aren't rearing their young, sweet baits such as jam, honey or rotting fruit are often more attractive. Make very sure they are dead before cleaning out reusable traps.
One can also construct a simple and safe trap at virtually no cost - an example follows. Start with a one gallon translucent milk bottle. With a razor blade, cut a couple of small slits downward from one point (three quarters of an inch across at the bottom), a little more than halfway up the sides. Bend the point so formed inward. Fashion part of a wire coat hanger into a hook at the bottom and thread it through a small hole punctured into the cap so that the hook will be down about halfway to the bottom of the bottle when inserted. Bend the top of the coat hanger piece so that it can be suspended from the lid. Fill the bottle about one-third full of soapy water. Then pierce a small piece of turkey ham, salami, or ham (small enough to go through the bottle opening) with the hook and put the lid, hook, and meat in place in the bottle's neck. Hang the bottle in a tree or bush upwind from the area where wasps are not wanted. You might also dig a hole and place the bottle in the ground so the downwind opening is at ground level (wasps often search along the ground for food). If no gallon bottles are available, a one-liter transparent soft drink bottle should suffice.
Removing Wasp Nests
Although the number of yellow jackets in late summer invariably prompts many concerned inquiries on how to control them, usually there is little that can be done. The wasps will all die in a matter of weeks as fall approaches. Even if a nearby nest is discovered late in the summer, eliminating it may not have the desired effect because wasps can fly in from up to a mile away. It is never advisable to put out poison baits because children and pets may get into them and because other, beneficial, insects may take the bait and be killed. It is also a terrible idea to pour gas or kerosene into an underground wasp nest where it poisons the soil. If yellow jackets do build a nest in a location likely to cause problems with people or livestock, the best time to remove it is early in the season, while it is still small. This is a job for a very careful person or a professional pest control service. Chemical wasp sprays are available, but if you use them, consider very carefully where the stream of pesticide that misses the nest will land. Always use such products according to direction on the label. Remove an exposed nest that has been sprayed as soon as the wasps are dead. Wear rubber gloves and dispose of the nest to prevent birds from eating the poisoned larvae left inside.
Removing a Hanging Wasp Nest Without Using Chemicals
First, it is a good idea to get a helper. To be safe, both of you should wear protective clothing from head to foot. Although a beekeeper's suit with hat and veil is ideal, you can assemble a similar suit for the occasion from heavy coveralls, a hat with a wide brim and a length of fine screening. Wear boots with your pants cuffs pulled outside the boot tops and seal the cuffs around the boot top with rubber bands so that wasps can't get up your legs. Wear gloves and pull your sleeve cuffs screening over the hat (the brim should keep it away from your face) and tie it around the neck, over the collar of the coveralls. Make sure there are no openings around the collar or base of the veil. You should wear another layer of clothing underneath the overalls because wasp stingers are long enough to reach through one layer of cloth. To remove the nest, approach in the evening or at night when the wasps are all home and less active because it is cool. Have your helper hold open a large, heavy bag or a box with a tight lid under the nest while you cut the attaching stem of the nest as quickly as possible using a long handled pruning hook, or other tool. When the nest is in the bag or box, close it immediately and seal shut. Kill the wasps inside by putting the whole package in a deep freeze for 24 hr. or by directing a wasp spray into the package through a small hole for several minutes. Don't neglect this last step because wasps can eventually chew their way out of almost anything.
Wasp Nests In Walls
Never block up the opening as wasps can chew through wood or follow wiring to the interior of the house. In the fall, when the nest is definitely vacant, caulk or repair the crack to prevent recolonization next year.
Underground Wasp Nests
This is a job better left to a pest control operator, who can dig and vacuum out the nest, however, you can pour several gallons of boiling water into the nest. Wear protective clothing as described and be extremely careful not to scald yourself with the boiling water.
US ARMY CENTER FOR HEALTH PROMOTION AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
When we had one in the middle of a flower bed, we put a clear bowl over the main exit to the hive. The sun baked the hive and the workers could not get out. We never did find the secondary entrance, but after a couple of weeks, the colony had died anyway.
Do this at night when they're dormant!
I've been looking into removing a nest on my kids playtoy (got stung yesterday--that's how I found out about the nest!) Spraying aerosol poison can be risky. Even at night, when the stream hits the nest some yellow jackets can escape. Plus you risk poisoning birds and others who feed on wasps and their larva. Gasoline seems like a very bad idea. It will kill any grass or plants it touches, leech into the ground (possibly contaminating groundwater) with the next rain. I'm going to fill my shop vac with soapy water (kills the wasps), suck in the whole nest and plug the hose til they die!
Two summers ago, we had a terrible yellow jacket infestation in the outside wall of our house.
Very large insects were squeezing in through our kitchen door and tinier ones were sneaking in through the living room window.
Finally, the colony started infiltrating my sister's bedroom, whose windows were directly above the outside colony entrance.
Because my sister was away at the time, we ended up having to close her door and plug it with beach towels to keep the yellow jackets from spreading.
It got so bad, we finally had professional exterminators over, who estimated the colony in the thousands.
They administered poison in the colony's entrance, but after a couple of weeks, the problem was no better.
We threatened to put a hold on the uncashed check, so the exterminators came back, and put more poison in.
However, we didn't see a complete end to the bothersome visitors until a bitterly cold snap in the fall.
My father caulked over the entrance as a final measure, and that was that.
You can still find a previously unnoticed corpse under a piece of furniture or in a window sill every now and then.
I can only imagine the pile of yellow jacket bodies inside the wall that will never be exposed.
For yellow jackets in the ground nest I return at night and mix up a strong one gallon cocktail of Malathion and Diazinon in a bucket. I quickly pour the cocktail down the hole and set the empty bucket on top so the yellow jackets are trapped in the nest and leave it there until the next day. Usually one treatment works but I keep an eye on the nest for the next few days.
At dusk, after they have all returned to the nest at night, pour some gasoline into the nest, but be very careful, there is always a yellowjacket guarding the opening, and will get you for sure!
I do not care about saving a Yellow Jacket nest when in fact I am the one who is paying the mortgage on the property as well as the house. When these little,"UNINVITED BEASTERS FROM THE PITS OF ...." Come squating on my land, costing me E.R. visits, not to mention VET. bills, it becomes Survival of the fittest. Like my Grandfather before me did, so I do. Find their nest hole, spray them at night, and douse the nest with gas, or kerosene, light and go. That is usually that.
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WHAT IF YOU CANNOT FIND THE NEST ? I HAVE HEARD OF BAIT THAT THE YELLOW JACKETS CAN TAKE BACK TO THE NEST THAT WILL DESTROY IT WITHOUT HAVING TO FIND IT, BUT I CANNOT FIND THIS BAIT. ANY IDEAS?
Editor's Note:
If you search in Google for Yellow Jacket Bait, there is some available at Ace Hardware. It sounds pretty pricey. Here's a link for making your own trap: hgic.clemson.edu/
For all those of you mentioning pouring gas or other flammable liquids down the nest and lighting it, be warned. It's illegal. The best solution is getting a few black cat cherry bombs and tying them together with a long fuse. Eliminate the queen and all the other wasps will leave.
We have a nest by our deck in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am leaving it alone. They kill bad bugs and as long as we avoid the nest they will die in the fall anyway and not return. Let nature be!
I have yellow jackets building a nest behind my siding and now we are being to see a few yellow jckets in our home near where the nest is located. We called a local bee keeper who wanted $550 to come out and remove the nest by cutting a hole in our wall. But, my husband and I applied sevin and have seemed to have taken care of the problem. My questions are -- do you have to remove the nest? and If we do not remove it, will yellow jackets come back to the nest next year? Please help -- My dog was already stung twice and I have kids. Thanks.
We have a huge nest in the lot next to our home. There are three holes. Two are in tree. We have mixed dawn and water and poured in the holes. It seems to work! We are going to repeat this tonight to make sure we get them all.
We just sprayed them with WD-40, or anything else oily, and then they can't fly. Then we simply sprayed them with yellow jacket killer.
It's all well and good that the yellow jackets will die in the fall, but they are already getting into my house through a hole located somewhere behind the radiator. Since the radiator is recessed, we cannot find where they are getting in. Currently we have put plastic over the entire radiator to keep the bees from getting into my living room/dining room.
My oldest is highly allergic to yellow jackets and I have two children under the age of three that spend their time in this room (the central room of the house) My son was stung recently and my youngest, who is only one keeps crawling over to where the plastic is (no way to keep her from reaching it.) I need help in the best way to take care of the nest without ending up with an entire colony of yellow jackets in my living room. Flammables are not an option and I simply do not have $250.00 to pay a professional. What can we do ourselves?
I've tried every method to get rid of yellow jacket nests. I have found the BEST way is to suck them up with a shop vac. If they are in the ground, I put the end of the hose near/on the entrance stomp the ground and let the vac run a couple of hours. If they are on a void on the house, I have a piece of pipe that I attach to the VAC, and use duct tape to hold the two together and to hold the pipe in place. When I stop seeing bees, I'll then suck a little bit of bug spray into the vac and immediately turn off the vac to keep the spray inside. Sometimes I'll do it again the next day to get the ones that did not come or leave at the time of VAC. After another quick spray I'll wait at least week before opening it up. Even with the bees in the vac, I'll still use it as needed and then dump the vac when I need to. You will be amazed at the number of bees that are collected in the VAC. There must be a thousand or more. If the colony was in the ground, I then flood the empty nest with water from the hose. The nest breaks up and washes out.
Please remember not to open up the vacuum right after you suck up the bees and suck a little spray into the vac immediately afterwards. You also might want to tape the end of the hose for the first few hours unless you plan on using it. I don't tape the end afterwards, I just leave the vac outside in my garage. It has worked every time.
I have two nests in my old victorian house, one in the eaves, one in a wall. I can see and access the entrance to both although they are both elevated. I'm thinking of attaching a long extension tube to my shop vac to reach the entrances, a couple of questions: 1) what time of day do you suggest vacuuming, 2) how long did you have to have the vacuum on, 3) how irritated do they become, i.e., do i need to stay clear of the area when the vacuum is on?!?! I'm guessing both nests are large - thousands. Thanks.
I have killed 10 yellow jackets over the weekend inside my house and I have NO idea of where they are coming from, I have killed them on the main floor and also in the basement but not sure if they are coming from the basement or the main floor or the attic, What is the safe way to look? And what is the quickest way to rid my house of them? I am going to call my Orkin man in the morning and HOPE he can get rid of them but if not what can I do? I have 5 kids and they are ALL scared of these yellow jackets! Please help!
I found yellow jackets getting into our house and found the entry point. I sprayed a foam wasp killer into the entry point. About an hour later I found hundreds if not thousands of yellow jackets had pushed through a dry walled ceiling in our bedroom. I have been using a fogger to kill them but by the looks of it I may have thousands up in the ceiling still. I had an exterminator out and he thought that what I had done was enough but they just keep coming in. The nest could be 1ft by 3ft as that seems to be the area that is now weakened from these pests. Do I have to remove the entire nest before redoing my ceiling? Suggestions are welcome.
I found out last summer that yellow jackets built a nest inside the box underneath the roof of my bay-window. I thought I would inject spray through the hole they get in and out and would kill them. But a friend suggested that leaving the nest inside would cause more harm as it will rot and mold might grow. His suggestion is to break the roof, take the nest out and seal it. But it will cost me a lot! I don't know how big the nest is, but the number of yellow jacket will be at least one hundred. Any suggestion would be appreciated.
I confirm the shop vac solution as a great solution.
A few years ago I did the same thing, but with a couple of variations.
First, I did not use any poison in the shop vac. Not necessary and why mess up the environment. It was a wet-dry vac, so I put in a few inches of water in the vac and added some liquid floor cleaner soap to break the surface tension. So when a yellow-jacket got sucked down into the shop vac, it couldn't really float on the water at all and so it drowned. I figure it drowned pretty quickly, but I was not about to check.
I apparently had a really large nest because it took two weeks before the yellow-jackets were all gone. And no, I didn't run the shop vac continuously for two weeks. The traffic in and out of the hole seemed to peak at dusk and at dawn, so I set up a timer to turn the shop vac on and off so it would only run at those times. This saved electricity and minimized the noise aspect.
To get the shop vac wand up to the hole and stay there required a certain amount of Rube Goldberg-esque activity, but it worked out fine.
When it got rainy out, I just covered the whole contraption with a tarp and there was no problem.
Not surprisingly after 3 or 4 days the shop vac got stinky due to decomposing yellow-jackets, so I would turn the shop vac off, wait a few hours to be on the safe side, open the shop vac up, dump it on the compost pile, then add water and soap and start it up again.
Eventually I got down to like a yellow-jacket a day or so and called it quits.
I read that the queen winters over in leaf litter around your house and then starts up again. But the yellow jackets never came back. I would like to think I had weakened the queen enough by killing all her bees and shrinking her food so she did not survive.
Then again, maybe she got sick of all the noise and left!
Don't be shy. Try this out. Environmentally friendly and makes for a really great story.
Note: This idea came first from my brother who was living at home, found a nest, and hooked up Mom's Electrolux to get rid of it. Mom came home from work, saw her Electrolux perched and the roof and had words with my brother!
But the Electrolux worked too. Must have been a small nest as an Electrolux never would have handled my big nest. Plus what the heck do you do when the bag is full? Wait ten days for the bees to starve??
Good luck and happy hunting, so to speak.
Return of the Jedi, errr yellow jackets rather. These things are impeding my grass cutting obligations. A few weeks ago, I had a battle with them using charcoal lighter fluid and threw them a nice bon fire. I thought it did the trick, but they have returned. This time I choose a different elemental weapon in form of water. The nest is inaccessible to remove physical and it appears the hole is rather vast and draining some where because with the hose right next to the hole, and running for several minutes, it never crested the surface of the ground. I cannot locate where the water is draining to so I don't believe it is above ground. I have contemplated using some quick crete to fill in the hole so that they cannot escape, but I think doing so would just lead them to burrow up else where, any input would be great.
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