Fun with yellow jackets?

Some costly and a couple of dangerous solutions above. Cheap and 100% effective is to:

Wait until dark and dump three heaping tablespoons of Sevin powder down the hole. All gone in a couple of days. Dead all gone.

A quicker but a little more dangerous way is to:

Wait until dark and point a lit propane torch at the mouth of the hole and start thumping the ground around the hole. They will come streaming out and be singed in the process. This will take a few minutes and don't drop the torch or move away from the hole.

The lawnmower method does not get them all.

I'd have to say that about half to two-thirds of a can of Wasp and Hornet killer works pretty well. Key is to do it at night and hose 'em down good. As I said previously, I had the nozzle of the can just inches away from the opening. During the dissection today, I noticed that there were a handfull of pretty healthy jackets left inside the nest, but they were dispatched with a follow-up spray. Also, many of the larvae were still very much squirming.

Okay, pics for you patient folks, as it is now indeed later, as in: The kids are in bed.

The first pic is of the nest as I unearthed it. I dug up the clump of grass with a bunch of dirt and found nothing under it. The nest lay closer to the foundation wall where it stays drier, perhaps 8 to 10 inches from the actual opening.

Second pic shows the structure of the inside of the nest. It consisted of at least three "pancakes" stacked one on top of the other.

Yes, it's an old rusty shovel.

This is a good shot of one of the pancakes. Amazing how many jackets were in this one small nest. Given the number of larvae in the nest, that number would have doubled very quickly. I'm very glad I found this nest when I did this early in the summer. It was in an area where the kids might very well have found it first.

I like pancakes!

wow.. that's pretty impressive really.

well done.... I HATE those things... managed to get one more yard cutting done without finding any...

yes I realize that I have just jinxed myself and the yard will be full of them for the rest of the yr

wbjones wrote: well done.... I HATE those things... managed to get one more yard cutting done without finding any... yes I realize that I have just jinxed myself and the yard will be full of them for the rest of the yr

I really did jinx myself..... a few days later one got me when I was doing the side yard... never could find the hole... waited several days, searching for the nest every day, never could find it..... finished the yard with no more problems... then today got nailed again ... same yard, same area....

found the berkeleyers this time... tonight they WILL DIE

more pics then?

In reply to wbjones:

So, which methodology are you going to use?

All yellow jackets must die. Doing landscaping near Atlanta I was stung so often that the stings wouldn't even swell.

Living in the desert has some advantages. One is low humidity and another is no friggin' yellow jackets. The other side, however, is scorpions. No roaches - scorpions. Opened the screen door just an hour ago and a bark scorpion fell from above. They can put you in the hospital. I don't like to kill them but...

flames at night would be cool

gas and fire... if I knew how to post pics I would

I have only been stung once... well, three times at one time. One of my fiats had been sitting for a while and I needed to move it. When I tried pushing it, the one back brake had it's pads rusted to the rotor.. so I got out the hammer and gave it a few whacks.. and immedatly got hit three times on the hammer weildind hand.. there was a nest on the backside of the caliper.

They died a WD40 induced firey death

something about this thread makes me wonder about Aliens asking how to get rid of pesky humans...

fasted58 wrote: one funny bee

'BENNY'S BUZZING OFF! BENNY'S BUZZING OFF!'

'I am not!'

'Oh, yeah? Then why is there honey all over the sheets?'

bringing this one back from the dead …

found my first yellow jacket nest of the yr … in yrs past it usually was 2 - 3 nests in the yard each summer.

thank goodness I spotted them before they spotted me

was going to take care of them last night after dark … forgot … I was up early enough this morning that it was still dark

a pint of gasoline and a wadded up piece of newspaper and a match ….

it was just getting light (still needed a flashlight to find the hole) … but even so there were a couple of industrious workers that were leaving the nest … poured the gas in immediately … stepped back, lit the ball of newspaper, tossed it in the general direction of the hole … and watched the earth burn for a good little while …

bye bye

A little powdered Sevin insecticide and a board. That's all it takes.

Dr. Hess wrote: We have something that looks like bees coming out of a hole in the ground. They are not wasp shaped, more bee shaped. Are these yellow jackets or bees? How can you tell the difference? Do bees nest in the ground? I kinda would like to "save the bees," you know, to save the planet so we can have more global warming and all, but yellow jackets or hornets must die.

Bumble bees will nest in the ground.

Run a pipe from your cars exhaust to the hole. Gas the bastards. Way less of a fire hazard

I kill 20 or 30 nests every year. You spray a little carb cleaner or raid in the hole in the evening when they are all home and they die. They do not connect the foaming death to you so you are never really in any danger. I have become pretty complacent about it. Most of ours are wasps that make nests in the eves of the house and the shop, but they sting just as bad. I used to work in the bush and we did a nasty job where we would use a hatchet to cut notches in weed trees and squirt roundup in the notches to kill the tree. The vibration would bring them swarming out of their holes. We used to get stung multiple times a day. But worse was we would go running blindly through the bush trying to escape and really hurt ourselves. I have hated the little bastids ever since and I will never let one live if I can find its nest. My sister had a nest on her house last summer that was almost two feet long. When you tapped on the window they would all buzz and the whole nest would kind of bristle.

Hasbro wrote: All yellow jackets must die. Doing landscaping near Atlanta I was stung so often that the stings wouldn't even swell. Living in the desert has some advantages. One is low humidity and another is no friggin' yellow jackets. The other side, however, is scorpions. No roaches - scorpions. Opened the screen door just an hour ago and a bark scorpion fell from above. They can put you in the hospital. I don't like to kill them but...

in Panama we had a lot of these guys... this was just walking though our room one eve.

this was closer to the costa rican boarder... saw a bunch more when working outside... had to ware gloves... the friends we stayed with had sons who would cut the stinger off and then play with them... or let them fight each other... but as far as danger we where far more worried about these suckers...

"bullet ants" 1" long freaking ants

wikipedia.org said: The pain caused by this insect's sting is purported to be greater than that of any other hymenopteran, and is ranked as the most painful according to the Schmidt sting pain index, given a "4+" rating, above the tarantula hawk wasp and, according to some victims, equal to being shot, hence the name of the insect. It is described as causing "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours".

what about molten aluminum. I seem to recall some guys pouring it into ant colonies to make some truly spectacular pieces of art

I read they are attracted to dark colors. I watch what I wear. I have been stung by yellow jackets. They sting over and over where a bee stings once. The sting hurts for days. When they sting the release a pheromone and many other yellow jackets chase you down. I have run across my yard like a little girl.

Spraying at night is the right way as they return at dusk and you get them all.

someone said less fire hazard … you don't understand fire is what I'm after