# Destroying an underground yellow jacket nest with liquid nitrogen
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 26, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600 "2022-11-26T18:30:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/1 "2022-11-26T18:30:59Z")
Underground nests are extremely dangerouus for farmers and livestock. Drive over one with a tractor and it can be life threatening. Cows can walk over them.
I’ve seen gasoline and a match used. Fire can get out of control quickly. Poison lingers in the soil.
This guy poured liquid nitrogen into the nest. I was surprised it penetrated deeply enough. But it worked extremely well.
It’s fascinating to see the layers of the nest. Each layer separated by dirt.
**3 min video**
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT4LF7wCTtA)
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2022, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/2 "2022-11-26T18:59:40Z")
Sulfur Smoke bombs vs yellow jackets. Got most of them.
The white areas in the nest are interesting. I thought it was frost in the previous video. But its in this nest too.
I think liquid nitrogen is more effective.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPEQQYKTjZg)
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### Author:  [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2022, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/3 "2022-11-26T19:04:40Z")
Fire ants? That’s the problem at my son’s house here in GA.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2022, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/4 "2022-11-26T19:09:37Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> The white areas in the nest are interesting
The white is the cells that are still sealed to protect the growing larvae, i assume. In a bee hive they’d be sealed with wax, but yellow jackets build with paper.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/5 "2022-11-26T19:27:32Z")
> [@smithsb](#):
>
> Fire ants? That’s the problem at my son’s house here in GA.
Liquid nitrogen will work. Assuming it can penetrate deeply into the ground. Finding a entrance can be a problem. You have to get the main nest with the queen. Fire ants also have satellite nests.
Good point @puzzlegal Don’t want any more yellow jackets emerging.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2022, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/6 "2022-11-26T19:51:12Z")
I’ve killed plenty of yellow jacket nests in the ground with just soapy water. Really the only tricks are to do it at night, and to make sure you observe for a little while there isn’t a second hole into the hive.…
Of course, you don’t get a cool thing to look at later.
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### Author:  [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/7 "2022-11-26T20:11:06Z")
I had a huge ant nest in my back yard, and I had already found that cinnamon would keep fire ants away. So I sprinkled a bunch of cinnamon all over the bed. It was dead the next day.
I don’t know if they died or found somewhere else to go. I haven’t seen another bed in the parts of the yard I visit regularly.
Before y’all poo-poo this, consider that
1. The bark of that tree evolved to prevent insect damage and
2. It contains coumarin [Coumarin - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coumarin)
Personally, I’d like to see if other people get the same results I did
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/8 "2022-11-26T21:03:07Z")
I killed one just by finding both entrances, and covering them each with a glass bottle. It needs to be transparent, because if you cover the entrance with something opaque they dig a new one. But they’ll starve (i guess?) and the nest will die if you just blocks all the entrances. Usually there’s only one or two.
It isn’t dramatic, and it takes a couple of days, but you can even do it during daylight, as there isn’t any warning to the wasps that they need to attack something.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/9 "2022-11-26T21:12:49Z")
What? That’s very clever!
The ones I’ve done in my yard have been too active to do that in the daytime, but I will certainly try that at night the next time.
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### Author:  [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2022, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/10 "2022-11-26T21:14:52Z")
How do you identify a yelow jacket nest?
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/11 "2022-11-26T21:19:31Z")
By seeing yellow jackets fly in and out of it.
And i wasn’t clever, i read about using a bottle to kill a nest somewhere. Then i noticed a nest close to my driveway, so i tried it.
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2022, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/12 "2022-11-27T00:22:57Z")
If you’re gonna do it make it into art!
### Casting a Yellowjacket Nest with Molten Aluminum
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dvTS4C0kwM)
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### Author:  [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2022, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/13 "2022-11-27T13:26:23Z")
Shawn Woods, the youtube guy with the channel “Mouse Trap Monday”, often shows how to eradicate other types of pests, like yellowjackets.
He recently demonstrated a simple device he ordered online. It was just a setup of hose and a connector you affixed to the tailpipe of your car. You put the other end down the mouth of the yellowjacket burrow, sealed it quickly with a shovelful of dirt, and then start your car. In his demonstration, it took only about ten or fifteen minutes to completely kill the whole nest, queen and all. He dug the nest up, searching for survivors, but couldn’t find a single living yellowjacket.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2022, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/14 "2022-11-27T14:15:32Z")
Every Shawn Woods yellow jacket 🐝 video seems to end with him sifting through the dead bodies with his fingers. I know it’s 100% safe, but every time it fills me with atavistic horror.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2022, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/15 "2022-11-27T14:24:00Z")
Ground cinnamon appears to be another in a long list of home remedies for fire ant control that [don’t work](https://fireant.tamu.edu/entomologist-testing-puts-bite-on-many-home-fire-ant-treatments/) (although the, um, research performed in this area didn’t utilize a ton of it. Which would make for a very expensive pesticide.).
I used to obtain short-term local control by pouring boiling water down the entrances to fire ant nests. Very satisfying but less than completely effective.
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### Author:  [@a6ka97](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a6ka97)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2022, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/16 "2022-11-27T14:24:35Z")
Growing up on the farm we had an old push lawnmower (blade removed) that we ran a flexible hose from the exhaust into a gopher tunnel or woodchuck hole. With the mower running and air cleaner off we would squirt a little used motor oil into the carburetor and “smok’em out”. Usually had the .22 rifle with the scope nearby to get them when they popped out of their 2nd entrance/exit.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/17 "2022-11-27T16:59:58Z")
Is there any reason why liquid nitrogen would work any better than boiling water?
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2022, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/18 "2022-11-27T17:23:29Z")
How about dry ice under a bucket over the entrance? Haven’t tried it, but it seems like the C02 would sink into the nest, displace all the oxygen, and suffocate the pests.
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### Author:  [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2022, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/19 "2022-11-27T17:40:19Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> Ground cinnamon appears to be another in a long list of home remedies for fire ant control that [don’t work](https://fireant.tamu.edu/entomologist-testing-puts-bite-on-many-home-fire-ant-treatments/)
Continuing the hijack… they used a tablespoon of cinnamon “spread like pesticide” I used at least half a cup, probably more. Parts of the mounds surface were completely covered. All they proved was that a tablespoon doesn’t kill off a mound
The dose makes the poison
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-an-underground-yellow-jacket-nest-with-liquid-nitrogen/975600/20 "2022-11-27T17:52:15Z")
Maybe a half-cup would work, but as @Jackmannii says, that’s awfully expensive for a pesticide.
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