You have my full support for killing wasps in your yard - like everyone else was saying, they are about the only insect I know that just bites you for the sheer hell of it. My husband was walking around in our back yard one day, and a wasp came out of the nest in the ground 10 feet away and bit him on the lip just because he was there.
I wish you all the best in eradicating your unwanted pests, Lancia.
ISO gasoline, I recommend that you use kerosene (safer). Spary with insecticide (after dark, of course), then pour 1-2 cups of kerosene into the nest.
Next morning, they should all be dead.
I’m not a bug-killer…most everything gets a free pass in my domain. But not yellowjackets, for a couple of reasons. As has been noted, they’re vicious and vile and won’t be happy until you’re lying dead in the garden with them feasting on your body. And because they like to eat dead things, when they sting you they’re likely to cause a nasty infection. My youngest son missed his first two days of 1st grade because of a seriously infected yellowjacket sting. A few years later (just a couple of months ago) my dog bumbled over a nest and ended up going to the emergency vet.
So…yellowjackets are one of maybe two creatures on my list that get a “KILL KILL KILL” designation. I do it by soaking a small rag in lighter fluid, stuffing into the nesting hole, and lighting it on fire. Watch it burn and try not to gloat, because you still have to consider your karma here. It’s worked every time for me.
As a side note, I try to say this every time I get a chance: Everyone in the WORLD should have a bottle of (preferably liquid) Benadryl or a generic form of it in their cabinet and in their glovebox. You don’t know when your next sting will result in an anaphylactic reaction, and Benadryl can save your life. I’ve read more than one case of someone who was able to make it to the hospital because they happened to have a bottle of kid’s Benadryl in the kitchen and thought to drink it while someone called 911.
Oooo, schnapp! I guess the price one pays for having fellow taxpayers hold up the burden for one’s every misfortune, though, is an inculcated inability to make the simplest decisions about ones own yard without helpful guidance from the protective hand of the State.
I’ve killed yellowjacket nests with liquid Sevin before. I just mixed up a gallon and poured it down the nest after dark. Did the job well, and Sevin doesn’t stick around long, it breaks down.
Well, my trap is an utter failure. I baited it with ham, orange slices, and strawberry jam. Nothing. Now I’m starting to wonder if they really are yellowjackets.
I have used a wasp trap in the past; I believe my most successful bait was a mixture of tuna and apple juice. Most disgusting pairing of food ever; ambrosia to wasps.
Maybe they have internet access, watched the Youtube videos, and saw the writing on the wall and booked.
This. Gasoline fumes are heavier than air and will sink to the bottom. Igniting the gasoline is unnecessary, but deeply emotionally satisfying. But if you do choose to ignite, do give the fumes a full half hour to do their work.
I brought this up with my dad, who has experience with this sort of thing. His recommendation: some used motor oil, to keep them from escaping, followed by a gas/oil mix, followed by a lit match. I imagine watching those guys burn is satisfying, but am not sure how necessary the fire is. I doubt the fire reaches the underground chamber, and just manages to suck out the gas fumes.
When I was a kid, I took out one of these nests with a propane torch and a garden hose. My brother inadvertently stepped on the hole where they were nesting and got stung. After that, it was on! I got the torch and my brother manned the garden hose. First, we stuck the hose in and flooded the nest. After a few minutes of that, he took out the hose. As the pissed off yellow jackets came out of the hole, looking for a perpetrator to sting, they were met with a 3000 degree surprise. We alternated fire and water until no more yellow jackets came out. Problem solved. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the smartest thing to do, especially since they could’ve had another hole somewhere, but in this case it worked. Yeah, I had some problems.
Liquid nitrogen - instant frozen death, completely nontoxic, $20 for a big tank at a welding store. Wear safety glasses and gloves.
Yes, this. A cup of gasoline down the hole, then a large bowl over it to keep the fumes in. Do it. They are mean and dangerous.
You can tell yellow jackets from honey bees because, although honey bees may be yellowish depending on the variety, bees are a little shorter, fatter, and have a little hair or fur. Yellow jackets are a little longer, slenderer, yellower, and slick. Yellow jackets do build paper nests above the ground, but often live in the ground. Honey bees live in large above ground colonies, in wax hives in trees, house walls, and white boxes that kindly beekeepers make for them. Honey bees never live in the ground.
If you make a honey bee very mad, it may sting you once, but then it will soon die because it has a barbed sting that usually stays in your skin and pulls its venom sack and some of its guts out. (If you are stung by a bee, scrape the sting and venom sack off with a finger nail or knife, but do not squeeze or crush the venom sack.)
A yellow jacket will sting you repeatedly and it hurts worse.
Honey bees really are relatively docile insects, unless you really disturb them, such as by harvesting some of their honey. I used to keep a bee hive on my front porch, and no one was ever stung from it.
Yellow jackets are viciously mean. I was walking in the woods once with one of my dogs, when she accidentally walked over a yellow jacket nest. I didn’t know what was going on, but I saw the dog writhing and in serious trouble. I ran over and was stung dozens of times. The dog was incapable of moving, and I had to drag her away by the collar. It was awful. She did live.
Over the years, I’ve been stung hundreds of times by honey bees, because of my hobby. Honey bees don’t scare me at all. Yellow Jackets do.
I’m going with the gasoline – tonight. If I don’t check back in, then I got stung to death.
Happy trails!
:eek:
There is actually a natural, environmentally friendly spray that you can use. I believe in utilizes lemon oil which for some reason is toxic to bees. You might start by visiting your local feed supply or tact shop.
It seems that his operation against the yellow jackets has already commenced. It has been awhile though. He said he had to go to the hospital because of being stung before, so I hope there was at least someone around to help in case his operation failed. :eek:
I got rid of a nest in my yard by flooding them out. Quite effective and no toxins to deal with at all. I waited until night, when they are snug in their nest, then stuck a hose in the entrance and turned it on. I let it go full blast for a while, then turned it down to a nice gentle stream and left it in all night. The next day there were still a few yellow jackets trying to come and go. I put the sprinkler over their nest - not too strong, just enough to keep the nest and area around it soaked - and just let it go for I don’t know how long. Once the ground and their nest was saturated, they left and didn’t come back.
SUCCESS!!! DEATH TO YELLOWJACKETS!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
(ahem)
So I donned double jeans, double work shirts, corks, work gloves and a head net. In my garage I had an old coffee pot that died a couple weeks ago, waiting to be taken to the dump. I grabbed the carafe, put a pint or so of gasoline in it, grabbed the Raid and a flashlight, and went looking for the nest. This time, I found it. In the entrance to the nest, I could see one of them looking at me. He got the first squirt of Raid :). I emptied the entire can of Raid down the hole, then poured the gasoline down, plopping the carafe over the hole to finish it off. I have never felt such an adrenaline rush, knowing I was so close to certain death. Despite my apprehension, I waited a moment and listened. The sound of nest buzzing underground was one one of the scariest sounds I have ever heard! I expected this buzzing, like you hear in old Looney Tunes, but no. Closest description is a big V8 running deep underground. Needless to say, I GTFO.
I’ll check it at daylight, see if any made it out of the nest.
DEATH TO YELLOWJACKETS!!!
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Good work. The gasoline has never failed me.
Once when I had a nest turn up in the middle of a strawberry bed, I didn’t want to use gas for fear of it being drawn up into the ripening fruits, so I used a clear glass bowl turned upside down over the nest hole. What I was told was if you simply plugged the hole, the yellow jackets would deal with it by making another entrance. But the clear glass allowed them to come out and fly while seeing the sun, thus not triggering their instinct to dig a new entrance, and they would eventually starve to death.
It worked for me. For several days, I would go out and witness a bowl full of flying yellow jackets banging against the glass. After about a week their numbers were severly reduced, and after two weeks, the nest was no more. WARNING: might not be a method usable with little curious children in the house, can’t imagine how bad it would be to suddenly take the bowl off before the nest dies in daylight hours.