Yellow Jackets not being friendly

[SPYDERLK]

I've had better success with about half cup of gasoline and don't light it. Insects don't breathe. They absorb oxygen through their "skin" and die near instantly from raw gasoline vapors. Gasoline vapors are heavier than air and if not burned will permeate down through the entire nest.
I'll admit though, the burning does create a feeling of satisfaction, especially if one of the little villians has just nailed you.

Yes. :thumbsup: Gas is totally effective. Less than a $dimes worth at nite will kill any hive. Below ground just pour on at nite. Topside nests require a little more ingenuity to get it inside so the fumes can do the job.
larry

 

[gotrocks]

Yellow Jackets and Hornets are two different critters. Most of our Yellow Jackets do nest in the ground but the football size nest in the tree was probably Hornets. And they don't always use trees.

This was taken a few years ago. Called nearby university entomology dept. - they were not interested. Said was common near bodies of water.
We have a small pond that is about 1000 feet away.

If we tapped on the window these hornets would come out "fighting mad" start hitting the window panes, sounded like hail on the roof.
(I don't think any of those in the pictures were smiling for the camera

)

Did some video and had several that brought friends to come upstairs and watch the activity.

After a while we were afraid visitors to front door might get stung, SO out came the night time spray and after two sessions we scraped the nest off the window.

 

[Maxify55]

A proper mixture of malathion and water, placed in a pump sprayer should do the trick. Give the elevated hive a good soaking from a safe distance. Careful with the warning label. Follow instructions, please.
A more organic means would be a mixture of 5% Riptide. Again, mixed to container instructions. It's, as well as malathion, a neurotoxin. In this instance it's made from flower seed hulls, chrysanthemum I believe. It doesn't last long in UV light, however. We use it in our barn in a pressurized fly system.
There are others but you get the idea. You want knock down power. The stuff I mentioned will sever cranial activity to the body.

Better living through chemistry, ay?
Ya gotta be a chemist to run a farm these days.

 

[whatever1]

I can support the gasoline. I put that in a hand sprayer and they just dropped out of the air. Quicker than any bug spray.

 

[barkerrd]

Last summer , I had a yellow jacket nest start in front of my house . It was in the ground between the shrubs and the foundation . As the summer progressed the nest got larger and larger . I knew it was getting serious because there is a window and I could see the "bees" coming and going . The entrance hole was at least 3 inches and judging from the activity , there was at least a couple thousand . I knew I had to do something and I warned everyone to stay away from that side of the house .
Then one night in late August , a skunk or a coon came and dug up the entire nest and ate it . All I found the next morning was a few remnants and a large hole . Problem solved ...

 

[USMC.27]

One way I have found that works is to mix up dish washing liquid with water. About a cup of the soap with three cups of water. put the water in first then add the soap. Stir it as to not cause it to foam or create suds. Wait until early in the morning or late in the evening when the nest is full and inactive. throw the mixture on the nest and they will drop immediately. It works under the same principal as BXpanded's idea. They can't assorb oxygen and die right away.

 

[SPYDERLK]

One way I have found that works is to mix up dish washing liquid with water. About a cup of the soap with three cups of water. put the water in first then add the soap. Stir it as to not cause it to foam or create suds. Wait until early in the morning or late in the evening when the nest is full and inactive. throw the mixture on the nest and they will drop immediately. It works under the same principal as BXpanded's idea. They can't assorb oxygen and die right away.

Sounds good for when theyre exposed. For an enclosed nest I inject a couple oz gas at nite with a syringe and let the fumes do it.
larry

 

[BXpanded]

An old friend in East Tennessee was an avid Bluegill fisherman and he absolutely prized hornet larvae. When he found a nest, he'd come back after dark when all the hornets were inside for the night. He would take a large trash bag and just go over the nest and the end of the tree limb, etc. Then twist the bag closed, break off the limb and wrap some tape or a tie wrap around the top of the bag to keep it closed. Tossed the whole thing in the freezer. Everything was killed by the cold, but the nest and larvae weren't damaged. Later, he'd open the nest and save the larvae in a freezer container.

I guess it would work if you wanted to save the nest without damage...

 

[buck12]

For in ground nest gas will work. My experience as others have said is not to ignite the gas. As a kid we had a nest in a ditch bank. I waited til night poured a couple of gallons of gas in the hole and lit it. I went back an hour or so later and dug the nest up and found many yellow jackets very much alive. An old timer told me not to lite the gas which I have used several times over the years and it has worked well. The dish soap idea works well on Wasp nests and is inexpensive.

 

[rd_macgregor]

For in-ground nests, I just drop a couple of mothballs into the entrance hole and place something over the hole (a rock or board); they don't come back.
Although I've seen some of the big paper nests in the woods, I've not yet had any close enough to the house or a work site that I needed to remove them.
BOB