"&%$#" Yellow Jackets!!!!!!

   / "&%$#" Yellow Jackets!!!!!! #11  
That's true. You don't have to light the gas.
Just pour it in and leave it till morning.
That should be enough to kill 99% of them.

Then I would go in the next morning and clear out enough around it to light it.
It doesn't make a big fire. By morning it mite not burn at all.

Like the man said, you don't have to burn them.
But it sure is nice to get revenge on the little buggers.

Pooh Bear
 
   / "&%$#" Yellow Jackets!!!!!! #12  
My daughter was mowing her yard today and ran over a yellow jacket nest. She got stung twice. I asked her how she got off the mower, she said she just balled up and sat there and screamed until her husband came out and got her off of it. They left it setting right on top of the nest, and the yellow jackets were still swarming around it when I got to there house about 20 minutes after she called me. It is a Cub Cadet ZTR, and the hydrostat was of course still locked in. We couldn't get on it to start it, so we finally used the hydrostat disconnect rods to get it out of gear, and then my son-in-law pushed it off the nest, and got stung on the hand while doing that. I was standing a little too close after helping him get it out of gear, and one stung me on the chin. Those were some angry little buggers. I guess we all looked pretty funny walking around with ice packs on the stings. Hopefully my son-in-law got rid of them when they all got back on the nest.
 
   / "&%$#" Yellow Jackets!!!!!! #13  
Ford960 said:
... Does anyone have any ideas of how to get this lot mowed and not get stung senseless by the Yellow Jackets?

Everyone here keeps telling me to find the nest and kill them before I mow, but they don't understand that Yellow Jackets live in the ground and finding a nest isn't that easy.
Click to expand...

If you know about where the nest is (Sounds like you do), put up a couple of yellowjacket traps near it about a week before you mow. They are about $12-13 at WalMart and if you can get one of them about 20' or less from the nest it will take care of a lot of them in a week.

Finding the nest: My neighbor showed me this trick, and I have seen it work. Catch one of the yellowjackets without harming it. Tie about a 12" to 18" piece of red thread to it, which makes it much easier to see & follow. It will usually go back to the nest pretty quickly. Follow it and mark the nest.

It really helps to have the piece of thread pre-cut and pre-louped so that tying it on the insect is quick & easy. Otherwise you run the risk of getting stung, or damaging it so badly it can't make it back to the nest.

As far as destroying the nest goes, I like to saturate the opening with insecticide. As soon as I get enough in there, the ones that come out die before they can sting me. Sometimes I will be attacked by ones from a different hole while doing this, I don't know if the nests have more than one opening or if it is a second nest, but this is a golden opportunity to spray the second nest also.
 
   / "&%$#" Yellow Jackets!!!!!! #14  
I was told by one of my friends tonight that usually they have two holes leading to the same nest.
 
   / "&%$#" Yellow Jackets!!!!!! #15  
I was push mowing the yard last year and found a yellowjacket hole. They got me seven times, head, face, ankle X2, hand, calf and thigh. I had real problems with the thigh one. My whole upper leg swelled and got rock hard for three days. I couldnt even walk it hurt so bad, I couldnt bend it. The other stings didnt do this. I figure it was because I went back to push mowing after the attack which circulated the poison throughout my thigh.
 
   / "&%$#" Yellow Jackets!!!!!! #16  
I have always been told yellow jacket nests have a backdoor.
And that has always held up for the nests I have destroyed.
Don't usually find it till you dig out the nest and trace from there.

Pooh Bear
 
   / "&%$#" Yellow Jackets!!!!!! #18  
Go back there near sundown. You'll see them returning to the nest hole.

You don't need to light gasoline or kerosene. It's the vapors that kill them. That's why starting fluid (ether) worked for one person.

Sprinkling Sevin dust somewhere near the hole is a recommendation by Virginia Tech. They'll walk in it and carry it into the hole and supposedly kill the queen. Tech also recommends spraying a whole can of hornet spray into the hole. Kerosene or gasoline are cheaper and potentially less damaging to the water table if they get into it than that nerve agent spray stuff.

I had some attack me while running the Gravely. I just left it sitting there running and came back to suit up with a jump suit, boots, gloves and a hat with a het on it that I bought in Australia.

One stung me once on the JD. Since then, I suit up but haven't been hit or hit a nest. So, I can't comment on how well my suit works. Works better than being naked, which is the usual way I used to use my tractor. Still do, except for when brush hogging. The suit keeps red cedar needles from dropping onto my back at least.

Ralph
 
   / "&%$#" Yellow Jackets!!!!!! #20  
One thing I learned a few years ago is, Don't wear brightly colored clothing. They are attracted to brightly colorded clothes esp when agitated. Red draws them like a magnet. Blues, Tans, or grey seem safest.
Had on blue jeans and grey T shirt last year ran into a nest and the jackets were busy attacking the yellow tractor while I made my escape. Had to let the tractor run for quite a while though before I rescued it :)
Ben
 
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