Ground hornets, Not honey bees

[francessca135]

So of course finally get the 1978 wheelhorse lawn mower working and started cutting grass in between the rain only to stumble on 5 different ground hornet sites (over the 16 acres of grass I cut) ground hornets 100's everywhere swarming...I must of bought-out the supply of seven dust cans at tractor supply ( no one carries the big bags of dust anymore) still after 2 weeks they appear to be still active near or close to their original ground hole opening. HELP! any suggestions? :hissyfit:

 

[rekees4300]

Wait till dark then pour gasoline in the holes.

 

[MacLawn]

Wait until dark, spay each hole good with insect spray. Not nary gasoline.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I know gas works but the correct insect spray should work too. You could mow when they sleep too I guess.

 

[SPIKER]

Many methods of killing em, most fun is WEED BURNER (big 20 lb propane tank and torch. ) Funny thing is I have done the gas trick at night and during day lighting it and not lighting it most times it seems to work but is more fun to BURN EM ... Really one of best ways I have found save up one of the small pop bottles, I prefer MT Dew (green so not a sore thumb and hornets dont seem to notice the color so much.) put maybe 1/3 full of gas add a bit of 2cyc oil, shake well. very early am (dawn) or (right after sun down Dusk) tip it upside down & shove it into the hole blocking the exit. Gas Fumes will kill everything inside the hole. If you burn it they often come right back to the hole to eat the dead/grubs/larva and or pull out the building materials? I've tried the Seven Dust, (worthless and takes days if at all.) The NEW stuff just does not work in days past it killed the nest in 3 or 4 days... I say why wait use torch or Gas & bottle...

Also I use a extendable paint roller handle ~12' long and tape the bottle into the roller so I'm not right next to the hole. The odd thing about the Weed Burner is you can walk right up to them and cook em they seem to almost ignore the person and attempt to save the nest? They will fly right in if it is flickering flame & get cooked... This takes more on-site time but can be more fun if one has stung you eheheh.

Mark

 

[AchingBack]

There must be a lack of skunks in your area; otherwise, the nests would be torn apart already. Go out at night and put a piece of liver by each nest. Any near by skunk with a nose will soon show up to take care of your problem. This is not a joke. I've used it with success, every time I've had a problem. Also, you can go out after dark with a flash light, and a can of starter fluid. Spray it down the hole and put them to sleep, for good.

 

[francessca135]

wow some really great and somewhat scary solutions.. THANKS! I am going to have to get my nerve up with the flame thrower. I heard of throwing moth balls down the hole. The one really sad area of infestation is around my huge raspberry patch. I know that gus the groundhog lives under there why is he not keeping the nest away?..Yes so far no skunks..We have dusk=dawn lighting around the house and 3 barns which I believe keep the skunks away. I kinda like the starter fluid idea because the holes rang from multiple nickle size tunnels to grapefruit size holes. I also heard today that I should use a green or red light at night and no yellow clothing during the day. I am an epinephrine pen kidda gal..I got stung by one on my forearm when I found the one nest and my entire arm swelled to the size of my leg..I will update you all tomorrow..Thanks again for all the advice :crossfingers:

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I killed a nest with just plain old wasp/hornet spray. When I noticed no activity around the hole that evening, I crept up, sprayed it into the hole, covered with a piece of plywood, haven't seen one since.

 

[Dingeryote]

Head to the local Ag supply shop, NOT TSC, garden centers or the other Chinamart box stores.

You will have better results from Imadaclorpid. Admire pro, Provado, or Pasada, ground applied and watered in, will take out the nests, and keep them gone...as well as every other nasty larvae and grub, including Jap Beetles.

 

[Pilot]

The easiest method is the gasoline. Cheap, effective, works right away.
Go out when temps are low, below 50 is best, but 55 is OK, late evening or early morning when light is dim and they are all at home. Have a can of about 8 ounces of gas, just dump it on the nest & walk away.

Next spring when temps start to warm to 70+ start putting out commercial yellow jacket traps, the kind that use a pheromone as attractant. You will catch the queens before they start to set up housekeeping and each queen is worth a few thousand workers later in the year. If your taps don't catch any in the first few days, move the trap because as with a business, the secret to trapping yellow jacket queens is location, location, location. It's too late to bother with the traps now; you'll catch a few workers but they are a very small fraction of the total.

I have been using the traps for almost 20 years and the yellow jacket populations here are much smaller than before, the trapping has gradually worn down the population. I did find one nest, gassed it a couple weeks ago and have seen only one yellow jacket since then.

And yes, skunks are great.

And FWIW, gasoline works on carpenter ant colonies. Not when they are in your house, of course, but when you find the colony outside.