Side porch, yellow jacket nest

[Raul-02]

Got a covered side porch I hand dug my lovely missus a rose garden there almost 30 years ago and she's used it ever since. It's a busy porch with her garden tools and the recycling container.
But some yellow jackets were building a nest hanging from the ceiling. We hadnt noticed.
I happened to see it the other day it was a little bigger than a fist and not enclosed yet with brood chambers exposed and covered with dozens of hornets. I closed the screen door got a spray can of DEET and waved it across the hornets on the nest.
They burst into action all at once. the whole of them seemed to cringe as one they took to the air and flew off. They didn't come back. I wated a spell before taking on the nest knocked it down and crushed it.
The yellow jackets never returned.
I had no clue that DEET would offend them so completely.

 

[Doofy]

Good to know. Thanks

 

[jaxs]

Like me, hornets probably never heard of "a can of deet" and it scared hell out of them thinking yellow jackets returned and caught them messing with their nest.

 

[Raul-02]

Like me, hornets probably never heard of "a can of deet"

Well here are two of them

 

[5030]

Me, I use cheap auto zone brake cleaner. Instant death and no residue.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've learned that wasps and hornets are least active in the morning. Earlier the safer!!!! Once you get the nest down, they go away. Killing as many as possible also helps!!!

Spraying your house with a mixture of Dawn dish soap and water discourages them from coming back. They hate the feel of the soap on the house.

 

[Raul-02]

brake cleaner.

Oh for the days when they used to make that stuff from chlorinated flourocarbons. You could convert it to phosgene with nothing more than heat and a ceramic tube.

 

[Raul-02]

They hate the feel of the soap on the house.

I should think it 's also a dust magnet and a mold fertilizer

 

[Mtsoxfan]

We had agressive ground yellow jackets. A bucket of Dawn soap and water kills them. I waited until an hour after dusk, when they had returned home for the night. It suffocates them, very effective. I have used in a spray bottle to get nests on the soffit as well...

Never had any mold issues, and dirt rises off because of the soap barrier. Nests tend to be south and west, as they like the warmth.

 

[5030]

To me, chlorinated or non makes no difference. it kills them instantly and leaves no residue and it's cheap.