Yellow Jackets not being friendly

[LittleBlueTractor]

No pollination abilities as far as I know, but they do eat a ton of mosquitoes and other assorted biting flies and spiders. I don't have issues with ground nests in my area, but have tons of smaller elevated nests. They are usually 3-8 inches across with 25-75 wasps per nest. They don't cause me much problem until they build close to a door or in my carport. When they do pick a high traffic area I knock them down with a wasp spray and remove the nest to prevent return of survivors. They ususally look for a safer location right away.

I grew up around Ft. Worth and I don't think the things you and I call "yellow jackets" are what the OP is talking about. Looked around on the web and decided they are a species of paper wasp like the red wasp. Mean little critters when you disturb them though.

 

[Baby Grand]

I have heard that what you need is a hungry skunk. Apparently a little whiff of meat applied to a ground nest will bring Pepe around at dark and he will set in to digging and eating like my dad at an all you can eat buffett.
-jim

 

[devongarver]

I grew up around Ft. Worth and I don't think the things you and I call "yellow jackets" are what the OP is talking about. Looked around on the web and decided they are a species of paper wasp like the red wasp. Mean little critters when you disturb them though.

Well, they could be a paper wasp, but likely are yellow jackets. I removed a football sized nest from under my front porch about a month and a half ago after getting stung while minding my own business sitting on my porch..that was a fun trip to the urgent care(im allergic to pretty much anything that causes a histamine releasing reaction-poison ivy, bug bites, etc).

Anyway, I killed the one that stung me, smacked it before it left my calf. I googled many different descriptions and determined it was indeed a yellow jacket. They are primarily know for ground nests, but will also build paper nests in areas of hard soil. My entire property is clay, so that explains it. I just waited until it was raining outside(this means the bees would be in the nest)and crawled under the porch with two cans of bee spray and nailed the mouth of the nest. They all died and I immediately removed the remains from the joist with a stick. They haven't come back yet...


On a side note, the best/safest way to preserve the nest is to simply wait until the first good freeze. This will kill whatever is in the nest. You can then snip off the branch and display it as you see fit. Some people lacquer them, but it can be tricky and the paper can dissolve easily. My dad has one from last year he saved-no lacquer-just hanging in the garage.

 

[keyman1808]

I just killed 2 large wasp nests on my shed shere I store my tractor. The foam spray is by far the most effective. The were paper wasps with a white ring on thier tails, mean bastards. Works like a charm. I like the gas idea for inground nests. I will keep it in mind.

 

[beppington]

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.

This may be the reason that, while I get swarmed with mosquitos here near sundown, as soon as I crank up my chainsaw they taper off a lot, almost completey. Maybe they don't appreciate the chainsaw's fumes?

 

[beppington]

The foam spray is by far the most effective.

I 2nd the foam shot spray can. Blasts the nest from like 15 feet. Covers it so thoroughly so fast they have a hard time even moving around, just like a big splat of sticky poisonous foam. They start falling to the ground within seconds. I had hornets; Not a one even flew off.

If you're still worried ... as I was before I ever used this stuff ... If you can drive your car/ truck over to within 15 feet of the nest, you can crack your window, spray 'em with a blast, & then put your window back up real quick.

I discovered, though, that the foam works so good & fast, I didn't really need to be in my truck.

 

[_RaT_]

Yellow jackets almost always use the ground to make their nest which is filled with the same honey comb type building structure used by honey bees. They shoot out of the hole to exit and that is how to identify them and their nest. This is the time of year they are really starting to get out of the nest and find food for the winter. They hover over the ground going after caterpillars and just about anything else, dead or alive.

I agree with what some of the others say, gasoline unlit is the most effective means I have found. You can take a beer bottle and fill it half full of gas. In the evening stick it in the hole if possible leaving the bottle in the hole (upside down). The fumes will knock them out faster than anything I know of. A nest can have as many as 10,000 yellow jackets. The yellow traps make you feel like your doing something but it is just the tip of the iceberg. You can get the queens in early spring and you just eliminated 1000's of new yellow jackets. They are the nastiness pests I know of. They are mean.

 

[HEC]

I have run over the ground nests several times while mowing the pasture in the past 20 years or so and they always attack the black fel. bucket as I always leave it on for that very purpose. I don't know if they are color blind or not but hundreds of them just attack that black bucket. It gives me enough time to shut off the tractor and get away untill they are gone, usually less than a half hour. I have never been stung this way of doing it. I use the gasoline method after dark also if the nest is under ground and close to the house. I have used the spray can on a pole also if the nest is above ground and on or near the house.We have black bear in my area and they will attack the nests so if they can tell black maybe that's why they attack the black bucket if not it might be do the heat of the bucket, I don't know it just works for me while mowing.

 

[devongarver]

^^that is interesting, about being attracted to black..I have a dragon tattoo on my calf, it is red and black. The yellowjacket stung me in the black area on the tattoo...

Also, FWIW-there are several different types of yellowjackets in the US. The op is from michigan, and is likely seeing either the german yellowjacket or the eastern yellowjacket. The german yellowjacket will build anywhere that is protected, while the eastern usually picks the ground instead. I would assume from the OP's description of a nest in the tree, it could be a german yellow jacket. However, hornets build nests very similar, so the only sure fire way to tell is killing them and lookign at one.

Either way, they all die the same!!!!

 

[techwrtr2]

I have an in ground nest I need to exterminate... problem is it's in very close proximity to a stream feeding a pond with fish in it. Really reluctant to dump gas in the hole.