Favorite way to kill yellow jackets?

[m32825]

I was using my rotary cutter the other day and a band of yellow jackets objected to me disturbing the peace over their hole in the ground!

Got away with only half a dozen stings. While nursing my wounds (had to explain to my wife that the first-aid advice is to use ice for pain, and there is "ice" in ice-cream... see, it's right there in the name) I began plotting my revenge. After dark I threw down a couple layers of hardware cloth on top of the hole and poured several gallons of soapy water down, then set a brick on top of it.

When I checked it the next morning the yellow jackets had crawled out from under the hardware cloth and were covering the brick, picture below. Is that an awesome brick, or what? If police had someone barricaded and tossed that through the window they'd be out of there immediately... much more effective than tear gas.

I went back the next night with Raid Hornet and Wasp spray and followed up with some insecticide poured down the hole to kill the grubs. Results look good so far.

I'm sure this won't be the last nest I find. I'd like a less chemical solution, any suggestions?

-- Carl

 

[skeets]

I have found that if you take a beer or pop bottle fill it with gas, and when it get s plenty dark and they are all asleep, put the open top of the bottle in the hole push it in and let it drain,,, NO don't light it,,,, the fumes from the gas will seep all through the nest and a day or so later its a dead hive

 

[Russell King]

I hate those things - I get pretty swollen if they sting me.

I had bees in a tree and here is the drill to get rid of them. They were in the hollow trunk of a tree and like you I tried to use screen to keep them in - no good.

The trick I was given was to take plastic wrap (like Saran wrap) and wrap the whole trunk where the bees were. Being very careful to have it tight around the top and bottom. Use generous overlap so the bees can't find a way out. Use Dawn dishwashing soap and mix about one cup to one gallon of water. Mix it well and put into a pump sprayer. Stick the spray tube through the plastic wrap and spray all the bees you can see and spray it into any holes to kill as many bees as possible. Then take expanding foam and fill in under the plastic wrap to seal the bees in the tree.

I don't know how this could be adapted to "in the ground" but if you are fairly sure they only have one way in then you may be able to put a plastic tube into the hole and then seal the hole with expanding foam around the tube. Then use the tube to pour soap or whatever you want to kill them in the hole. I would assume that they have more than one way in/out of the ground and not use this method unless you were well protected from stings.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Flame thrower!
I hate those suckers!
They sell traps for them that use a bag to just trap them, and there are others that use a 2 liter bottle and a special top.
We keep several cans of Hornet and wasp spray around to deal with them.

 

[armylifer]

You may not want to just pour gasoline or kerosene down the hole without igniting it. If you don't burn it, then the fuel will seep down into the water table.

I found that lighting a fire over the hole works well. Most of the yellow jackets are living in buried logs or other decomposing material such as wood products or roots and stumps. Lighting a wood fire over the hole and burning it for a day or more has always worked for me.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

In my experiences bush hogging field and finding ground bees, is hit the highest gear on the tractor and dump the clutch and high tail it out of the area. Most bees are territorial and wont chase after you over a certain distance.

 

[m32825]

Flame thrower!
I hate those suckers!

One of my brothers suggested a plumber's torch. I think I'd want it on the end of at least a ten foot pipe!

-- Carl

 

[m32825]

You may not want to just pour gasoline or kerosene down the hole without igniting it. If you don't burn it, then the fuel will seep down into the water table.

Yeah, that's exactly my concern as we have well water. I'm going to dig out the area I treated to limit the impact, but am collecting other ideas for the future.

Seems like there are two stages, gotta get all the guys guarding the outside of the hole(s), then do something to kill everything underground. Once all the flying guys are dead I can dig up the rest and dispose of it. If there were a way to kill the guards that didn't taint the grubs I'd feed them to our chickens, bet they'd love those.

-- Carl

 

[m32825]

In my experiences bush hogging field and finding ground bees, is hit the highest gear on the tractor and dump the clutch and high tail it out of the area. Most bees are territorial and wont chase after you over a certain distance.

The possibility of running into yellow jackets seems like a great argument for backing into new areas with the rotary cutter. If you have to retreat, your escape path is already cleared and right in front of you. I had the presence of mind to move the tractor out of the area and shut it down before abandoning ship, but I only had half a dozen stings at that point. I can't say what I'd do if I had dozens of stings!

-- Carl

 

[hodge]

I live with them all spring, summer, and early fall. We live in the mountains, and there are plenty of places for them to nest undisdurbed, until I decide to cut the heavy undergrowth back with the weedeater... I've developed an eye for subtle movement like bees moving around. I keep a can of bee spray. Cheap, effective, and fast.
What I hate worse than yellowjackets are the white faced hornets. Where yellowjackets will swarm and protect their hive, the hornets will hunt you down and punish you like an ex wife.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Where yellowjackets will swarm and protect their hive, the hornets will hunt you down and punish you like an ex wife.

That is SOOOOO true! Just ask my wife about the Ex!

 

[BAP]

Spray can carb cleaner works great. Spray it on the bees and they drop dead. Works great if they are flying at you, hit them with it in flight and they will drop out of the air.

 

[ipz2222]

Don't worry about gas in the water table. It evaporates so fast, it will never get to the water. 8 oz's of gas is all it takes for any yellow jacket nest in the ground. Most of them will be in the nest by dark thirty. Just mark the nest by day and gas by night and do not burn. You can also use acetone or lacqure thinner but, gas is cheaper. We gassed 10 nests last year, so far none this year.

 

[m32825]

How about suffocating them with exhaust from the tractor, think that would work?

-- Carl

 

[skeets]

Skunks work really well on them too, I have seen nests dug up and dead yellow jackets all over the place but, and skunk tracks in the dirt,, though Im not sure one I would rather have around the house

 

[hodge]

Skunks work really well on them too, I have seen nests dug up and dead yellow jackets all over the place but, and skunk tracks in the dirt,, though Im not sure one I would rather have around the house

I found a massive hornets nest on the inside of a post under the deck of a porch, so I sprayed it from the safety of my truck; I drove up right beside it, cracked the window, and sprayed a concentrated steam of bee killer on the nest. They were pinging against my windows, mad as ... hornets. I couldn't get the nest very well because of the angle, but I wasn't about to walk up to it. I came back the next morning, and that nest was torn out and scattered all over the place. I believe that a bear got it. They were very common in the area, this was at a privately owned campground and bears would get into the trash, and the nest was high enough off the ground and a small animal would have a hard time reaching it. Plus, it was huge- bigger than a basketball. I doubt if the unmolested nest would have fit down inside a 5 gallon bucket.

 

[m32825]

Skunks work really well on them too, I have seen nests dug up and dead yellow jackets all over the place but, and skunk tracks in the dirt,, though Im not sure one I would rather have around the house

Haha, one of my brothers told me the same thing and asked how many he should ship! His issue with skunks is the birds of prey that kill and eat them while sitting on his roof.

-- Carl

 

[m32825]

I found a massive hornets nest on the inside of a post under the deck of a porch, so I sprayed it from the safety of my truck; I drove up right beside it, cracked the window, and sprayed a concentrated steam of bee killer on the nest. They were pinging against my windows, mad as ... hornets. I couldn't get the nest very well because of the angle, but I wasn't about to walk up to it. I came back the next morning, and that nest was torn out and scattered all over the place. I believe that a bear got it. They were very common in the area, this was at a privately owned campground and bears would get into the trash, and the nest was high enough off the ground and a small animal would have a hard time reaching it. Plus, it was huge- bigger than a basketball. I doubt if the unmolested nest would have fit down inside a 5 gallon bucket.

I had a 400 pound black bear come within 30 yards of me here a week or two ago. I'm sure he'd do a fine job of tearing up the nest and eating grubs, but would leave a bunch of ticked off yellow jackets behind for us to deal with!

-- Carl

 

[SteveF]

I agree that a few oz's of gasoline or even kerosene won't pose a problem with ground water... When I use kero or diesel I light to light it and imagine the little buzzing pr--ks frying, especially if I've been stung a few times. Always wait til after dark to be sure there is close to 100% kill rate. I didn't use to think of them so hatefully until my wife got stung a couple times this past summer and with the last sting, we spent Saturday afternoon in the emergency room and now she has an epi pen and a sting is a very serious thing for her. Burn bastards burn!

 

[Frank46]

Saw the dish detergent and a gallon of hot water on another site. Seem to remember they said about 6oz with the water. Frank