Yellow Jackets in my mulch pile

15 years ago

Hello,

I was out turning my compost today and decided the mulch pile (chipped hardwood dumped by a tree removal person) needed to be moved over a little so my nice neighbor could easily bring his fall leaves/grass clippings over to my bins. So, I started moving the mulch and after several shovelfuls, I began seeing way too many yellow jackets. I left. Experience tells me that there is a nest in there. I know I need to watch them to see where they go in.

What can I do to kill them without poisoning my mulch?

Featured Answer

Rake4Leaves

15 years ago

Oh, this brings back some stinging memories. Two summers ago,
I also had a bee/wasp nest in my c. pile. Never found out whether
they were bees or wasps. Fortunately, I was wearing long pants,
but they had a feast on my arms.

Anyway, to get rid of them over a number of days, I hosed the
c. pile with water and poured just boiled water on the area where
I suspected the nest to be. Yes, I had to dash quickly away,
if one or more of them flew out, towards me.
Eventually, the nest was destroyed, and no chemicals were used.

If possible, wear long pants and long sleeves, a hat and something
to protect your face, if you plan to do something to get rid of the
nest before cold weather comes.

Good luck and be careful!

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Comments (15)

rj_hythloday
15 years ago
Yellow jacket traps are very effective, I don't know how long it'd take for them all to move out in favor of a yellow bucket, but it might be worth a shot.
jean001
15 years ago
Traps won't kill all in the colony. But time will.

If you can avoid the area until later in the year -- around here it's mid- to late December -- the colony will die of natural causes.
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They can definitely build their nests underground. About this time maybe 3 years ago I was putting mulch down for the winter when all of a sudden I got stung by a yellow jacket on my elbow. It hurt like hell for a week and itched even longer. I swear it itched for almost 3 weeks. We continually, like every single year for 11 years that we've lived here, have dealt with hornets nesting on our front covered porch. It affected us ALL the time because we would see them flying around every time we entered our exited the front door, which in the summer time is practically every few minutes. Well this year we had finally had it. There was a huge nest on top of the covered porch, underneath the siding, and after 6 cans of hornet spray didn't work, we finally called the exterminator. Here's a picture of him at our house in his bee suit. https://twitter.com/eastcoastmom91/status/505010792312606720 Anyway, he sprayed and sprayed while we watched from our upper bedroom window. He was being swarmed by angry hornets. They were all over his mask! I guess they were pretty pissed at him messing with their nest. I remember one hornet getting stuck in his mask, so that he had to grab it and pluck it out. He left us with a still-swirling cloud of angry hornets, I was not happy, but he promised us that their numbers would dwindle down to nothing as the hornets would fly in and out of the nest getting the powder on them. The only problem was they never dwindled down! 3 days later we had just as many hornets swarming around and I wouldn't let the kids outside because of it. The next door neighbor even called to make sure we were okay. Anyway, we called the exterminator back, and he climbed back up and took a look and saw that the nest was much further away and deep down than he thought, so he realized that he had never actually sprayed the nest. He sprayed again like crazy and even refused to take any money for it since he said it was his fault for missing the nest. So a few days later we still had about 10 hornets still flying around. It felt like we were never going to be rid of the hornets. I made an off the cuff comment to dh that I wished we didn't have the porch, that it was on the north side (front) of the house and it offered no shade, and that I hated that the living room wasn't more open. I commented that having to deal with the hornets year after year was such BS. Dh shocked me by saying I'm taking it down this weekend, and he did! It took him all weekend and he got hurt a few times, but dh, all by himself, (he's a suit and tie guy so this was a big deal for him) piece by piece took down our covered porch. The next door neighbor, who's a retired contractor, said dh did a great job. And guess what? Dh found over 50 nests inside the porch! Obviously most of them were from a long time ago, but there were 4 current nests. Yes, hornets can still make nests around our house, but it won't be right at our front door. And the house looks awesome! No one around here has covered porches so the house kind of stood out. I love the feeling of not living in a "cave" anymore. I wish we'd done this 11 years ago. This post was edited by ilovemytrees on Sun, Nov 2, 14 at 8:01
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spiced_ham
15 years ago
Turn the pile and expose the colony on a really cold morning when they are to cold to fly.
david52 Zone 6
15 years ago
They also don't fly too well at night - thats the time to spray a nest if you know where it is.
dlpasti
15 years ago
Try what I do-----I'm highly alergic to bee and wasp stings--when I find them nesting in the ground---the sprinkler goes out there on low until they are gone---they don't care to live in the water all that much! I had an are where the cicada killer wasps were nesting--this got rid of them quickly.....
reg_pnw7
15 years ago
They should die off soon on their own, by first good frost at the latest.

If you have raccoons in your area, they love to eat yellowjacket nests ... Exposing the nest by turning the pile in the dark will help the coons find them and eat them up. Wear dark clothes and cover your face if you have light skin - they'll go after anything pale or bright, been there done that.
Kimmsr
15 years ago
That Yellow Jacket nest will be gone shortly, cold weather will kill off all but the Queens, not the first frost however. Since they do not move around too well in cold weather, watch them when its in the 40's, you could get out there on cold mornings and move that pile.
hellbender
15 years ago
Note the entrance to the nest. Position a shop-vac nozzle near the entrance and set on suction. As bees attempt to enter or leave the nest, they will be sucked into the vac and killed. When there is no more activity, empty the vac and move the pile.

Remember: Nothing can survive in a vacuum.
Nancy Barginear
15 years ago
We live out in the country with am ample supply of red wasps and yellow jackets. The red wasps love to hibernate in our well house, and we just can't tolerate them there. We keep a spray bottle with Dawn dishwashing liquid and water handy. It knocks 'em dead on the spot.
eml3
7 years ago
I'm dealing with a similar situation. I had some bags of mulch left over from last season. I was sick in the spring, then it got too hot, so I am just now trying to catch up on yard work - weeding, mulching, etc. I threw a bag of new mulch on top of the old mulch and nest thing I knew I was under attack by a swarm of yellow jackets. Only got three stings, though one was up my shorts - not fun! I'm sorting out what to do with the old bags. I see holes in them, so I am guessing that any bag that has holds in it also has yellow jackets in it. I'm glad to hear that they die off anyway, so I don't have to feel too bad about eliminating them. I guess I'll try to rip open the bag from afar with a hard rake, and then hose it down. ?? I'm open for any other suggestions as well... I would really prefer to use the mulch before season - though I may change my tune after I try to tackle the first bag....
John Donovan
7 years ago
Depends on where you are located. If you have cold winters you are only a few weeks from most of the hive dieing or hibernating. I would just leave it until then.
toxcrusadr
7 years ago
The only YJ nest I had was underground, so I simply poured a little lighter fluid in at night when they were all in there, and lit it off. When it went out, I covered it with a shovel of dirt. Worked like a charm. Clearly it will not work with mulch - you'd be calling the fire department.

'Wait till it freezes' sounds good to me. The post about sucking them into a shop vac sounds fine but I don't trust that it will kill them. That's not much of a vacuum in there. Now if you had a wet-dry vac and put some water with a little soap in it, maybe.
kimmq
7 years ago
Seriously? Someone employed as an environmental engineer poured lighter fluid on a wasps nest? How far down into the soil do you think the heat from that burning fluid actually went? I'm quite sure it did not have much affect on those wasps.

kimmq is kimmsr
toxcrusadr
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Far enough, as they did not tunnel their way out. It was a pretty new nest so probably not large at all. Admittedly there was not much air to feed a flame down in there but, truth be told, it was actually gasoline (I didn't want to suggest that as it is far more dangerous). The fumes likely knocked them out, followed by the flash which used up the remaining air. Besides I didn't want them boiling out of there so a nice little foot-tall flame coming out of the hole was a comfort. Rather elegant IMHO. YMMV. Yellow jackets are not to be trifled with, they don't just chase you away from their nest but once one stings you, the rest will chase you down the block.

Yellow Jackets in my mulch pile

Rake4Leaves

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