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Integrated Pest Management Lawn Care garden

Eliminating yellow jacket nest in ground

2 years ago

How do I effectively, safely, and completely eliminate a yellow jacket nest without hiring a contractor - if this is possible for us to do ourselves? I don't just want to dissuade yellow jackets from building a nest - we want to destroy the existing nest and eliminate chances of the wasps from building a new nest elsewhere in the yard. Any good suggestions? If we do end up hiring a contractor, what techniques or/and products do you suggest? We run around and play in our yard with our dog, so having a safe and effective way to eliminate the nest in the yard is a necessity.

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krnuttle
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Many years ago I was mowing the lawn and found a yellow jacket nest. Since we had young children, it had to be eliminated. While I was mowing I decided to dump a quart of gas in the hole, So I stop mowing and dumped the gas in the hole. As I finished mowing I decided to really finish the job I decided to light the gas.. When flames shot out of several holes around the yard I was not aware of, I realized it may not have been the best plan, BUT it worked. I never had a yellow jacket problem as long we lived there.

If I had the problem again I would push a hose down the hole and then add Raid of equivalent with a stream of air to move it into the recesses of the nest.

What ever you do you must make sure the the agent gets distributed through out the nest. other wise the yellow jacket just repair the damage.
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I'm concerned about your safety if you install the tarp. I've never heard of this method and don't give much credence to ehow, but ..........if you do it, you'd have to do it in the dark, after the yellow jackets have returned to the nest for the night. I'm in Georgia. Don't find the yellow jackets to be aggressive unless the area near the nest is disturbed. Hope you'll get more advice, also hope you'll post your results.
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It sounds like you may have more than one nest then if you see more than one entrance (entirely possible - I've seen that when the guy poured gasoline down each entrance). Wasp and hornet spray is very effective - I've killed many nests using this method. Never seen any more activity after a couple minutes of a steady stream into the entrance. Yeah, don't use soapy water - that might just agitate them enough for them to find the user at the end of the sprayer. Hmm, never thought of Sevin dust for yellow jackets. Does it kill them overnight or over a few days? Used it for fire ants...
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My husband deals with all the bees here by spraying any nests we spot. He sprays in the evening, when all the bees have come back from their daily missions. It's practically the only time we use noxious chemicals. The fact that stings are life-threatening to so many people seems to warrant bringing out the big guns to kill them. Also, since the chemicals stay in the nest and aren't spread around, seems to me to make them less of a threat to birds, beneficial insects, and other wildlife. I can't imagine leaving nests in the ground, especially since you have a dog and MOST especially since you're allergic to the stings.
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Scrape off, stomp on ground, then clean-off spot w warm water and sponge...spray and insecticide after it dries - note, mud-daubers will rarely bother or sting you, only be a nuisance and leave mud-stains. they do, however, kill a lot of other insects they use a food for larvae in nest, mainly spiders... and yes, most wasps make paper nests. Paper = sting, so be cautious.
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