Yellow Jackets!

[daddyo]

What I thought were wasps hitting me last week were actually yellow jackets. The exterminator came out last week and he did find a wasps nest up behind the rain gutter. I thought the problem was solved until yesterday.

 

I found the nest in the ground after I went over it again with the mower and got stung AGAIN - multiple times. I woke up this morning to see my right hand swollen up like a small grapefruit.

 

I sprayed wasp and hornet spray down into the hole last evening, but I don't know if that's going to do the job or not. Should I call the exterminator or just go get some spray that is intended specifically for yellow jackets and hit 'em again tonight after they go to sleep?

Edited August 5, 2013 by daddyo

[Xtarheel]

Pour a little gasoline down the hole tonight and it will get them all. The fumes will get them, so you don't have to use much (less than a pint for sure). You don't have to set it on fire either.

[peejman]

What I thought were wasps hitting me last week were actually yellow jackets. The exterminator came out last week and he did find a wasps nest up behind the rain gutter. I thought the problem was solved until yesterday.

 

I found the nest in the ground after I went over it again with the mower and got stung AGAIN - multiple times. I woke up this morning to see my right hand swollen up like a small grapefruit.

 

I sprayed wasp and hornet spray down into the hole last evening, but I don't know if that's going to do the job or not. Should I call the exterminator or just go get some spray that is intended specifically for yellow jackets and hit 'em again tonight after they go to sleep?

 

Wasp spray will kill them on contact, but it won't get the nest in the ground. 

 

I used some powdered yellow jacket killer stuff and copious quantities of the spray to kill a nest in my yard last year.  The nest was at the base of a tree and the tree died (note that it wasn't real healthy to begin with).

 

 

Pour a little gasoline down the hole tonight and it will get them all. The fumes will get them, so you don't have to use much (less than a pint for sure). You don't have to set it on fire either.

 

 

Not exactly the most "green" way to kill them, but it works.  And if you do it, you gotta drop a match in the hole... 

[Lumber_Jack]

Pour a little gasoline down the hole tonight and it will get them all. The fumes will get them, so you don't have to use much (less than a pint for sure). You don't have to set it on fire either.

This. Do it after dark. You'll see one lone bee guarding the hole, so just pour quickly.

[scoutfsu]

Those little bastards hurt too.....I'll second pouring the gas.  I still remember them stinging me, 10 years later.  Hurt worse than getting shot.

[Shug]

After you pour the gas into the hole plug it up with something so the fumes won't escape out of the hole. That sounds like what happened the first time

[TNcitizen22]

Last year I neglected to mow our property for about three weeks during August, when I did there were TWELVE nests in our yard.

 

Needless to say, I got hit quite a few times.  I feel your pain.

 

I ended up going the gasoline route and it worked quite well.  Just wait until 10pm or so and they are all in the nest and just hit it quick.

 

I tried wasp spray as well more environmentally friendly methods of removing them but none of them worked.  I wish you luck.

[tartanphantom]

I prefer to use kerosene over gasoline, due to the fact that kerosene has a much higher flashpoint. Gasoline is just flat-out dangerous, and the fumes are more explosive than the liquid.

Edited August 5, 2013 by tartanphantom

[Guest Bonedaddy]

Diesel works, too. I sat on a nest tree rat snipin', once. Didn't realize it till they started poppin' out of the hole in the knee of my jeans. Had to chunk my shotgun and bale. Quick like. Didn't get stung once and how I managed that, I don't have a clue but I had to wait till dark to go get my shotgun.

[Dolomite_supafly]

 

After you pour the gas into the hole plug it up with something so the fumes won't escape out of the hole. That sounds like what happened the first time

 
The fumes are actually heavier than air so they will reach the deepest reaches of the nest.

The last nest I had I stuck the tube from Great Stuff as far down the hole as it would go and gave it a few second burst. I have also used adhesive spray on them and it keeps them from flying as well as sticks them at the entrance of the hole.

[Guest Bonedaddy]

Bic lighter and a can of ether is fun, too.

[mikegideon]

I killed a nest with plain old hornet killer. I started back some and worked my way closer. Used the whole can, dumping most of it in from real close range. It was right by the front door of my house, so I know it was dead. Some of the nests can get pretty big, but my guess is that it's not one of those. They would have perforated you last year.

[tartanphantom]

Yeah, a good sized yellowjacket community can make some mighty large nests underground.

 

[mikegideon]

Yeah, a good sized yellowjacket community can make some mighty large nests underground.

 

 

That didn't happen over one summer, right?

[Wiljo05]

No fire = No fun

[Dennis1209]

I shouldn't be saying anything and telling on myself but...

 

Last summer my wife was cutting a small section of grass on the side of the house with the push mower. I was about 100 yards away in the front cutting with my lawn tractor. I happened to look over in her direction and started laughing my butt off until I got the hiccups. It looked like she was inventing some form of fast motion "break dancing meets Bionic Woman". It's impossible for a 58 year old woman to move her arms, hands, legs that fast.

 

Shortly thereafter I came up to find out what was going on still laughing uncontrollably in between hiccups. Come to find out she ran over a yellow jacket nest with the mower and got stung about six times.

 

Because of my insensitive laughter and her stings, she hasn't helped me cut grass in over a year now.

 

Also last summer I was on my tractor bush hogging one of my fields and felt a sharp something on my leg. I make another pass the other direction and I get the same ouch on my side. I turn around and make another cut next to the one I just made and ouch, I got it in the neck in the same area as the other two pains. I finally seen the little bugger, a yellow jacket as I slapped and killed it and it landed on my lap. Then I looked closely at the ground and maybe a few hundred were flying around a foot or two above the ground. When you're bush hogging stuff four foot high, all kinds of insects and debris is flying all over you. Three stings before I figured it out, how's that for smarts?

Edited August 5, 2013 by Dennis1209

[VERO1]

Must be the season. Moved my charcoal grill cover last night and came face to face a swarm. Only got nailed three times! I started to nail the little turds with a can of starter fluid, then decided that might not be the smart choice next to a hot grill!

[Caster]

A push mower works if you're so inclined. I've done that a few times. Start the mower and run it close to idle to keep the noise and fuel consumption down. Push it oer the hole, come back later. It will royally piss them off and they will just ground up like burger meat. They will come out of the hole because of the noise and vibration and attack the mower. The majority will never make it out alive, the rest will try to get back into the nest so they die coming and going. I like to lay a board over the discharge to help keep them in.

I'm not a fan of gasoline. I watched a good size of ground explode from lighting it. So if you use gas, don't light it.
My grandfart poured about a gallon down a hole once. He waited a good ten minutes and then poured a trail back about fifteen feet. When it reached the hole and chunk of ground the size of a basket ball blew out of the ground.
Sure it was cool as heck but I was a kid sooooo...... Not as cool anymore being as I don't heal as fast as I used to.

[mikegideon]

Sorry. I would HAVE to light it. It's just how I roll :)

[frankmako]

sometimes they got two holes to a nest.  i get hit several times each summer working on the farm.  they love to build around the apple trees.  i have gotten some very large nests out of the ground.  gas works the best to kill them. 

[mav]

I ran into some the other day, and got absolutely nailed by one.  It kept stinging me and digging that stinger deeper.  Here is a pic of the hole it left in my arm.

 

It hurt like hell initially and then itched for several days.

 

(edit) - honey bee my ass.  :)

Edited August 6, 2013 by mav

[tercel89]

Pour a little gasoline down the hole tonight and it will get them all. The fumes will get them, so you don't have to use much (less than a pint for sure). You don't have to set it on fire either.

I have did this sevreal times and it does get rid of them . You dont have to set it on fire , the gas just melts/kills them and the fumes does the rest too !

[tercel89]

I prefer to use kerosene over gasoline, due to the fact that kerosene has a much higher flashpoint. Gasoline is just flat-out dangerous, and the fumes are more explosive than the liquid.

This is good too ! The kerosene is more like oil and will coat the little devils and stay on them longer .

[tercel89]

A push mower works if you're so inclined. I've done that a few times. Start the mower and run it close to idle to keep the noise and fuel consumption down. Push it oer the hole, come back later. It will royally piss them off and they will just ground up like burger meat. They will come out of the hole because of the noise and vibration and attack the mower. The majority will never make it out alive, the rest will try to get back into the nest so they die coming and going. I like to lay a board over the discharge to help keep them in.

I'm not a fan of gasoline. I watched a good size of ground explode from lighting it. So if you use gas, don't light it.
My grandfart poured about a gallon down a hole once. He waited a good ten minutes and then poured a trail back about fifteen feet. When it reached the hole and chunk of ground the size of a basket ball blew out of the ground.
Sure it was cool as heck but I was a kid sooooo...... Not as cool anymore being as I don't heal as fast as I used to.

Awesome Idea !

[Oh Shoot]

Sorry. I would HAVE to light it. It's just how I roll :)

 

Yep, years of living out in the country and slowly reclaiming lawn from grown up bushes and locust trees, I ran into many nests. Lighting the gasoline was always a reward for the stings incurred.

 

- OS