Pest control methods

[Tree09]

So I've got another yellow jacket nest in the ground, this time in the wood pile, and it's late enough in the season to where they get all hateful when you try to mow near there so they gotta go. Last year we had one in a flower bed and they lit the wife up pretty bad. Killing them off turned into quite the task, and it took repeated attempts to get them all. I was hoping to figure out a better way, and i think i was gonna try the shop vac full of soapy water this time to eliminate most of the workers since it seems that it's about the most efficient method, using their nest as a bottleneck and their aggression to make them disappear as fast as they come. Has anyone else tried this and have any tips? I'm slightly allergic but use a bee keeper suit so I'm safe, and will attempt this first thing so they're not as active, it's in the 50s in the am here lately so that's cold enough to make them slightly sluggish. I also have a bald faced hornets nest up in a tree above a storage trailer but they don't seem to mind me doing stuff so they can live, but some years they build much closer so the vacuum trick might be the ticket to getting them easily too. The paper wasps are no big deal to spray and easily kill, but these yellow jacket nests are too complex for that to be a single attempt. Shop vac for the win?

 

[lxskllr]

Last time I purposely frigged with a yellowjacket nest, my nose got stung. I was about 7, and me and a friend had the misguided notion of capping the nest hole. My job was operating the cap, and he operated the stick to push it in place. It went as well as you'd expect :^D I've never frigged with a nest since. I just don't go that particular area til they're gone.

 

[flushcut]

I have used foaming wasp spray on ground nests.

 

[SeanKroll]

Any venom collectors?


Cascadia Venom Collection is a biz near me that collects for free if unsprayed, selling to pharmaceutical companies.

 

[BlackSmith]

Boric Acid

 

[Mick!]

You can buy wasp nest destroyer in stores, spray in the late evening when most of the colony is home. Give it 24 hours to be sure.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

There is a powder too that works really well. Again, wait till evening and sprinkle in and around the hole. Very effective

 

[BlackSmith]

I never had any luck with store bought spray. A cup of gasoline down the hole during a full moon in the presence of an amish virgin is the answer.

 

[flushcut]

If you have Amish near by. That’s like a nine hour round trip.

 

[Tree09]

Damn, there's definitely no amish virgins around here!

 

[Cobleskill]

Sevin dust. Toxic but effective.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Trouuble here is, they come out and stay about during the season ya can't even fart or I'd just torch their asses

 

[Nutball]

Get a black bear to dig them up.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Bears are bad sss. And they really love the larvae. We find nest remnants from bear tearing them up out in the woods and on properties about every year. Better them than me.

 

[lumberjack]

A nest in the ground is easy, wait till night, pour gas in hole. If you want, set fire to the gas and enjoy.


I found a random ground nest here last month in an area that mowed regularly. No stings, gas, and they were gone.

 

[BlackSmith]

Bears are bad sss. And they really love the larvae. We find nest remnants from bear tearing them up out in the woods and on properties about every year. Better them than me.

I watched a skunk digging up a yellow jacket nest one night. I thought the skunk was having a seizure or something. Went out there the next morning and seen what was left of the nest and it wasn’t much, what a badass.

 

[Kaveman]

Skunks are the baddest critters in the woods. Nothing messes with them, nothing eats them.

 

[pigwot]

Next door neighbor has ground-dwellers right now. He got stung mowing his lawn a couple weeks ago. Now that area is about 18” tall.

Had them a few years back. Usually just give them a wide berth as they are active pollinators for late-summer bloomers like the asters. Problem is this nest was right out front by the sidewalk and folks passing by were getting stung. Dumped a front loader of soil on their access hole and didn’t see them after that.

 

[Ed L]

Had a yj nest next to friends deer blind. We had been working on it, no idea how we didn't pizz them off and get stung as he is allergic.
I went out at dark and shot sevin powder down the hole.
Checked it the next day.....a skunk had dug it up and ate everything. Wtf? Skunks think sevin is like candy?

Ed