# Yellow Jackets and Wasps, how to get 'em?



## Filas are Prima (May 4, 2007)

Here in the inland northwest, the seasonal surge of the cursed wasps and yellow jackets is beginning. Luckily, it's about our only scourge around here. But, my search and destroy missions always misses colonies until they become monster movies.
I'd like to know any sure fire cures you all may have for getting them.


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## mtn.mama (Apr 20, 2007)

You said sure fire... and that's what we do- BURN EM OUT! Ours nest in the ground so we torch em. One of my neighbors uses a cooler with water (and fish juice) in the bottom to bait em. They go in the drain and can't get back out I guess. Good luck!


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

We pour gas down the hole and burn out the yellow jackets. The only wasps we have are the ones we call paper wasps, they make a paper nest that hangs upside down from a single tiny point. My son uses a can of spray paint and paints them, last year he used green spray paint ($1 cans from dollar store). When the paint drys they are stiff. I found lots of green wasps in the attic and on the ground last year. He also sprays their nest after dark when they aren't out flying. He makes a game out it and his friends get in on it. It doesn't take long for them to wipe out the wasps. LOL


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## RoyalOaksRanch (Nov 14, 2003)

Brake cleaning fluid  Kills em dead quick.. We leave the ones up high but anything too close for comfort we wipe out.. Wasps actualy eat spiders and such so we only kill off the ones that are too close to where we are at.. The ones above our shop are up high enough and we only knock them down from up there if they get too big.. The shop eave is 18ft high so not like we have to walk by it or get close to it..


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## Filas are Prima (May 4, 2007)

Thanks for the tips.
I love the blast them with spray paint one. And at $1 per can, sure beats the cost of the bug sprays.
It's the nests that I somehow miss early on that I wish I'd find MUCH sooner!
Last year there were two found late in the season inside the roof snow triangle deals uphill from the stove pipes that were the monster movies.
Once I picked up the post pounder, and discovered a nest inside that!


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## Seeria (Jul 21, 2006)

Hair spray won't kill 'em kick but it knocks 'em down so you can remove them. It also ----es them off but once the wings stop functioning it doesn't matter much.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

there are a number of traps you bait them with sugar water or soda the wasp flies up to it lands crals in then fries again but inside the bottle when it starts to flu it hits the clear bottle and falls and drownds 

it can be as simple as a 2 inch leegth of 1/2 inch pvc with the ends cut at 45s to let them land , stuck into the side of a 2 liter soda bottle


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

When I lived in AK they were bothering the salmon on the grill one fall day so I took an ice cream pail, filled it with water and a couple of drops of detergent within a few inches from the top and draped a piece of salmon over the edge of the pail.

The yellow jackets would eat the salmon and before returning to the nest would try to fill up on water but the detergent got rid of the surface tension and when they stepped on the water they fell in and drowned. In an hour there weren't any left flying.


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## Jim West (Jan 30, 2007)

I nuke them at night. They wont fly but they will crawl.Fast! I use Bengal roach spray. Its a dry spray. WMD in a handy spray can. Works great. Also keep in mind yellow jacket nests will most likely have more than one entrance. The bengal spray will quickly fill the nest and will reveal the other entrance. Jim

www.bengal.com


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

I wonder if it would work to use can's of foam insulation, you know, the stuff that swells up after you spray it? Spray some of it down the hole to block the entrance. I wonder how long it would take for them to dig out thru it? If they have a second entrance to use, you'd soon find it and spray it full of insulation too. Now I want to find a yellow jacket hole and try it out. LOL


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## Filas are Prima (May 4, 2007)

I get a kick out of how inventive we all are getting these cursed fiends!


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## paintlady (May 10, 2007)

I saw a show on killer bees once and they said that the sure and fast way to kill those was with soapy water. The guy on the show said it kills them almost immediately. Maybe you could try that on the wasps? It would be environmentaly friendly anyway.


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

Spinner said:


> I wonder if it would work to use can's of foam insulation, you know, the stuff that swells up after you spray it? Spray some of it down the hole to block the entrance. I wonder how long it would take for them to dig out thru it?


A day or two. I've tried it, a few times. Same with caulk.


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## Tricky Grama (Oct 7, 2006)

I'm all for the 'burning method' for yellow jackets but wouldn't kill paper wasps. They eat web worms among other hated pests. 

I prevent them from building nests on the porch by whiping the corners w/orange oil solution as well as knocking down any nests that they start. I want them, just don't want them on the porch!

Patty


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## james dilley (Mar 21, 2004)

Try useing the Same item we use on Africanized hives. A pump up sprayer and HOT water with Dish soap. It coats them and they can't fly!!


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## Vickivail98 (Sep 26, 2014)

I know this is an old thread but I'm looking for a way to convince some wasps to vacate the area temporarily. I need to rip down a section of pool decking and couldn't locate their nest to spray. It shouldn't take long, maybe 20 minutes to disassemble. Will they go to ground or away if I turn on the sprinkler? It's cookin' hot today and I'd be happy to work in it!


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

Years ago we had a contract to regrade and seed the repair work from the County water authority. The one pile had been sitting for a couple of years and when I hit it with the bucket of the tractor I cut a yellow jacket nest in half that had to be the size of a basket ball. They went nuts. I was able to put the tractor in neutral and jump from the seat and run like heck. We were sitting in the truck watching the tractor run and a cloud of yellow jackets kept bouncing off it. 

I hate those little buggers. 

As far as getting rid of them, just find the nest, wait till dark and hit them with whatever you have.
Boiling water, gasoline, hornet/wasp killer or what ever floats your boat. I think the timing is more important than what you use.
I'm allergic to them and have been getting a hornet/ wasp spray at Walmart for $1.68 a can. It's cheap and it works.


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## Southern Forest (May 5, 2012)

Flea powder works on yellow jacket nests in a pinch.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

Was putting a new cover on my hoop house today and we hit a big nest. Put an end to finishing that project. I'll hit them tonight.


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## Esteban29304 (Apr 29, 2003)

I also locate their underground nest entrances, then come back at night . I spray the holes with a lot of " Starter Fluid , " then cover with a heavy towel. Within a couple of days, you won't see any around that hole.


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## Farmfresh (Jan 11, 2009)

If you want to trap wasps and keep the bees safe add a little chunk of meat to a bee trap bottle. (the kind with the funnel to allow them access to the liquid but not let them out.) Wasps are meat eaters and bees are not. Both bees and wasps are also attracted sugar water and soda pop, so put some of that in the trap as well.


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