# Help yellow jackets in the ground!!!!!



## CurlyHfarm (Feb 1, 2007)

Anyone have any good ways to get rid of a yellow jacket nest in the ground? The only reason it's an issue is that it is in our yard and we have a 15 mo old boy that is all over the place. Any help is appreciated as always.


----------



## nathan104 (Nov 16, 2007)

Personally, I would pour diesel and light it. But, thats not very enviromentally friendly.


----------



## cowcreekgeeks (Mar 5, 2009)

nathan104 said:


> Personally, I would pour diesel and light it. *But, thats not very enviromentally friendly.*


Neither are yellow jackets...at least, they're not friendly in my environment. I second the vote for diesel and a match.


----------



## kendall j (Mar 30, 2007)

We always used plain old gas. Didn't even light it, just pour it down the nest after they are all in for the evening.


----------



## cowcreekgeeks (Mar 5, 2009)

BTW...if your kid has not yet been stung by a bee, wasp, hornet etc... a nest full of yellow jackets would NOT be a good way to find out he is allergic. When I was a kid, I got into a nest and by the time I got off the hill, I had YJs in my socks stinging the bottoms of my feet. 86 stings total. Trip to the ER. Yay! Fun.


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Just put a clear glass bowl over the entrance and don't remove it for a few days. Or if you have skunks you could pour some honey around the entrance. Skunks love yellow jacket nests.


----------



## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

if you want to be enviromentaly concious, I suggest denatured alcohol in place of the petrol.


----------



## o&itw (Dec 19, 2008)

The diesel/kereosene/gasoline works fine. You don't need a lot, a glass-full will do, and you don't need to light it (if it is gasoline, definitely don't light it)
Mark where the nest is and then dump in the glass of fuel in late in the evening or very early in the moring. The cooler it is the less active they are.


----------



## tab (Aug 20, 2002)

A few years ago I had a huge nest underground by the horses. I taped some red platic over my flashlight, went out after dark, dug the nest up partially and sprayed as I went. A cool night is best. I had on long sleeves and pants just in case. Supposedly the yj can't see red light. I needed the light to see what I was doing. That way I knew I was getting the adults and the larvae.


----------



## deaconjim (Oct 31, 2005)

A very light (barely visible) dusting with Sevin dust around the opening every day until they are gone.

Gas down the hole will work, but be aware that they often have more than one entrance. Soapy water will work too, but not as fast.


----------



## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

it really doesn't take much gas. a glass full sounds like a bit much, lol. the alcohol is a good idea. be prepared to fill the sunken hole it leaves next year.


----------



## Country Lady (Oct 2, 2003)

Danaus29 said:


> Just put a clear glass bowl over the entrance and don't remove it for a few days. Or if you have skunks you could pour some honey around the entrance. Skunks love yellow jacket nests.


Armadillos like yellow jacket nests too. I've had pretty good luck with the commercial sprays, though it takes more than one spraying.


----------



## glazed (Aug 19, 2006)

What about boiling water?


----------



## deaconjim (Oct 31, 2005)

Mama Crow said:


> What about boiling water?


It might kill some, but definitely not all. Soapy water works because the soap clogs up the spiracles (holes in the exoskelton through which they breathe), causing them to suffocate.


----------



## glazed (Aug 19, 2006)

*:lightbulb:* Ah ... I did not know that ... thanks! * :lightbulb:*


----------



## CurlyHfarm (Feb 1, 2007)

Thanks everyone for the info!!!


----------



## tamsam (May 12, 2006)

Best way I have found is locate where they go in and out. After dark take a propane torch and put the tip down in the hole and seal with dirt and open the valve. let run several minutes or longer. Take out torch and leave it alone. The propane is heavier than air and will stay in the hole for awhile. Good luck getting rid of them. Sam


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

We had a yellowjacket nest in the yard when I was a teenager and Dad told me to pour gas down the hole we saw, wait a few minutes for it to fume and toss a match in and run. What he failed to tell me was to use only a quart . I poured in a 5 gallon can and let it fume for about 20 minutes. When I lit it, I blew the doors off our 8 x 10 Sears garden shed and lifted one side of it off off its slab.

I have to admit he took the demolished shed in stride because all he said was " Well we know where their back door was. Glad we had the riding mower out. The roof was starting to leak anyway. I should have told you how much gas to use. You should close your mouth and go change your drawers if you need to. While this explosion was impressive , its not as spectacular as when I blew up the officers latrine when I was stationed in Korea and used gas instead of diesel fuel to burn out the pit. Lets go buy a new shed kit and don't make any plans for next weekend because I will be teaching you how to assemble a tin shed." 

Then my mother came out and looked at us and said " I see you are in the middle of a father / son moment and nobody is injured. Are you two coming inside for a shot and a beer or do you want me to bring the fixings out to the patio for the "You aint gonna believe this story?"" :rotfl:


----------



## farmmom (Jan 4, 2009)

I've got yellow jacket nests all over my yard too, or did last fall. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've seen them this year! They were all over the place when the apples were ripe. That's why I got ducks. I was told they would dig up the nest and eat all the yellow jackets. I haven't turned the duck out yet. They're only 3 weeks old.


----------



## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

There are plenty of ways to deal with them, but since you've got a 15 month old, you don't want those methods. From Savin to gas and such, none of them are good to have with a 15 month old.

You might want to consider asking the local bee keepers what they would charge to come out and manually remove the nests. It's not that hard to do, I do it frequently. A bit if wire, a shovel, and suit up. Find the nest, smash it. Squish all the yellow jackets you can find.


----------



## frankva (May 21, 2009)

deaconjim said:


> A very light (barely visible) dusting with Sevin dust around the opening every day until they are gone.


This works well. They land on the edge before going down the hole. I just try to cover the outer rim of the hole. Like dusting a cake pan.

After they are toast, sprinkle with water. Just in case the rugrat decides to explore that spot.


----------



## Gary in AL (Jul 8, 2002)

kendall j said:


> We always used plain old gas. Didn't even light it, just pour it down the nest after they are all in for the evening.


I agree with kendall. The fumes work their way into all the crevasses.


----------



## popscott (Oct 6, 2004)

Never had a nest in a location good enough to do this...... but heres from homesteadingtoday.com

http://homesteadingtoday.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15909

I posted this before, but it's that time of year, so I repeat: THE best way to kill the entire nest of yellowjackets is with sand. Find the nest in the ground in the daytime. Put 6 inches or so of DRY sand in a 5-gallon bucket. Turn it up over the nest after dark, when they are all in the hole. They will climb out thru the dry sand, but can't dig back down thru it. They will die in the heat of the day, but leave it in place for a couple days, they'll all be dead there on top of the sand. I have done this several times, so it works good.

Oh, did I mention the reason you kill all the adult yellowjackets is so you can dig up the nest and use their babies for trout bait. It is the best there is, tho illegal in some places... 

Thanks,
Scott


----------



## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

Mama Crow said:


> What about boiling water?


They'd probably enjoy a cup of tea or two, before stinging you!


----------



## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

kendall j said:


> We always used plain old gas. Didn't even light it, just pour it down the nest after they are all in for the evening.


Well, what fun is that?!? If I'm killing yellow jackets, they are "going out" in a blaze of glory fire!!! (Yeah, you don't need much gas as Shrek said!)

For the environmentally friendly way, you find their hole and after dark you put a glass jar over it. (Make sure the jar seals to the ground - no gaps.) When the yellow jackets wake up the next morning - they fly out of their hole only to discover they are trapped. They aren't smart enough to know to dig around the jar - they just keep trying to get out. The heat of the sun will "bake" them and in a few days, you should have no yellow jackets. (Just make sure the jar stays on the hole until they are all "baked" - they won't be happy!)

It's much funner and easier to blaze their nest with gas though!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## bringselpup (Jun 15, 2009)

I did 50/50 gas/diesel once many years ago for a neighbor who found a nest in his field while mowing. We marked the area and I snuck in after dark and poured about a quart of the mix down the hole. Didn't dare light it off as the field would have caught fire. The sound that came from the hole was absolutely spine tingling. This hum-thrum I can still hear today. I knew I'd hit em hard and they weren't supposed to fly after dark but I lit out of there fast as I could. It was a dead hole in the morning.


----------



## swamp man (Dec 25, 2005)

kendall j said:


> We always used plain old gas. Didn't even light it, just pour it down the nest after they are all in for the evening.


Yep, wacks 'em all, every time.

I cram a long funnel into the hole first, step away for a minute to make sure I didn't wake them, then pour a little gas down the funnel.

doesn't take much.

Yellow jackets are pure evil. Being a landscaper, I'm alaways upsetting the various stinging critters what with pruning bushes, operating equiptment, chainsawing in the woods and whatnot, and it's always the yellow jackets that catch me. The wasps come out all slow and stupid, just droning around indecisively for a moment, but the yellow jackets come out of the hole like a bullet, they know where they're going, and they know what they're gonna' do when they get there. It's pretty rare that I get stung by just one yellow jacket....of I upset a nest, I'm in for a beatin'.

I was next door having beers with the Colonel last summer, and warned him that his throwing a basketball repeately at a stack of crossties to see where the yellow jackets were coming out warn't a very good plan. .....but he found 'em allright, and they dang sure found HIM, too. Never seen a man who's undergone double knee replacement run so fast, not perform such a perfect swan-dive into a catfish pond.


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

swamp man said:


> Yep, wacks 'em all, every time.
> 
> I cram a long funnel into the hole first, step away for a minute to make sure I didn't wake them, then pour a little gas down the funnel.
> 
> ...


You ain't lying about landscapers and yellowjackets. The landscaper I hire to do tree surgery for me thats out of reach of my pole saw has been nailed so much in his 30 year career, when he gets stung , they only swell up like mosquito bites and go down in just a few hours. I wish I could get the immunities from him in a blood transfusion.


----------



## ronbre (Apr 26, 2009)

sending this to my son, he LOVES bees (NOT) and just cut a yellow jacket nest in half with the tractor the other day..needless to say he has not taken the tractor back there for round two yet...maybe after reading this he'll have some clever ways to deal with them.


----------



## Wis Bang (Feb 20, 2009)

> Yellow jackets are pure evil.
> 
> I was next door having beers with the Colonel last summer, and warned him that his throwing a basketball repeately at a stack of crossties to see where the yellow jackets were coming out warn't a very good plan. .....but he found 'em allright, and they dang sure found HIM, too. Never seen a man who's undergone double knee replacement run so fast, not perform such a perfect swan-dive into a catfish pond.


My father told a story involving a horse drawn sickle bar on the canal topath. He was 'bout 12 driving the ride on mower when the horse stepped on the nest & decided to speed up when stung pulling dad into the resulting crowd of angry yellow jackets.

He dove into the canal and was POed when granpap went after the horse w/ the salve leaving him in the water...

He ALWAYS lit the gas...


----------



## deaconjim (Oct 31, 2005)

Wis Bang said:


> My father told a story involving a horse drawn sickle bar on the canal topath. He was 'bout 12 driving the ride on mower when the horse stepped on the nest & decided to speed up when stung pulling dad into the resulting crowd of angry yellow jackets.
> 
> He dove into the canal and was POed when granpap went after the horse w/ the salve leaving him in the water...
> 
> He ALWAYS lit the gas...


I once bushhogged a bumblebee nest. I found out that an 8N Ford can go faster if you really need it to. :hobbyhors


----------



## starjj (May 2, 2005)

deaconjim said:


> I once bushhogged a bumblebee nest. I found out that an 8N Ford can go faster if you really need it to. :hobbyhors


When I was about 9 my friends and I rolled a log over and found a yellow jacket nest. I CAN and DID run faster than a 8N Ford LOL


----------



## TSYORK (Mar 16, 2006)

Shrek said:


> We had a yellowjacket nest in the yard when I was a teenager and Dad told me to pour gas down the hole we saw, wait a few minutes for it to fume and toss a match in and run. What he failed to tell me was to use only a quart . I poured in a 5 gallon can and let it fume for about 20 minutes. When I lit it, I blew the doors off our 8 x 10 Sears garden shed and lifted one side of it off off its slab.
> 
> I have to admit he took the demolished shed in stride because all he said was " Well we know where their back door was. Glad we had the riding mower out. The roof was starting to leak anyway. I should have told you how much gas to use. You should close your mouth and go change your drawers if you need to. While this explosion was impressive , its not as spectacular as when I blew up the officers latrine when I was stationed in Korea and used gas instead of diesel fuel to burn out the pit. Lets go buy a new shed kit and don't make any plans for next weekend because I will be teaching you how to assemble a tin shed."
> 
> Then my mother came out and looked at us and said " I see you are in the middle of a father / son moment and nobody is injured. Are you two coming inside for a shot and a beer or do you want me to bring the fixings out to the patio for the "You aint gonna believe this story?"" :rotfl:


THANK YOU!!! I NEEDED THAT TODAY! I laughed till I just about wet myself!


----------

