How to get rid of Yellowjackets?

[McChooky]

I made a candle to smoke them out using melted wax, cardboard and empty cat food can

 

[McChooky]

I was careful not to burn the lattice by setting the fire far enough away to only smoke the bees and not catch the nest on fire

 

[McChooky]

The extension cord to my electric fence was on top of the lattice fence and the hornet nest on a small branch in front of it.I never even saw this nest until I was stung but I destroyed it.By the way plantain "tea" will take away the pain of a bee sting and decrease swelling.

 

[Apis mellifera]

Soaps, pesticides, chemicals, fire, MOAB, will all work. I have a tendency to leave native yellow jackets/wasps/hornets alone as long as they aren't located in an area where I get stung everyday. The trick to keeping them down is to place traps out early when queens emerge from the winter. There's plenty of videos on how to make soda bottle traps. They are beneficial insects important to the ecosystem that take out a lot of garden pests. So sometimes its good to just give them a break and leave them alone if they aren't in a bad location. The first frost they will be gone and they do not reuse old nests.

 

[Sally PB]

^^Thank you. Very interesting and informative.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

This time of year the yellow jackets are looking for meat, you can make a trap with a cake pan type tray and a board with chicken or fish afixed to the board. The board would be turned upside down on the tray with the tray filled with water about 1" from the meat. When the yellow jackets come for the bait they land on the board and crawl to the bait but after feeding they fly off into the water and they drown. The board should be a couple inches narrower then the tray.

Be sure to put a few drops of dish soap in the water to break the surface tension of the water so the insects will sink quickly and drown.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

The extension cord to my electric fence was on top of the lattice fence and the hornet nest on a small branch in front of it.I never even saw this nest until I was stung but I destroyed it.By the way plantain "tea" will take away the pain of a bee sting and decrease swelling.

You can chew plantain and use it immediately in the field for this.

 

[McChooky]

You can chew plantain and use it immediately in the field for this.

Yes I failed to mention this thank you!

 

[DLA]

I was careful not to burn the lattice by setting the fire far enough away to only smoke the bees and not catch the nest on fire

Yes please do be careful not to catch things on fire. My dad almost caught a whole tree on fire trying to smoke out a nest years ago. It's funny now and he was prepared with a hose so not much harm done but boy did he take a lot of teasing from the other guys at the local fire dept where he was a volunteer. When it's hot and dry fire can get out of control pretty quickly so have a fire extinguisher or hose handy just in case.

 

[McChooky]

Yes please do be careful not to catch things on fire. My dad almost caught a whole tree on fire trying to smoke out a nest years ago. It's funny now and he was prepared with a hose so not much harm done but boy did he take a lot of teasing from the other guys at the local fire dept where he was a volunteer. When it's hot and dry fire can get out of control pretty quickly so .have a fire extinguisher or hose handy just in case.

It killed them before they could sting me so it got the job done. I almost felt sorry for them.