Yellow jackets

Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
16,183
Location
Indiana
We have a lot of DIY’rs here so I figured this was worth sharing. We did a 3 day weekend mini vacation a few weeks ago and came home to a yellow jacket nest behind the siding on our front porch.

Bought the kit in the link and used the spray as directed at about 3:30am while they were still sleeping. Stick the straw in their entrance and spray for 15 seconds then when dry apply the powder. It supposedly poisons their entrance for months.

I don’t see any flying around, but I do see a few of these every few days covered in powder. Highly recommended.

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$50 is pretty steep IMO. Luckily I have never dealt with Yellowjackets in the walls...they seem to prefer to make nests in the ground here. Wait until 10pm, pour about 1/10 gallon of 87 octane down the hole and walk away. Problem solved every time.
 
I have wasp and hornet nests all around my house. They love it here. I go through a few cans of the 20' spray each summer.

Had a professional out years ago and he used a powder is a spray bulb up inside the siding.
 
$50 is pretty steep IMO. Luckily I have never dealt with Yellowjackets in the walls...they seem to prefer to make nests in the ground here. Wait until 10pm, pour about 1/10 gallon of 87 octane down the hole and walk away. Problem solved every time.
Yes in the ground here too - NC. It ain’t smart to mow over a nest…kinda makes them mad. It hurt too…
 
I hate those things more than anything else in the world. I go through at least 6 cans of wasp and hornet spray every summer. They seem to like making nests on the shed, behind the decorative window shutters, and sometimes under the deck. I can’t wait for winter when they’re all dead.

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Constant issue in the NorthEast. Crazy but Dawn dish detergent and vinegar not only cleans bathrooms effectively, spray it on a hornest nest. Effective.
 
They have an ez grab style thing you can buy if it’s higher.


I’ve had good luck with the spray shooter stuff. The trick is to hit them at dark and soak the nest. In some cases that does make a mess so this might be a good alternative in those cases.
 
Stryker and Tempo powder is awesome.

We spent a lot of time away from the house this summer. Not paying attention to the day-to-day, yellow jackets made a nest behind our fiber cement siding.

Stryker doesn't have the immediate knock-down power of something like Spectracide Pro. It sure does gas them when the nest is tucked in a cavity though and it doesn't leave any residue.
 
The dust (Sevin) will kill a nest -- even inaccessible ones -- every time. It's cheap. Get a bellows duster to inject it into burrows, behind siding, etc.
 
Like with wasps, any mitigation efforts are futile unless you can find the nest. Unfortunately for me, I have been unable to locate all of the nests on my property.
 
Fun story...(it was NOT funny at the time). Was mowing the hill next to the lake at moms lake house and ran over a nest. Took about 2 seconds until I was in a full sprint. They were everywhere, looked down at my shirt and there were 5 or 6 on the fabric latched on and just repeatedly stinging. I ripped off my shirt, shorts, shoes, socks (at least 3 or 4 were attached to my socks!). Ran to the front of the house screaming for someone to turn on the hose and spray me down. Wife was about 100 yards away and thought I had lost a limb or something the way i was yelling and dancing. Finally i quit cussing long enough to tell her to spray me down. Over 30 stings that we could count. Finally my wife goes- why didnt u just jump in the lake? The thought never even crossed my mind 😂...i was 5 feet away.
 
Fun story...(it was NOT funny at the time). Was mowing the hill next to the lake at moms lake house and ran over a nest. Took about 2 seconds until I was in a full sprint. They were everywhere, looked down at my shirt and there were 5 or 6 on the fabric latched on and just repeatedly stinging. I ripped off my shirt, shorts, shoes, socks (at least 3 or 4 were attached to my socks!). Ran to the front of the house screaming for someone to turn on the hose and spray me down. Wife was about 100 yards away and thought I had lost a limb or something the way i was yelling and dancing. Finally i quit cussing long enough to tell her to spray me down. Over 30 stings that we could count. Finally my wife goes- why didnt u just jump in the lake? The thought never even crossed my mind 😂...i was 5 feet away.
This was about 10 years ago when I still lived at home. I was mowing a sandy hill at my parents on a hot summer day. No rain all summer so it was about a month since I mowed.


Got stung once and brushed it off as a fluke. Went back and got stung at least a dozen more times. Pretty sure I had an allergic reaction because of how cold I got. It was very bizarre.
 
That looks like a Cicada Killer Wasp. They fly up in trees and bring the Cicada's to their nests which are in the ground in dry areas of soil. I have shot a few of those around my area and it's almost as much fun as trap or skeet shooting. The only problem is the 2 for $6.00 wasp killer spray bombs do not last very long at all. I have shot the entrance of the wasps in the ground in the early morning and a couple usually come stumbling out and die. I just do not like them around the house.
 
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