More fun with Yellowjackets

[calmloki]

Had a large nest of the evil angry little mini-bastids take up residence above the second story of a daylight basement building. I've fought nests in the same location before - they are either in a corner of the attic, or hidden in a wall channel, because poisons don't phase 'em. VC tunnel or Tora Bora style warfare, and I am NOT crawling in after them!

A shop-vac, 12' of ABS 1 1/2" pipe, and the always handy tape did the trick. Run the vac during the daylight hours for several days, picking off any newly hatched brood as they venture forth to find food for the queen and you get a nice harvest of dead or dying bugs. Did feel like one of the expendables setting a bangalore torpedo under sniper fire stuffing the pipe into the brood in the daylight....

">">

 

[TromboneAl]

Clever. What makes them die in the vacuum drum?

 

[JakeBrake]

I use the same poison for both yellowjackets and fire ants outdoors. One ounce of malathion in in one gallon of water in a pressure sprayer. this mixture doesn't kill the yellowjackets instantly. It takes a couple of minutes. So, so you need to spray from a distance of more than 8' and have a planned escape route, if necessary.

 

[ziggy29]

MacGyver would be proud.

 

[calmloki]

Clever. What makes them die in the vacuum drum?

They come down the pipe at speed and bounce off the baffle in front of the filter. Fun to hold the pipe and feel them thwacking into any corners. I also think a certain amount of dehydration takes place after a few hours of the constant wind skirling about. There weren't more than a dozen still moving when I opened the drum.. One could also put in 4" of water, but there's no need.

Must be a greatly favored location, as the last time I sealed it up with spray foam and painted. The foam plug is totally gone.

 

[LightningDawg]

We Bulldog Fans approve!

 

[nphx]

Dont try this or tell my insurance adjuster - cup of gasoline tossed on nest area.

 

[calmloki]

Dont try this or tell my insurance adjuster - cup of gasoline tossed on nest area.

Have done that and/or moth crystals, then covering with painter's plastic to trap fumes on ground wasp nests. Makes for some confused unhappy wasps. The shopvac takes 'em right out of contention -IF there's one entrance.

(also have used gas+fire and 410 Marble gamegetter pistol on paperwasp nests - not advised in the big city)

 

[SteveR]

We had a cabin in the mountains for a while and the Hornets (much larger cousin to the Yellow Jackets) would next between the sub roof and the metal roof sheets. I can't count the number of nests I nuked there were attached to the lower part of the elevated suspended deck.

Our Yellow Jackets lived in the ground and loved it when I grilled out on the deck. If we were going to up there for a while I put out traps and also several empty pop bottles with some cooked bacon grease in the bottom along with about 5 inches of water. It kept them busy while I grilled.

Growing up the Yellow Jackets were awful and hiking in the mountains was a bit like walking through a mine field. Between the bears, the bees and the snakes it made for interesting hiking.

My dad bless his soul, had some bad JuJu while on some of his heart meds. once and decided to take out a nest in a leaf pile in the back yard. I was about 15 or so and suggested he might what to try an approach with a bit more firepower than a leaf rake and a can of Raid. Needless to say, he got stung over 25 times before he could get back in the house.

For the ground type...keroene by itself will do the trick..not fire needed. the lower volatility of the kerosene coats the passages in the nest and the wings of the bees so they can't fly. Fire is optional to take out the eggs and the queen. Gasoline is way to dangerous since the fumes will move along the ground and can go quite a ways from where it was applied. It tends to flash way too fast and does not work as well as the kerosene. Diesel fuel could also be used but we did not have any while growing up.


Good luck with the "Jack-Vac" arrangement. An exterminator might be in order to remove the actual nest to reduce future nesting.

 

[veremchuka]

For the ground type...keroene by itself will do the trick..not fire needed.

There is actually a better solution than kerosene or gas tho both will kill them. Place a clear plastic or glass bowl or container over the nest hole. Of course this assumes the hole isn't in the middle of a bunch of growth that won't allow you to do this. If there is bushes or small plants in the way wait until after dark, place a rock over the hole to prevent them from coming out and cut the brush so the bowl will sit flat on the ground. Then remove the rock and quickly place the bowl over the hole. Make sure it can't tip over, I prefer a glass bowl as it is heavier. The nest will be dead shortly!

The reason this works is simple. If you fill or cover the nest hole with rocks or dirt they just dig out a new tunnel to escape. However, the glass bowl or plastic allows light to come through and they can see the outside so they will not dig a new hole to escape. You now have them trapped and as simple as this sounds it works! Cover the hole and a few days or maybe a week later they are dead!

 

[spirit]

Brings back memories

Ah yes, shop vac, almost as versitile as duct tape. Many years ago when our boys were little the youngest was stung by a wasp. We had a outdoor brick planter that ran the length of the living room, around 15 feet. The wasps build a nest at the base between the planter and the adjoining sidewalk. Because of the length of the planter we did not know the exact location of the nest plus we had only seen a few wasps at any time and did not think it would be a big deal to fix. My DH set up a shop vac, sat about 10 feet away and as they came out, turned on the vac and in they went. Wasps coming back to the nest, same thing. The wasps hover just a second or two before they either emerge from the planter or position themselves to enter. Those few seconds gave him enough time to turn on the vac and suction them up. And because he was still and the noise came not from him but the vac, they left him alone. Quite entertaining because it kept him busy for the whole weekend. By the time he was done he had several THOUSAND wasps in the shop vac.

 

[spirit]

Whoops even women exaggerate the size

Sorry, just read this to DH and he corrected me by telling me only 600 wasps. I could have sworn he told me thousands