Yellow Jacket Control
Eric Ronning
Identification
There are 14 species of vespid wasps in North America. Most measure between ½ and ¾ inches in length; have very little hair; a short, very thin waist; and alternating patterns of yellow and black on their abdomens. Bald-faced hornets (also yellow jackets) are slightly larger but are black and white as opposed to black and yellow.
Eastern Yellow Jacket
German Yellow Jacket
Bald-faced Hornet
In the spring and early summer, yellow jackets are often seen around grills, on carrion, or hunting for caterpillars and other insects. Later in the summer and early fall, they are frequently seen raiding sodas, beers, wines, juices, fruits, hummingbird feeders, etc. Yellow jackets are, in general, pretty non-aggressive—unless they feel threatened. If threatened, yellow jackets will sting. They don't lose their stingers, can sting multiple times, don't die after stinging, and (to top it all off) can bite. This article will give you many ways to protect yourself and reduce stress at outdoor gatherings, without killing yellow jackets. If, however, you want to kill yellow jackets, I'll tell you how to do that, too.
IMPORTANT! When working to get rid of yellow jackets and yellow jacket nests, you're probably going to get stung. Protect yourself. Find a bee supply store and purchase a bee suit. You can get them for as little as $30.00, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than hiring someone for yellow jacket extermination.
Controlling Yellow Jackets
Remove yellow jacket nests with a plastic bag and pruning shears. A wasp nest hanging from a branch can be removed by pulling a large, thick plastic bag up over it, and snipping off the branch. After the branch is cut, close the bag quickly and carefully, so as not to poke any holes in it. Spray wasp killer into the bag, or tie it up and put it in the freezer. This process of wasp removal is extremely dangerous. To lessen your chances of getting stung, do this at night while wearing protective clothing.
Use lure traps to kill yellow jackets. Lure traps work great. You put something sweet inside, the yellow jackets come in after it, are unable to get out, and die. You can buy yellow jacket wasp traps or make your own. Take an empty two liter soda bottle, cut off the top where the neck starts to narrow. Invert the top into the bottom half of the bottle, and staple it into place so the two cut edges are right next to each other. Pour a couple inches of something sweet (soda, juice, your mom) into your homemade yellow jacket trap, add a couple drops of dish soap into it, and set it out.
Lace cat food with wasp poison. Canned cat food, being meaty and sweet, is a great medium for baiting yellow jackets. Pre-bait for several days with clean cat food to develop a good following. After 3‒5 days have passed, buy Orthene (a water soluble powder), mix per directions, add about 20 drops to a can of cat food, and stir carefully. Set the laced can next to the clean can and let the yellow jackets do the rest. The wasps take the food back to the nest and infect the entire colony.
Kill yellow jackets with boric acid. For killing yellow jackets in the ground, sprinkle boric acid into and around the opening of the nest before they return at sundown. When yellow jackets walk through it, boric acid will stick to them, get dragged down into the nest, and spread to the rest of the colony. Boric acid (Borax) is a desiccant and a slow acting stomach poison, so give it a few days to work. Reapply every three or four days for two weeks. For killing yellow jackets in wall voids, get a bulb duster and puff boric acid into their nest at the openings, and through a few ⅛" holes drilled directly into the nest through the wall.
Consider using other dusts besides boric acid. Use dusts like Sevin, Apicide, Delta Dust, Tempo 1% Dust, Cynoff Insecticide Dust, or Eco Exempt D Dust. In most cases, application method is the same as for boric acid (found above).
Exterminate yellow jackets with spray insecticides. Spray insecticides are an extremely common, effective, and easy to use. The most common are those that come in aerosol cans (Raid, Black Flag, etc.). Many of them can shoot a powerful jet of poison to distances of about 20 ft. This is very nice for spraying wasp nests. If you don't want to use an aerosol, you can also purchase concentrates to mix with water and use with your own sprayer. I recommend brands such as Demon WP, Cynoff WP, and Sevin. Aerosols or concentrates can be used for aerial or ground nests.
Make your home yellow jacket proof. If you have yellow jackets trying to make your home their home, you're most likely dealing with German yellow jackets. To keep this from happening, go out in the early spring and caulk any holes. Look around electrical components, wires, cables, doors and windows. Replace any broken siding, and patch any little openings between panels and at corners. Check for holes in the mortar between bricks and concrete blocks. Finally, make sure to apply bug screen to ridge caps, vents, and chimney caps.
More Yellow Jacket Control Tips
When to use yellow jacket traps. They're most effective in the early spring when the queens emerge from overwintering sites, and in the late summer when they leave nests for the winter.
Don't be all that and a bag of chips. If you tart yourself up with brightly patterned clothing and use perfume, cologne, lotion, hairspray, or hair gel, you're asking yellow jackets to be interested in you.
Destroy/remove potential nesting sites. In the early spring, just after the snow melts, take time to comb your yard for rodent burrows; fill them in with soil.
Get rid of overwintering sites. Clear your yard and surrounding areas of old logs, fallen trees, boards, plywood, dead tree stumps, and loose bark on dead trees.
Stop feeding yellow jackets. Replace loose-fitting lids on trash cans, and clean them every week after the trash has been collected. If you cook, eat, or drink outside, clean up spills immediately. Quit feeding pets outside. Yellowjackets love pet food. Pick fruit when it's ripe, and clear away any fallen fruit. And finally, turn compost regularly.
Natural Yellow Jacket Control
The Waspinator. Wasps tend to avoid other wasps. Yellow jackets are no exception. The Waspinator is a piece of fabric with a hoop that is designed to look like a wasp nest. When wasps see this "nest," they buzz off (sorry, had to do it at least once).
Honey. This is my favorite organic pest control option for yellow jackets. Drizzling a bunch of honey on, into, and around a yellow jacket nest in the ground will lure neighborhood skunks and coons to the site. They will eat the honey, dig up the wasp nest to find more honey, and eat the larvae.
Soap and water. An underground yellow jacket nest can be eliminated with a five gallon bucket full of warm water that's been mixed with ⅓ to ½ cup of liquid dish soap. At night, when they're all home, slowly dump your soapy water into the nest. Many will drown, many will be killed by the soap, and many will be angry, so protect yourself.
Pyrethrin dust. Pyrethrins are an extremely effective natural insecticide made from chrysanthemums. Use them in dust form to kill yellow jackets in the same manner described (to the left) for boric acid. Look for brands like Drione and PyGanic.