Is now a good time of year to get someone out to treat my yard? Or do I need to wait until "bee season"? I'd hate to kill the bumblebees, and besides, am I right that Yellojackets overwinter while others generally don't?

I'd like to get rid of the little demonic ones in time to do some spring planting, without killing every organism in my neighborhood. :)

When was the last time you have been stung by these yellowjackets?

Yellow jackets aren't looking to sting, and will not attack unless provoked. Your track record of “never” being stung by the yellow jackets proves that. Yellow jackets are beneficial insects that eat other insects. Spraying will likely do you more harm than the bees. I recommend the natural control methods I have stated above and to go about your business and they will leave you alone.

So: Any tips, anyone, on when or how to get rid of them? I do mean the nasty chemical ways, too. I tried all the natural remedies I could last year, to no avail. And I'm NOT going nest-hunting in the middle of the night with a kettle of hot water and an infrared light.

Getting rid of them requires some protection. The specialized wasp killer sprays contain two chemicals... one is a paralyzer which is temporary. It knocks them down. The second is a slower working poison.

Getting suited up just like a beekeeper can be a wise move. And a detergent water mix is quite effective at killing yellowjackets without dealing with nasty toxins.

The ‘natural controls’ I have mentioned are the best way to keep the population of yellow jackets on your property down to a minimum. If you want to use poison, you will probably do more harm to yourself and the “bee-allergic garden helper” who will have to breath these chemicals when they become airborne from mowing the lawn.

Yellow jackets are docile creatures and do not attack unless provoked. I believe you may be the victim of techniques often employed by journalists. And that favorite technique is ’fear mongering’. If you would do a little journalistic research on the subject, you might find out that your fear is not warranted. You may find that the odds of being killed by yellow jackets are extremely low..

I did some research:

Dr. James Fox, an allergist, said approximately 40 people per year nationwide die of allergic reactions to yellow jacket stings....
Those odds are infinitesimal!

Just for comparison:

During 2002, there were more than four thousand cases of west Nile virus caused by misquotes, and almost 300 deaths. We may be on the verge of a major epidemic, but there is no treatment and a vaccine is at least a decade away....
Now that would be a great story for a journalist!

If you get rid of all the carnivorous bug eating yellow jackets. You might reduce the chance for the “bee-allergic garden helper” dying from yellow jacket sting. But you’ll have more misquotes in your yard increase the chances of him dying from west Nile disease.

Best Wishes,
Joe

A continued effort ‘throughout the year’ will greatly limit the numbers of yellow jackets and other stinging bees on your property Start early in the spring, ‘walk around once a week’ with a stick looking under the porch, play sets, eves and ledges of the house, check the pool under the rims and all shelter places for bees down low and up high, and knock down any nests you find. Ask you neighbors to do the same. Keep an eye on bees as you are doing other things throughout the week to see where they are going to discover their secret nesting sites and destroy them as you find them. Keep it up throughout the year!!!

Good control in the first half of the year will greatly limit the numbers of yellow jackets in the late summer and fall. ‘The spring is the best time to kill yellow jackets’ because they will all be queens. For each queen that you can kill in the spring and early summer will lower the yellow jacket population by maybe 100 or more come late summer and fall. Any ground nests you find can be destroyed with hot water with dish soap. The underground nests can be quite large so it may take several gallons and two or more applications and few days apart. I sometimes stick a funnel in the hole and refill the hole for a few days.

If a nest is knocked down early enough the 2 or 3 bees on it will generally save themselves and flee, so it pays to get the nests early. But remember to check back if they decide to rebuild the nest. Large nests are a different story and can be very defensive. When nests become large ‘wasps especially’ will post sentries to guard the vicinity. Wasps will sting without warning if you enter the area. But this ’one sting’ is good, better than getting 20 or more if you disturbed the nest. So all these reasons are why 'spring and early summer' are the best times to kill yellowjackets.

Best Wishes,
Joe Waggle
Beekeeper and
licensed pesticide applicator
in Pennsylvania

I put bee attractant on the end of my vacuum cleaner wand. I very quietly approach the nest with the wand extended towards it. Then when all the wasps smell the attractant and start to buzz around it, I turn on the machine.

Thhhooop!!

Sometimes I get them all in one big suck. Sometimes a fast one or two will get away, but they always return to guard the nest. I just turn off the vacuum, wait about a half hour and clean up the stragglers.

I haven't been stung, yet(knock on wood). And I don't do this to all of them, just the ones who nest a little too close to the heavy traffic areas around the house and yard.

There are some really big black wasps who seem to just "hang out" in my hanging planters and although they fly around when I water, they never sting, then they just settle placidly back in the cool soil. They're really kinda pretty.

Cheryl

(what prompted me along these lines is the use by plumbers some time of a shopvac to clear out clogged pipes -- drain pipes. Sometimes blockages can be cheaply and easily removed).

A beekeeper (and bee remover) in Florida told me that yellow jacket nests can get quite large (as in the size of a VW beetle!) in the south. He kills them (I'm not sure how, but I think he freezes them) and sells the dead yellow jackets to some company that makes anti-venom medicine for allergic people. Maybe your yellow jacket problem is a gold mine!

I have used as traps old wine bottles about one quarter full with a mixture of Coke and beer (I knew I would find a use for Coke one day!) and placed on their sides or at a slight angle. Bees aren't interested and so don't get caught.

But, there is no real reason to make your own. See the January 2005 Issue at http://www.watchtv.net/~honeyrun/nwoba/

Had two ground nests on my property that were in bad places & couldn't be just left.

For the first one, I bought a stream aerosol spray for them, waited until dark, & then went out there with a flashlight & sent a solid stream right down the hole, as well as soaked the immediate surrounding area. Next day there were one or two survivors buzzing around, but then that was it - all gone.

As far as the 2nd nest, nature took its course when a skunk apparently dug the nest out overnight which apparently sent the survivors elsewhere.

Sekada, to get rid of your bees you need to first find out where they are coming from. Then search the web. There are some very fine powders, like flour, to put down on them. The bees will track the power into their nest and it will kill them off rather quick. I ended up calling an exterminator because 1)Was not safe to get near the porch -these non agressive bees stung me once. 2) being up in the attic I had no real means to get to them. Within hours of the exterminator those puppies were mostly dead. They did have to make a repeat treatment but within two weeks no more yelllow jackets.

Susan

While attempting to clear the rampant ivy away from our gargen path, my 3 year and daughter and I disturbed a wasp / yellowjacket (how do you tell the difference?) nest in the ground. She was stung & I was stung multiple times. I really need some urgent advice on how to get rid of the horrid things. Any ideas out there?

If you are too near their nest they can be terribly aggresive. They can sting again and again and do not lose their stinger as some bees do; and they also bite.

Usually in early spring the new queenlet who overwintered like under the bark of a tree will emerge to seek a place to build its nest. She lays her first eggs which quickly hatch and she has her first workers who do nothing but feed her and protect the nest. More and more eggs hatch and within a month there are now maybe 50 yellowjackets all with thier own specialized tasks. Some build and enlarge the nest while others attend to the queen and others move the new eggs around, some are guards and some bring food for the new baby yellowjackets and some direct traffic. This continues through July and August and at this point the nests can become huge and have hundreds or thousands of yellowjackets and this is where the amateur exterminator can get hurt. Then I think it best to call a pro with all the gear.

If in spring you keep your eyes open and see a rountine of a few yellowjackets coming and going from a hole, crack or hole in the ground; then keep an eye on it. If they continue coming and going then you probably have a nest being built and at that point it is probably small so then is the best time to get rid of them.

I've heard in southern areas that becausee of mild winters they can be active through the winter.. so...that nest could be big and active. Bee careful.

In mid-August the new queenlets begin to emerge and now the workers are extremely aggresive and jumpy and protective. As the cold winter approaches the new queenlets leave to find suitable winter protection under tree bark or in an old log. At the same time as winter approaches the workers and the old queen die. In early spring the overwintered queenlets leave their hiding place and begin to look for a suitable nest to raise their brood. Full circle.

If yellowjackets are a perennial problem use traps in the early spring to trap the queenlets. No queens=no yellowjackets in the summer.

In response to jackz411's post I would like to remark the following. I work for a small biotechnology company in the Netherlands which has developed a product specifically targeted at catching the queens in spring. We've had considerable succes in Europe and are now hoping to expand that succes to the USA. In order to accomplish that we are looking for volunteers which are willing to test our product in the US this coming spring free of charge.

As I am aware that I am not allowed to post any further commercial references here we are wondering what would be the best way to come in contact with people who would be willing to help us with these tests.

Thank you for your help and kind regards,

Jeff
The Netherlands

I'm a Bee Keeper and love the natural world, including wasp.
There comes a time when one needs to get rid of some.
I don't mind some wasp around bee hives but one has to watch
very closely, sometimes they can clean out a weak hive if
you don't reduce the size of hive entrance.

Jeff
I'm interested in your trap only if I know that I'm not dealing with harmful chemical and not hurting
my honey bees.
Can you tell a little more how it works, ...you can email me private, ...click on my page.
Konrad

They are easy to kill, with no more effort than checking the mail. Just put a damp gas rag in a large Mason jar and place it upside down over the hole. Push it down in the ground and pack a little dirt around the outside. Do this after dark, and by 9am you'll have no more YJ's and no polluted ground water or dead grass.

Since I have a completely organic yard (no pesticides, no herbicides, no fungicides, no sprays or chemicals of any kind, and no fertilizers aside from natural compost), and since I have what I term a microfarm (I've planted 16 fruit trees on my regular suburban lot), I rather liked having yellow jackets nearby as predators.

I felt horrified and saddened, then, when I found that someone had apparently sprayed the nest with something, slaying all of them. Seeing how the yellow jackets had tried to run inside their nest, perhaps to escape, perhaps to protect their young, was especially heart-rending. It was probably my mailman, but I would have appreciated it if he had asked me first if I wanted him to do that.

Bottom line: Are your yellow jackets really that big of a problem? I do understand your concerns about someone with an allergy, but is it possible to co-exist with them?