Yellow Jackets

seedcorn said:

Poison them. Or put up with stings...

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Ditto Do not step on nest, good chance to get string that way.

Collector said:

We have tons of yellow jackets as well this year. I have been using these type trapsView attachment 27681View attachment 27682
We don’t use any of the attractants sold at stores, just a piece of lunch meat and you have to empty twice a day. The homemade one I used a smart water bottle to make it works good, not as good as the yellow jacket traps though. These type do not catch honey bees or mason bees, not even wasps or hornets. To empty I just put in outside freezer for 20/30 minutes dump spray with bee killer and bury.

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I've used the water bottle one before. Only I had mine going the other end up. Might have had that wrong, but it caught plenty. I just put a piece of fruit in a little water and let it go bad. Never emptied it till it was full, then just tossed it.

As a kid no one ate the apples from 2 trees, yellow jacks love rotting apple

It might be an underground nest, in which case you definitely will need to enlist professional help. They will need to dig them out, and underground nests are built along old rodent tunnels and the colony can be quite spread out across a wide area. Traps will only kill a few (relatively speaking) individuals, but unless the hive is destroyed, it will have little effect on the population which is typically 4 or 5 thousand wasps, all with nasty tempers.

Collector said:

These type do not catch honey bees or mason bees, not even wasps or hornets.

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Yellow jackets *are* wasps.

I must admit to not being able to ID the different species around here. There are at least 4, before you get to the black and white bald-face.

There is an European invasive.

The nests don't seem to be too distinctive. Even the "Aerial Yellowjacket" sometimes builds ground nests according to Wikipedia ... looks like "aerial" is something of a misnomer, if that's true.

Steve

I had a nest in space between outside light fixture and wall. It was right next to door clients use. I bought a can of wasp spray at home depot sprayed whole can in crack, problem solved.

That European invasive you mention, digitS, is actually the only true hornet. Bald faced/white faced "hornets" are technically wasps (along with yellow-jackets, mud daubers, paper wasps, and others). So say the entomologists, and I'm not one, I just take their word for it, for the purpose of knowing my enemy. I'm terrified of them, but my fearless husband is deathly allergic to them, so the task of extermination falls on my shoulders.

I think "aerial" is just an adjective describing wasps that fly, but yellow jackets will nest above or below ground as the mood and opportunity takes them.

As to natural remedies to remove the pain of stings, not much can beat a paste of baking soda and water. However if you have a severe allergic/anaphylactic reaction, it is a good idea to take benadryl and then head for the emergency room for an injection of epinephrine.

How to get rid of yellow jackets:

Buy some Front Line flea and tick topical insecticide for dogs (fipronil)

Get a small can of cat or dog food, use half, mix with fipronil and set where pets cannot reach. The yellow jackets will carry it back to the nest, in a week or two, the nest will be dead. Set out fresh each morning, they like it fresh.

@baymule i never heard of that before, think I will try it. Thanks for the tip.