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I had a very unpleasant encounter with yellow jacket nest in the ground. I decided to get my rototiller out to make a new flower bed. I hit the nest and before I knew what was happening I was standing right smack dab in the middle of some very angry critters. When I finally realized what was happening I was being attacked and I ran like hades back to the house peeling my clothes as I went cause they got up under my shirt, in my socks and even in my waistband. They were chasing me in hot pursuit and my neighbor said I looked like one of those cartoons with wasps chasing. I left a string of clothes in the front yard but worse of all I could not get to my tiller to turn it off and since I had just filled it with gas it took several hours for it to run out. I got stung so many times and I was so frightened my husband insisted on taking me to the hospital. Some were still in my clothes and I released them in the emergency room. It was not a good day! Be careful and definitely do it at night.
I had a very unpleasant encounter with yellow jacket nest in the ground. I decided to get my rototiller out to make a new flower bed. I hit the nest and before I knew what was happening I was standing right smack dab in the middle of some very angry critters. When I finally realized what was happening I was being attacked and I ran like hades back to the house peeling my clothes as I went cause they got up under my shirt, in my socks and even in my waistband. They were chasing me in hot pursuit and my neighbor said I looked like one of those cartoons with wasps chasing. I left a string of clothes in the front yard but worse of all I could not get to my tiller to turn it off and since I had just filled it with gas it took several hours for it to run out. I got stung so many times and I was so frightened my husband insisted on taking me to the hospital. Some were still in my clothes and I released them in the emergency room. It was not a good day! Be careful and definitely do it at night.
Very similar to what happened to me when I was eight years old...I was playing outside and disturbed a nest and remember running screaming into the house. My mom stripped off my clothes and put me in the shower and I still remember the shower drain being clogged with drowning wasps and I was stung from head to toe and swelled up all over.
:shudders:
I'm OK with bugs and spiders and snakes but to this day I get a bit scquicky about black and yellow stinging insects.
Domesticated bees do not build hives deep into the ground. These are probably yellow-jackets and there may be more then a single hole. Usually they are spread on a larger area.
How do I get rid of an underground bee/wasp nest? The nest is apparently directly underneath one of my bushes as I constantly see the wasps buzzing around the base of the bush, and there are several small holes in the ground about the diameter of a pencil. Whenever I mow the lawn the wasps get really riled up.
I did a Google search and most people suggest either pouring gasoline into the holes, or spraying wasp killer into the holes. The first option is obviously a fire/environmental hazard, and I'm reluctant to spray the wasp killer in fear that it will get absorbed by the bush and kill it. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I had yellow jackets,waited till evening and dumped a bucket of malithion down hole,end of problem.
I had yellow jackets,waited till evening and dumped a bucket of malithion down hole,end of problem.
Great. End a small problem and create a bigger one.
I hate to kill beneficial insects (or any for that matter), but when absolutely necessary I've gone the non-toxic route. For one huge nest of yellow jackets which was in my attic, I hooked up a vacuum cleaner (a shop vac) and positioned the nozzle at the exit hole. It only two a few hours over a couple of days, but I completely wiped out the hive that way. I waited until winter to remove the paper nest which remained in the attic (I assumed that the queen and perhaps a few other yellow jackets might be still in there.)
I also waited a few days to dispose of the contents of the shop vac--just in case any remained alive. In the meantime, I made sure to block the nozzle of the shop vac so that none could get out on their own.
I liked the good old days – when we used to use cyanide! Back in the 1950's they sold a product called Cynogas off the grocery store shelves (they did things differently back then). When I was fourteen I worked as a maintenance man for a resort during my summer vacation. I was given the Cynogas with the instructions to always stand upwind and hold my breath if I smelled anything – of course I was not given a gas mask. I did eliminate many yellow jacket nest. I would put one teaspoon down the hole and hit it with a little water (while standing upwind of the hole). The bees would fall out the air three foot over the hole and never move again.
Times change and I have not seen that product for a good fifty years. Those twelve foot wasp spray aerosols work pretty good (without endangering your own life). It was previously mentioned; plan your extermination for when the bees are in their hole at night. For the inexperienced; you might want to wear heavy clothing, gloves, hood, and goggles – just in case you get them riled. I also do not think it is a great idea for anybody that has bee allergies to attempt this extermination. If you use the sprays; just make sure you hit the opening and fairly well saturate it. The commercial insecticide sprays will knock the bees out of the air (if they try to leave the nest).
I am highly allergic to yellow jackets, not bees fortunately, just yellow jackes, either the ones in the ground or in the paper nests. I am also organic and make a home made spray with feverfew flowers and calendula flowers soaked in water with dawn dish soap for a surfactant. After dark I mix the mixture in a bucket or spayer and saturate the nest and the next day all will be dead. It also works on ants and their colonies.
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