Pesky yellow jackets (house, neighborhood, living)

[wolfwhizz]

Have nested yellow jackets in piles of brush and debris. Can I burn piles to be rid of them without getting bitten.

[Mac_Muz]

Yes you can in evening, but don't get caught with out a fire permit.

Last year i ran over a ground nest in the field getting stung a bunch of times mowing. I sure didn't go get any permit. Instead I went and got some old gasloline I was wanting to get rid of. At dusk I set that out pouring it in the nest hole, which was party a rotted stump.

I allowed that gas to soak around 15 minutes before I tied a cotton rag to a long stick and lit off the nest. That got the most of them and i waited 3 days for the others to settle down nice n' co zy and did it again.

I had water from a hose on hand incase things got dicey, but in the end being my old conservitive self I didn't need it.

Today I saw a yellow hornet in a log containing one of my strawberry beds and wonder if it was simply hunting, or was setting up house. Time will tell.

It can hunt all it wants, but it best not set up house.

[Burgermeister]

Originally Posted by Mac_Muz

Yes you can in evening, but don't get caught with out a fire permit.

Last year i ran over a ground nest in the field getting stung a bunch of times mowing. I sure didn't go get any permit. Instead I went and got some old gasloline I was wanting to get rid of. At dusk I set that out pouring it in the nest hole, which was party a rotted stump.

I allowed that gas to soak around 15 minutes before I tied a cotton rag to a long stick and lit off the nest. That got the most of them and i waited 3 days for the others to settle down nice n' co zy and did it again.

Mac,

Is it necessary to light it off? Or does the soaking in gasoline do the trick by itself? I don't think I could get away with lighting it in my neighborhood. My big kid got swarmed by the ground nesting variety last year and I was wondering what to do if it happened again. This year, so far, so good, but he is very careful these days

[brfire]

I did the same thing last week, I found two ground nests of the mean nasty little yellow jackets the hard way. Got a little gas, let it soak in, then touched it off. It burned out the opening of the hole for about 15 minutes. No more yellow jackets!

[Mac_Muz]

Originally Posted by Burgermeister

Mac,

Is it necessary to light it off? Or does the soaking in gasoline do the trick by itself? I don't think I could get away with lighting it in my neighborhood. My big kid got swarmed by the ground nesting variety last year and I was wondering what to do if it happened again. This year, so far, so good, but he is very careful these days

No you could use dead motor oil but nothing will grow there for 1,000 years unless you burn that off at some point.

I don't use toxins on bug counting the jackets. I use WD-40, Liquid Wrench, or assorted rust busters like these for paper nests in places like the shed, my wooden canoe, the fire wall on my van, and blasted hood 2ndary hood latch on my volvo. None of which I can burn.

I used more gas than I needed because i got stung many times at once mowing and wanted bloody hell revenge, which I got.

But no you need no fires. I do like that burning off gasoline allows for a faster return of plants. It's cleaner.

I bet with 6 ounce of gas and a soak time of 15 minutes there would be little to no flash and hardly any flames. And in fact a problem getting a fire started in the first place.

The stick I used was very long, just a dead sappling pine. I guess it was around 12 feet long, and I split the top end at apx 1" OD to tuck the rag in and then wrap that rag around the split.

It took working that burning rag to get the area to blaze up, and I had to move the rag in the grass and on the soil to enable a decent burn untill the ares heated up and gassed out.

The no burn method is to get oil on these nasty insects which kills them by suffocation. They breath air thru orfices along their body sides abdomens. Just like any living thing, you cut off the air and they die.

If say you had a side walk de-icer torch/ weed burner that works just like a flame thrower less any sticky residue.

One time making one truck of 2 I came on a wildly hudge White Face Wasp Nest, pretty much face to face under one of the trucks.

At the time I was cutting suspention parts with cutting torches. My instant reaction was to stuff the torch into the nest hole and that sure did the trick.

The wasps fell out all over the ground still alive but with no wings. That nest was bigger than a foot ball

Just make sure it isn't the Euro Honey Bee....... Please don't allow anyone to kill them.

I only kill insects when they are a threat or in the act of being a threat.

[BF66389]

Just one warning on ground holes & burning them out. Make sure it isn't an old tunnel system from a mole/vole, etc that runs up to your foundation. I know someone who filled a hole with gas that was about 15 feet from his home...let it soak...lit it...and the other end was under his sun room. Fortunately they only lost the sun room and needed some new siding vs the whole house. Bees and the like usually re-use the nests of other animals.

Also, you can use a micro-capsulized persistent pesticide on the nests- put it down in the evening and in the morning when they leave they get some on them which kills them during the day.

[Mac_Muz]

I so want to find the voles hole and fry it to bits. it's in my taters hard up too. My wife saw it today as I was pulling off the taters straw. In fact I scattered gas all over the weeds where it went and flashed that area. A big WOOF LOL. In the morning I am going to burn off all the weeds and if I find that hole I am gonna napalm that vole.

The house is a fair distance from there though LOL

[luckysnap]

Sevin dust will kill the bees.

[Mac_Muz]

Yellow jackets are not bee's.

[Burgermeister]

Originally Posted by Mac_Muz

I so want to find the voles hole and fry it to bits. it's in my taters hard up too. My wife saw it today as I was pulling off the taters straw. In fact I scattered gas all over the weeds where it went and flashed that area. A big WOOF LOL. In the morning I am going to burn off all the weeds and if I find that hole I am gonna napalm that vole.

The house is a fair distance from there though LOL

This is starting to remind me of the movie "Caddy Shack"