OT? Need yellow jacket repellent

Spray the nest in the evening, after dark, when they're all home watching television. Don't turn on any more lights than you need to see the nest. Spray the hell out of it.

I have used cypermethrin (trade name Viper, among others) in a sprayer to treat large wood areas which were being attacked by carpenter bees. Since doing this (an annual application), I haven't seen any yellow jackets in my yard. The stuff is pretty innocuous as pesticides go.

Thanks! I'll add Viper to my list.

You don't want to keep them away. You want to kill them so they don't set up homemaking 10' away. If you don't kill ALL of them, the ones that are left will do just that.

Spraying just before nighttime is the best option to kill them because they are not active then. The objective is to aim directly at the opening of the nest and kill them as they exit because they will rush out to face the danger and get hit by the spray, which kills them instantly. There are many great wasp/yellow jacket killing sprays which allow long range shooting. This is crucial cause when one of them is in danger, they send a signal to the rest and they will swarm to the threat and sting like hell.

Once they are all killed, remove the nest thoroughly, purchase a fake nest and put it in the same spot. Wasps, yellow jackets, bees, etc. will not build a nest where one already exist.

A method that I most definitly do NOT recomend: My Dad used to burn out the nest with a keroscene soaked bundle of rags on the end of a long pole - he made certain that he was well covered with long sleeves etc. and kept a good supply of water readily available!

On Aug 7, 2019, snipped-for-privacy@notreal.com wrote (in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com):

Almost. You have to kill the Queen, or she will regenerate the swarm. The Queen does not fly out, unless the entire swarm is moving. Joe Gwinn

LOL...

or(?)

HTH

Nope. You have to kill them ALL. One of others will become queen in a new nest if you let it happen. If all you had to do is kill the queen, the time of day wouldn't matter. There would be no need to wait until they're all home.

Thanks to all for the good tips, info and links. I feel I'm well prepared. Now that I'm armed and ready they seem to have disappeared for the most part.

Thanks again, gray_wolf

OR ...

Funny. SO much for the fake wasp nest.

Isn't that always the way? ;-) At least you're prepared for next time. I make sure I have a case of hornet spray in the garage. Never know when I'll need it.

Then, they will build their nests on the case. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

Need a case of cases! Nuke 'em all!

On Aug 8, 2019, snipped-for-privacy@notreal.com wrote (in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com):

Good point. Bees don´t do that, I think.

Anyway, I do have an effective approach to wiping wasp/hornet nests out. I use a rose duster, used to apply insecticide dust to rose bushes, to apply Ortho Sevin dust. The dust does not annoy the wasps or hornets, so one can simply walk up to the nest ignoring insects coming and going, put the duster nozzle to the entrance, and crank the blower handle for a while. This blows Sevin dust into all the nooks and crannies. Then walk away. Two hours later, all buzzing has ceased. And the former nest is still poisoned, and so cannot be recolonized for some time.

Ortho no longer makes a plant duster, but see

Sevin dust used to be 50% active ingredient; don´t know why it was diluted, but I´d suspect the EPA. For this application, probably 5% works just fine.

Joe Gwinn