Wasps and Yellowjackets

[theelfqueen]

We had some problems with wasps and yellowjackets in our back yard last summer (I think they may have a nest inside our retaining wall) ... we've already seen several (including one attempting to build a nest in our mailbox) and are considering hiring an exterminator to come and deal with them. Do you have any experience with this? Was it expensive? Was it effective?

[TheReader]

We have always just used wasp spray from the home improvement store. If you can determine where they're getting into the wall, you should be able to spray in the crack and take care of it. 

 

If you can't locate the nest or where they are getting into the wall, then yes, probably time for an exterminator. Price would likely depend on how easy/difficult to access the point of entry for the wasps, but shouldn't be too cost prohibitive. As for effective....around here, they tend to just move and come back, which is why we  keep the wasp spray around. But maybe an exterminator would have some other options. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

No clue on cost.  Growing up we had issues with them on our porch.  The landlord paid exterminators.  They'd be gone for the season, but they always came back.

 

Probably to keep them from coming back you'd have to figure out how to make the spots they like less attractive. 

[Guest]

Our pest service swabs some sort of chemical around our soffets/eaves using a large sponge on a stick. I have no clue what it is beyond a repellent, but it works. It helps keep them from building nests under the eaves. Before we had a service, we had a huge number and were constantly having to use the spray to knock them down. It made me very nervous with the kids because it would go from nothing to a teeming nest overnight it seemed. This way I only end up with one or two on the house over the summer. It's made a huge difference. I wish we could have this done to our barn and sheds too. It really is effective.

[wapiti]

We have had decent luck with traps, some sort of plastic hanging thing, yellow/green in color.  My dh handles them so I don't know what they're called, but we collect tons of wasps in them.  I assume he bought them at Home Depot or something.  These traps really do seem to cut down on the number.  (We have tons of wasps around, lots of little nests set up in every nook and cranny of our house/yard.)

[theelfqueen]

We've sprayed like crazy and used traps a bit... I just feel like I can't beat them. I got stung pretty badly last summer and I'm feeling done dealing with them. There was one in the house this morning. How the heck did it get in????

 

[lamolina]

We had yellowjackets inside an opening next to our front door. We couldnt get rid of them and had to call an exterminator. It was $150 and they gave us a guarantee and had to come back out one additional time.

[Guest]

We've sprayed like crazy and used traps a bit... I just feel like I can't beat them. I got stung pretty badly last summer and I'm feeling done dealing with them. There was one in the house this morning. How the heck did it get in????

Make sure your chimney flue is shut. We've had them come in that way!

[goldberry]

We had trouble last summer and the traps actually worked really well.  Got them at Home Depot.  They were inside a wall and spraying did nothing.

[Spy Car]

[Guest]

Hahaha. :)

[Guest]

Guessing a couple of ladies wouldn't mind trapping him in their yard.

[cintinative]

We've sprayed like crazy and used traps a bit... I just feel like I can't beat them. I got stung pretty badly last summer and I'm feeling done dealing with them. There was one in the house this morning. How the heck did it get in????

 

Not to freak you out but we have had wasps overwinter in our chimney and show up gradually in the house in the spring. We couldn't figure out how they were getting in. Finally we called the exterminator and he said they were in the chimney and to light a fire at least once a year to kill them off.  

[raptor_dad]

We had a large underground colony behind our wood retaining wall. The sprays couldn't get far enough in to kill them. We eventually bought some delta dust off amazon and that instantly took care of the problem. Deltamethrin is a big nasty insecticide that just works... just read the warnings about domestic animals and water pollution and decide whether your comfortable with that.

[TranquilMind]

We had some problems with wasps and yellowjackets in our back yard last summer (I think they may have a nest inside our retaining wall) ... we've already seen several (including one attempting to build a nest in our mailbox) and are considering hiring an exterminator to come and deal with them. Do you have any experience with this? Was it expensive? Was it effective?

 

If it is low enough, you can use a can of FOAM wasp spray and spray the heck out of it.  Make sure you get the foam as it immobilizes them.

 

If it is higher or you would just rather, you can get a pro, or you can go to a pest control store and get powder that is poison and a puffer bottle to shoot it into the nest.  I have one of those and use it regularly.  Wear gloves and don't breathe it in! 

[BlsdMama]

This really depends on the area of the country IMO.  What we call yellowjackets in the Midwest are relatively mild and annoying (even if a sting hurts like the dickens) but those flesh eating MONSTERS in the PNW that they call yellowjackets... I'm not sure anything can dissuade them from finding a victim.

[lllll]

We had all kinds of bees - wasps, carpenter bees, yellow jackets, giant hornets, etc.  We gradually learned the places they liked to build nests.  Early every year, as they began making nests, we would get the cans of bee spray that will spray about 20 feet and soak the tiny nests.  After a few days, we knocked them down. 

 

When we ripped the sheetrock out of our house, there were big nests in the walls.  After we cleaned them out, we soaked the spots with spray and plugged any holes and that took care of it.  Other places we found nests were behind shutters, under decks, eaves, holes in trees, hanging from trees, holes in the ground, around the above-ground pool, and many other places.  Last summer, I saw a wasp nest wrapped around a power line.  

 

For the carpenter bees, we sprayed the holes in the wood and tried to plug the holes as much as possible.  It also helps to put a good, thick coat of paint on the wood.  Youngest dd also enjoyed whacking those out of the air with a tennis racket and collecting them in a jar, keeping a tally. 

 

All these things seemed to keep the bees under control.  But I'd definitely scour any buildings for holes and plug them with caulk or steel wool or put screen over them or something. 

Edited May 19, 2016 by _ ?^..

[MomsintheGarden]

A strategy that seems to be working for us is feeding birds.  We keep a bird feeder going with black oil sunflower seeds for most of the year, and it is visited constantly by many different kinds.  We also grow sunflowers in our garden.  Most of the birds that come also eat insects.  Our yard is full of birds, and we have hardly any yellow jackets.

[BarbecueMom]

My sorta-super-achiever son and his more-normal dad used to tie firecrackers to the end of a fishing pole and walk around the yard blowing up the nests. That was Texas, tho.

BIL blew a mud dauber nest off a picnic cooler with some old bottle rockets. He also tried to keep a wasp as a pet once. It had a tiny leash and everything.

 

We let him come over and battle the wasps. All we ask is that he doesn't burn the house down or build anything illegal.

[mamiof5]

He also tried to keep a wasp as a pet once. It had a tiny leash and everything.

 

How on earth do you leash a wasp?? 😮

[mamiof5]

We've had a couple minor incidents...dh just uses the spray with long stick

[mamiof5]

We've sprayed like crazy and used traps a bit... I just feel like I can't beat them. I got stung pretty badly last summer and I'm feeling done dealing with them. There was one in the house this morning. How the heck did it get in????

No idea about cost for an exterminator and/or efficient treatment. But, getting stung last summer? And now coming in my house? I'd contact one asap. When a bug comes in my house they are crossing a boundary they shouldn't cross 😤

[zoobie]

DH is allergic, so we called our exterminator service when we found a huge nest in a column on our house. I don't recall it being ridiculous, but it's our usual service company.