7 Reliable Ways to Kill Ground Bees (And 4 That Are Less Effective or Useless)

Bees are some of the most important pollinators in nature. These industrious insects work tirelessly to harvest nectar and pollen and crank out honey in order to feed the next generation of bees, repeating the cycle year in and year out. But unlike honey bees which typically nest above ground and in out-of-the-way places, ground bees, of which there are thousands and thousands of species, usually below ground as the name suggests.

Sometimes they live right under the surface, other times they dig deep, but in all cases, they’ll leave unsightly holes in your yard. Fortunately, they don’t affect your grass in any way, and, more importantly, they rarely attack or sting except for extreme scenarios when they feel threatened (except bumblebees which are a bit more aggressive).

Much of the time, the best way to deal with them is just to let them be. In fact, the first things you should try is try to regrow the grass on the bare patches where they’ve laid their nests.

But if you still want to get rid of them, I’ve got some pretty good methods of extermination to share with you. And before we get into that, here’s a quick overview of how they all stack up:

Method	Effectiveness	Cost	Safety for People and Pets	Speed	Best For	Notes
❓ Bug Zapper	Medium	Low	High	Slow	Solitary bees, small numbers	Kills most insects; best for minimal infestations.
❌ Cinnamon Powder	Unknown	Very Low	Very High	Very Slow	Solitary bees	May only repel, not kill.
❌ Vinegar Solution	Low	Very Low	Medium	Medium	Solitary bees, small nests	Acidic; avoid contact with skin/eyes.
✅ Water and Dish Soap	High	Very Low	High	Slow	Solitary bees, small nests	Non-toxic; suffocates the bee.
❌ Dry Ice	Unknown	Medium	High	Fast	Communal bees, large nests	Suffocates bees; ensure no alternate exits.
✅ Demon WP	Very High	Medium	Low	Medium	Both communal and solitary bees	Toxic; follow safety instructions.
✅ Diatomaceous Earth	Low to moderate	Low	High	Slow	Both communal and solitary bees	Natural; lacerates exoskeletons, low mortality
✅ Shop-Vac	Very High	Medium	Low	Fast	Communal bees, large nests	Requires protective gear.
✅ Borax	High	Low	Medium	Slow	Both communal and solitary bees	Toxic
✅ Boiling Water	Very High	Very Low	Low	Instant	Communal bees, large nests	Dangerous; risk of burns.
✅ Wasp and Bee Foam	Very High	High	Low	Instant	Both communal and solitary bees	Fast-acting; toxic to mammals and humans.

Signs You’re Dealing With Ground Bees

These are the kind of pest you don’t typically notice until you pay attention, and active look for signs. if you notice some bees flying close to the ground, or if you notice tiny mounds on your property, then there are probably bees that call your home theirs.

But just because you don’t see lots of bees hanging around doesn’t mean you don’t have a problem. You could be dealing with just one or two. You still want to evict them, here’s why…

Solitary vs. Communal Bees (And Why It Matters)

Understand that not all species of ground bees are communal… communal meaning they build a hive together and work together for the good of the colony. In fact, most ground bees are solitary even if they happen to build near other bees.

Common solitary ground bees in North America include the Alkali bee, sweat bees, mining bees and digger bees. Bumblebees are common, large, fuzzy ground bees that live in small colonies.

If you know you’re dealing with a single bee, you might only have to worry about a few more being in the area that will affect your intervention.

On the other hand, you’ve got to take special preparations if you’re dealing with communal bees because if you mess with one you mess with all of them: a beehive can contain many hundreds or thousands of individual bees. Bees which will, I warn you, come boiling out when you get too close and start messing with the entrance to the hive. Observe carefully before you get in over your head!

Don’t Do This Without Protection!

If you never got stung by a bee, it’s easy to ignore this one. But if you’re going to war with your neighbor bees, expect them to fight back. Wear shoes, not sandals, long socks, long pants, etc., and cover your body as much as you can.

If you want to be as safe as you can, definitely wear bee equipment. Don’t downplay what they can do to you, particularly if you never got stung by a bee before, and you don’t know how your body will react!

If you’re not sure you can do this safely, swallow your pride and call a professional. Or that friend who always knows better, no matter what it is. I’m joking about the friend, of course… 🙂

Caveat: Yellow Jackets Are Not Bees!

One last thing: what many people call ground bees are actually yellow jackets. This is because the common yellow jacket tends to nest in the ground and under surface obstacles like paver stones or cracks in your driveway.

Yes, you can use the same methods for tackling yellow jackets that you can for true bees, but know that yellow jackets are far more aggressive, typically more numerous and are much, much quicker to go into a murderous frenzy. Try to positively ID them if you can before you proceed!

Cinnamon Powder

Yes, it is possible to get rid of the bees without killing them in some cases. I know, we’re talking about extermination in this article, but I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention it because it can prove just as effective as anything else I’m going to tell you.

For starters, conventional wisdom says that cinnamon powder could work at irritating bees and getting them to evacuate. Taking this common powder from your pantry and sprinkling it generously directly into the entrance of the bees’ nest might prove enough in relocating it.

Sadly there are no studies that would prove that it repels bees, only anecdotes. The closest I could find is cinnamon essential oil repelling mosquitoes. I also have this other study that found that cinnamaldehyde, a component of cinnamon, is toxic toxic when ingested by bees. So perhaps this method is not non-lethal after all…

This is works on solitary bees, not communal ones, and I wouldn’t risk aggravating a hive in any case unless I was going lethal. But so long as you only have a handful of bees to deal with, it might be worth a try if you have it in your pantry.

Other natural repellents you can try (though no research has proven that the work) include:

• plants that the bees tend to dislike (basil, garlic, cinnamon, mint, etc.)
• mothballs
• sprinkle baby powder
• or smoke them out, after which make sure you cover the entrance with a heavy object such as a rock, mulch, or landscape fabric just like you would for weeds

Note that everything I’m going to tell you from this point onwards will certainly kill the little buggers…

For a Few Solitary Bees, a Bug Zapper Can Work

If you’re just dealing with a handful of bees in your yard, and you don’t want to get into the spreading of any harmful chemicals or potentially risky DIY solutions, you can get a bug zapper and set it out there reasonably close to the entrance of their nest.

Bees, like most insects attracted to light will happily fly into a zapper, drawn by the glow of the machine. This means a sudden death that you can hear, but this is a slow process because it only works if a one happens to be really close to it.

Keep in mind bees fly during the day, so the light emitted by these devices may not stand out as much. This is why it’s worth noting again that bug zappers are a slow method – and ineffective against colonies.

And, of course, it will kill many other insects too including helpful ones, so you don’t want to leave this thing running any longer than you have to. There is even some research to show how devastating they are against a variety of flying insets – with mosquitoes being pretty much indifferent to them, by the way.

Don’t Bother With Vinegar

The fact that vinegar can kill bees because of its high acidity is likely just folklore. There is zero evidence that it works, and it’s flagged as ineffective by some bee websites like this one.

If you still want to try it, grab the 5% vinegar you have in your pantry and load into a handheld spray bottle. Do not mix it with water or you’ll just make it even weaker. Spray the bee hole directly and soak it down thoroughly, and if you see the bee, spray it directly too. If it works, come back and let us know in the comments section below.

Like some other methods on this list, it has the benefit of not being overtly toxic to people and other animals, and there is no risk of harming other insects that don’t come into direct contact with it.

Water and Dish Soap Can Also Work

Here’s another pest control method for these bees you can whip up quickly in your own kitchen right this moment. A solution of water and dish soap turns out to be a surprisingly effective if slow-acting insecticide – but not for the reason you might think!

IN most inseccts, because the grease-cutting power of most dish soaps will make short work of that aforementioned waxy coating, called the cuticle, that coats the exoskeleton of all insects, including ground bees. Deprived of this waxy coating, their exoskeleton will start to suffer damage and also the innards of the insect will start to lose moisture, desiccating them. Before too long, the poor insect will dehydrate and die.

But the thing is, bees have a hard shell to protect them, so the water and dish soap mix won’t likely affect their bodies. What it will do is penetrate a bee’s breathing tubes, and will essentially drown / suffocate it.

Warning: this will not kill instantly, so if you try to use this on a nest of communal bees it probably isn’t going to work out too well. And speaking about suffocation…

Dry Ice Can Suffocate Whole Colonies

An interesting and elegant solution when it comes time to take care of a whole nest, dry ice works on the principle of suffocation. Yes, bees really do breathe the same air that we do and deprived of air they will suffocate and die. That’s why this method is so effective, but you’ll need to do a little bit of advance work to make use of it.

For starters, you need to make sure that there is no alternate entrance to the hive. They’re usually isn’t, but pay attention and look closely to see if you notice bees entering or exiting from anywhere else.

Assuming they aren’t, act quickly to block up the area immediately around the entrance with plastic wrap or a folded towel before setting a block of dry ice on top, directly over the opening. Also be sure to protect your hands since this stuff can cause cold burns and frostbite!

As the dry ice evaporates and turns back into carbon dioxide gas, it will sink all the way down into the hive and completely permeate the atmosphere; that is because carbon dioxide is heavier than air and sinks. In just a little while, this will suffocate every single bee inside. Once the block is gone, you shouldn’t notice any activity.

Which brings me to the second warning about dry ice. Since it creates CO2 gas, you really need to make sure it won’t pose a danger to you and your family.

Try Demon WP

Sometimes you just don’t want to mess around with improvising solutions.

Assuming you don’t mind working with potentially harmful chemicals, and ones that will kill other insects indiscriminately, you can use purpose-designed insecticide dust to start reducing the numbers of a hive and eventually eliminate it. It also works well on individual, solitary bees…

You can get these powdered insecticides yourself from hardware stores, from pest control suppliers, and online. Demon WP is a great product that I’ve used many times with success on bees and wasps. Make sure you read the instructions for yourself and apply as directed.

Keep in mind that many of these products don’t kill instantly like sprays do, so you should be prepared to set it and then withdraw to a safe distance.

Diatomaceous Earth

Another insidious, slow-acting, and an effective insecticide overall, time an all all-natural one, diatomaceous earth is another powder that will kill ground bees, but it does so more slowly than the insecticide dust we just discussed.

Long story short, diatomaceous earth (or DE as it is commonly abbreviated) is basically the ground-up shells of ancient crustaceans called diatoms. This stuff is incredibly hard and will lacerate the exoskeleton and softer tissues of all insects, causing them to desiccate.

There’s even some evidence to back it up, though the test was only done on honey bees and bumblebees. the other thing is that the mortality rate was not that high. All in all, this is one of the better options for a homesteader or home owner to try.

You probably already know what to do now: sprinkle a copious amount all over, in and around the hole, and then give it time. It also works well against hives by slowly depopulating them. It will kill other insects too, but it’s essentially harmless to people and pets.

Use a Shop-Vac to Suck Them Out

If you’re dealing with a hive that has only one known way in and out, one of the smartest methods for getting rid of the bees is to use a Shop-Vac to suck them out.

There’s a little bit of technique to this, but it is a method that has been used by some exterminators time and time again with success. This is actually a very effective method used by professionals (the kind of bee doesn’t matter):

Most professional nest removal services that don’t use synthetic pesticides use a vacuum and manual removal method.

Natural Yellowjacket Control Part 2: The Good, The Bad & the Silly

Warning! You really need to know what you’re doing when trying this. As i said in the beginning of this article, while ground bees don’t sting very often, when they are being sucked into a vacuum, they just might.

As such, wearing a bee suit is an absolute must if you’re going to try this method, otherwise there’s a good chance you could get stung.

All you need to do is get close to the hole, turn on the vac, and then hold the nozzle just off to the side of the entrance, perpendicular to it. When the bees fly out to investigate, they will get sucked into the powerful airstream. No chemicals, no poisons.

The only issue with this is that you must be nearby for it to work unless you’re going to rig something up to keep the vacuum nozzle in place.

Here’s a video showing how they removed some bees from an old house they were looking to renovate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPGAfqphiOY

Borax Can Kill Bees Over Time

Borax, a boron compound that has boric acid, is another effective insect killer and it can be sprinkled just like the other powder products we’ve talked about previously… Like some of the other chemicals on in this list, it’s toxic to you, to mammals and to other insects – so only use it sparingly!

Spread it around and directly in the entrance to the nest, whether it is a solitary bee or a communal hive, and then leave it alone.

It will take quite a while to get to all the bees, degrade them, and eventually kill them but it’s a great way to do so with low environmental impact and low overall risk. Apply at night and you can just walk away.

Also, you can mix up a solution of borax and water to use it in liquid form and it will have the same results. If you’re going to go this route, I highly recommend you soak the entrance to the nest at night when you can expect all of the bees to be inside.

Boiling Water

Probably the most hardcore method on this list, and the one that’s potentially the most dangerous for you, is to hit the nest with a large quantity of boiling water.

For starters, ground bees hate water and will flee from any area that gets soaked. The other thing is that the extreme temperature of boiling water will kill them right away. I’ve seen a variation of this where you add some liquid dish soap to it, though I would say that the high temperature might be enough. Up to you if you want to experiment.

The obvious challenge with this method is the logistics: are you going to boil the water inside and then bring it out? Are you going to boil it outside on a grill or electric burner? What will you carry it in?

Also, keep in mind you’re handling a large quantity of boiling water so any mishap, any splash, could see you severely burned. Well, burned and then probably stung to add insult to injury. Or stung and then burned ‘cause you flinched. You see where I am going…

Wasp and Bee Foam is a Near-Instant Killer

Sometimes just need to go back to basics, and the basics of killing ground bees is to use a foaming bee or wasp killer like a normal person. These foaming sprays, typically formulated with pyrethroids, are almost instantly effective at preventing bees from flying and then paralyzing them in a matter of seconds. Death follows very shortly thereafter…

One good shot of this is all you’ll need to take out a solitary bee, and a few strategic applications can start soaking into a nest while blocking the entrance, preventing bees from getting in or out. Returning bees that bump into the toxic foam will be paralyzed in kind.

The two downsides to this method is – one – the expense of the product, and two, this is a multi-purpose, wide-spectrum pesticide that has some decidedly negative health effects on mammals, and possibly on you. This is stuff is very toxic, but if used cautiously, hardly anything works better or quicker.

Keeping the Bees From Coming Back

OK, you got rid of them, now what? The most important thing to keep in mind is that ground bees typically like care soil to dig their homes into. As such, make sure you don’t have any bare patches on your lawn or around your property.

Do everything you can to keep those patches covered to prevent them from starting a construction site: seed them, water them, and even much them if you’re growing veggies them.

Stay Away From Extreme “Solutions”

OK, I think I gave you enough ideas to deal with your bee problem, including non-lethal ones. As my last piece of advice, I urge you to sty away from weird and most likely dangerous (to you!) solutions, such as setting the entrances on fire, using gasoline, or some other BS. Just stick to the tried-and-true methods for your own and your family’s safety.