Dealing with Yellow Jackets Quickly and Easily

I love honeybees… Without them, we would all die because they pollinate much of the food we eat and most flowering plants. But, I never feel even the tiniest bit guilty of swiftly ending the lives of yellow jackets on our homestead.

Yellow jackets serve their purpose in the ecosystem because not only do they pollinate, they also prey on insects such as aphids and caterpillars. But when too many are around the homestead, they can be a threat to the well-being of our family, and their stings hurt – a lot – so they are on the “most wanted” list on our homestead.

Even if they eat the insects that want to steal your garden crops right out from under your nose, I’d not stumble across a yellow jacket ground nest while pulling weeds and take care of the pest myself with homemade all-natural pesticides.

Unlike the slight pain of a bee sting, a yellow jacket sting packs a pretty big punch. Not only are yellow jackets more likely to swarm than other types of bees, they WILL chase you just like a hornet.

There is a vast array of flying and stinging insects in the U.S., and you should know the difference before encountering them and especially before attempting to get rid of them.

When something is buzzing about your face trying to sting you, it is not the time to take a closer look. Nearly all types of “bees” move too fast and are too small for such an inspection – particularly when they are already in attack mode.

A yellow jacket is typically a ground-nesting wasp species. It’s somewhat larger than a honeybee and has black and bright yellow stripes that wrap around its entire body. It is a common type of wasp and is smaller (yet no less vicious) than a hornet.

Yellow jackets, like other members of the Vespidae family, sting not just once like honey bees, but repeatedly. While they are doing it, the yellow jackets inject a pheromone that lures other members of their colony to the attack site and entices them to sting the intruder repeatedly, as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLEipeAsY1c

Types of Yellow Jackets

There are several types of yellow jackets you might find. These social wasps are members of the Vespula and Dolichovespula families, each having around 20 species each. Now here’s the bad news: most of them call North America their home.

A caveat, some only refer to yellowjackets as those that are part of the Vespula family, but the ones youÄre most likely to run into are part of the Vespula family, for example:

• The German Yellowjacket (Vespula germanica) is most commonly found in urban and suburban areas structures such as wall voids, structures, attics, cracks, and crawlspaces in the exterior of buildings.
• Common yellow jackets (Vespula vulgaris), most commonly referred to as meat bees are often found in the United States as well. These wasps construct above- and below-ground nests.
• Eastern Yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons) – native to the east part of N. America
• Western Yellowjacket (Vespula pensylvanica) – the most common in the western parts of N. America

The western and eastern yellow jackets make their nests in the ground. They often use rodent burrows for nests, too, but they are opportunistic – they will even choose concrete blocks or railroad ties in which to make their homes.

Finally, you have aerial yellow jackets, which belong to the second genus, Dolichovespula – a prime example being the baldfaced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata). These build nests either in trees or attached to the eaves of buildings, and they tend to be even more aggressive. They can and will sting unprovoked – which is why dealing with wasps should always be done with proper protection.

Quick Facts About Yellowjackets

1. Yellow jackets are sometimes called “meat bees” because they are attracted to and love to dine on, rotting meat and fish.

2. They almost exclusively build their nests underground, and take advantage of old rodent burrows – or run the rodents out of their burrows and take them over.

3. The nests created by these fierce insects can measure several 6 to 18 inches deep, and sometimes up to three feet (if the soil is loose)!

4. By the late summer months, a single nest can be home to THOUSANDS of stinging members.

5. The insects will vigorously defend not just their nest but the area around it from potential intruders.

6. Yellowjackets appear to have honed their sense to detect even the slightest vibration in the ground about their heads and the sounds of an approaching potential intruder.

Even a child’s bouncing ball or a push mower running up to 20 feet away from a yellow jacket nest can provoke their ire and send as many as 100 attackers out in a swarm to get rid of the attacking sound.

7. The nests hit their peak in both numbers and strength during the fall months.

8. The insects are at their least active stage during the evening hours.

9. The members of a nest always return home by dark, making that the best time to trap and get rid of them.

10. Yellowjacket colonies die off during the cold winter months.

11. New wasp queens are the only members of the colonies that survive from one season to the next. The newly crowned queen yellow jacket will leave the nest in autumn and spend the winter living in whatever protective area she can find nearby, like under the bark of a tree.

12. Except on chilly days, the wasps spend their days out foraging. Placing a food-baited trap next to where you suspect a nest is located during the evening hours, will likely be the best way to attract the yellow jackets the following day as they leave the nest without getting attacked in the process.

How To Find the Nests

Yellow jackets tend to love wood, and most often make their nests in the middle of it. Expect to encounter yellow jacket nests in your barns, outbuildings, and firewood piles every spring or summer.

The wasps frequently use wood pulp and paper trash to create their nests – hence their nickname “paper wasps.” There is no visible or obvious nest structure of any type above ground level.

Yellowjackets fly erratically while out hunting. This can make it far more difficult to track them back to their nest, but if you spot one flying in a more direct pattern, it is likely on the way back to the nest – follow it carefully from a safe distance. When flying home for the night, the wasp will typically be moving at a fast pace because it’s not maneuvering about looking for food.

(The only other time you will likely ever see a yellow jacket fly rapidly, in a direct line, and higher off the ground is when it is in attack mode.)

To locate a nest’s entry point, quietly and from a safe distance, sit and watch the flight pattern of the wasps as their fly to and from their safe place.

Usually, the insects create a backup exit point for their nests, so be aware of both holes in order to trap and kill the insects. Failing to do so will increase your risk of being attacked or swarmed while in the process of destroying the nest.

Once you’ve determined even an approximate location of the nest, it’s time to set bait a trap to lure them – or use one of the other means on the list below, to rid your land of their existence… until next spring, at least.

Before you try to exterminate them, though, make sure you have properly identified them. Yellow jackets are often mistaken for honey bees – which are slightly larger and will have hairy abdomens.

Getting Rid of Yellowjackets – What Works

✅ Bottle Trap

You’ve probably see or even tried this to catch various insects, but rest assured it works for yellow jackets too (with the right bait).

Simply cut a plastic bottle in half, place the bait inside the bottom half, then glue the top half with some duct tape in an inverted position. The wasps will be attracted to the bait, go inside the funnel, but will never find their way out! You can hang the trap in a tree to maximize effectiveness.

As for baits, you can use:

• a piece of meat such as tuna or chicken – if setting the trap in the early summer
• a mixture of water and sugar, grape juice, even soda – for traps set in late summer

Just avoid using honey since it might attract… honey bees!

This and the trap just below were both tested against other traps in this experiment. The bottle trap worked best out of all DIY traps, though the commercial ones were the most effective.

✅ Bucket Trap

Yellow jackets cannot resist the smell of rotting meat or the taste of something sweet. There are many versions of yellow jacket traps using both types of bait detailed and demonstrated in YouTube videos, but the one I have found works best is the board and bucket-style trap. You can also use a jug you cut open to make its mouth wider.

Simply smear to tie into a dangling mesh net, some rotting meat, rotting fruit, or smeared jelly onto one side of a scrap wood board. Meat tents to work best in the spring and early summer while sugar works best in the late summer.

Next, fill a bucket with soapy water (I used Blue Dawn dish soap) just shy of all the way to the top – depending upon how low your bait will dangle.

Place the board with the bait dangling side down, right on top of the bucket.

The goal is to have the water level only an inch (or perhaps two) below where the wasps will have to hang upside down to eat the bait. They will not likely be able to resist gorging themselves on the bait then fall into the soapy water and drown.

The temperature of the water doesn’t matter, but adding the liquid soap does. It alters the denseness of the water and helps to avoid the brief moment the wasps have to flap their wings rapidly enough to prevent sinking into a watery grave.

✅ Shop Vacuum

This trap can be used ideally for underground nests – though with greater caution. If the nest if far from your house, which is often the case because paper wasps love to live in barns and gardens, you will need a generator or lots of long outdoor extension cords to use this yellow jacket trap.

1. Fill the shop vac about halfway full of soapy water after you have located the nest.
2. Place a bowl or rock over the secondary opening of the nest.
3. Turn on the vacuum, and prepare to stand there for about an hour with the suction end placed firmly to the ground, to suck out all of the meat bees. If there are hundreds to thousands of colony members, it could take several hours to suck them all out of the nest.

Beware, if you let up the pressure when holding the opening of the shop vacuum to the ground, the yellow jackets will escape through any tiny separations between the dirt and the hose and attack you both relentlessly.

This trap really should be a team effort. There is the chance that some of the paper wasps will try to tunnel out by making a new entrance. Have a helper stand at the ready with multiple cans of bug spray to kill the yellow jackets and protect you both.

Note: unless you are willing to use pesticide, you may need to repeat the process several times to kill the queen and / or existing larvae. You will have to kill them one way or another after you catch them, anyway.

✅ Dry Ice

Although this isn’t going to be the easiest material to get a hold of, it does work beautifully for the purpose.

After locating the underground nest, as quietly as possible (remember, yellow jackets can detect the vibration of your footsteps) block both the primary and secondary exits.

Place the dry ice block over the main entrance – removing the brick or bowl you used to temporarily cover it first – and quickly. Cover the block with dirt to prevent any easy burrowing points.

The dry ice will chill the nest as it evaporates, which should make the yellow jackets highly lethargic, and release copious amounts of carbon dioxide into the nest at the same time.

There is no study that I could find to test this, but there is some anecdotal evidence. Plus, the science make sense! Also be mindful how you handle dry ice. Wear protective gear to avoid getting a frostbite!

✅ Boiling Water

Once you find the underground nest, pour boiling water down the opening to boil the wasps alive. There is anecdotal evidence behind this, but plenty of it. Some folks simply pour warm water down the hole, but this just serves to make the meat bees angry…very angry.

You really need boiling water and, even better, you can try boiling soapy water. If the hot water doesn’t do it, the soap could cause them to drown.

If you don’t take care of the yellow jackets while they are tucked away at night in the underground nest with the boiling water, they will just flee until the warm water dries up and their home is no longer flooded and return – or relocate to a nearby spot unknown to you and prepare to strike at intruders to their realm once again.

✅ Boric Acid Powder

Great news: multiple extension sources recommend it, so you know it works. Ask Extension confirms it, and so does Iowa State University says:

Nests in walls or in the ground can be destroyed by placing an insecticide dust (e.g., Boric acid, Sevin or permethrin) in the nest entrance during the night. Wear protective clothing and approach the nest with caution. Do not shine your flashlight directly into the nest opening.

The problem with boric acid is that it may also kill some beneficial insects, garden crops, and landscaping flowers (sprinkling it around the base of plants will deter insects from eating your growing food).

Diatomaceous Earth

Like boric acid, yellow jackets and nearly all other insects, find diatomaceous earth (DE) toxic. but unlike the former, DE is not toxic to domestic pets or wildlife. It can also be sprinkled around crops and used as a natural pesticide.

Pour it down into the nest during the evening hours and around the above-ground area around it to take care of any of the paper wasps that were able to escape the dusting.

✅ Commercial Solutions

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In some cases, the more natural, homemade remedies that we’ve mentioned just won’t work. There are a few RESCUE! traps supposedly work really well, likely even better then the homemade stuff. There was a study back in 2021 that tested these traps along with others on yellowjackets specifically, and the said traps knocked it out of the park.

On the other hand, the Amazon listing for this trap has a lot of reviews from folks who say it didn’t work for them… Up to you if you want to give them a tray.

Another commercial option you could try are these chemical pesticides like Tempo Dust or Delta Dust. Apply them around the nest and it should last for about four to six months, killing the yellow jackets instantly. Be careful using these where other good pollinators, animals, or kids can access them.

You can also try a D-Force HPX aerosol, but this one is better used when you have wasps inside walls or other narrow places than on open ground nests.

What Works to Repel Them

✅ Some Essential Oils (Clove, Lemongrass, Rosemary)

Believe it or not, someone actually tested 21 essential oils on yellow jackets, and found that some of them actually do a good job at repelling them. Rosemary, clove and lemongrass essential oils worked well in slow-release dispensers.

Because essential oils evaporate quickly, if you used a spray bottle, you’d have to use it ever 2-3 hours or so. So these only act as temporary repellents, but it’s important to know that most of the essential oils didn’t have much of an effect.

Peppermint essential oil also had a significant effect, but the top performer was clove oil – so that’s the one you should try first.

If you are working the field in a place where yellow jackets roam, or while you are hunting for a nest, actively setting a trap, or merely working in an area where they hang out, dab your skin in various spots with some of these essential oils as you would perfume to help deter the wasps from getting too close to you and attacking.

✅ Light-Colored Clothes

Protective clothing of any kind will help reduce the likelihood that you are attacked and stung. At the very minimum, you should wear light-colored clothes, high-sleeved gloves made out of leather or canvas, and a hat or helmet with a secure-fitting veil (which you can easily fashion on your own).

Yellow Jacket Trapping Tips

Wear drab or light-colored clothing as much as possible when tracking or trapping the wasps. Purchasing beekeeper gear, while it can be pricey, might very well be worth the expense. Killing the meat bees will not be a one-and-done type of situation, you will be fighting this same battle year after year most likely..

Take note of the nest during the day, and remember where they disappear into the structure. Don’t try to trap or kill them until nightfall, which is when yellow jackets are the least active and will be the least likely to sting.

You should also try to wait to remove a yellow jacket nest or kill a population until winter. These creatures are much less likely to take flight when temperatures dip below 50 degrees, and so they are mostly inactive or die off, depending on the exact species, during the winter months.

If you’ve sprayed chemicals or tried any other kind of treatment, wait at least a week to figure out whether the treatments were effective.

There’s no guarantee that you will have killed all of the wasps on your first treatment, so you will want to wait before interfering with the nest. After all, not all of the yellow jackets may have been inside when you applied your treatment.

What Likely Doesn’t Work

There are a lot of myths out, and also a lot of anecdotes about what works and what doesn’t. It all make sense, in a way, people will try different things to get rid of these insects. So here’s a rundown of what doesn’t work – or is unlikely to.

❌ Neem Oil

There is some evidence to suggest that neem oil, particularly through its compound, azadirachtin, but the problem is, this works only if ingested. As others have suggested on Reddit and other places, it may work as a temporary deterrent, but the insects will nevertheless return pretty soon.

❌ Bug Zappers

Remember these things and how popular they were when they came out in the 1980s? Every backyard across America probably had one affixed to a porch with folks gathering around to watch and listen to the bugs meeting their demise.

Because of the combination of light, sound, and vibration, a bug zapper will attract as many (if not more) insects as it once did American families enjoying the erosion of bugs from their backyards.

Sadly, though, it will not attract yellow jackets, just like it’s long been established that it doesn’t attract mosquitoes, either.

❌ Cedar Oil

You can splash some cedar oil on your body to help deter yellow jackets from attacking you, but that is not the best use for this often difficult-to-find oil.

What’s worse, there aren’t many homesteaders on Reddit or forums who tried it, let alone showed to work. I would dismiss cedar oil as nothing more than fiction, and focus on the essential oisl we talked about that are proven to work as repellents.

❌ Borax

Well, boric acid works, so why not borax? Well, while they are both boron-baesd substances, they are also pretty different. Borax is alcaline while boric acid is slightly acidic. The extension sources I found all suggest to use boric acid, so if you were thinking of swapping one for the other, I wouldn’t waste my time…

❌ Gasoline And Diesel Fuel

This is the most dangerous, possibly destructive to the soil, and arguably effective, means of destroying an underground yellow jacket nest. This practice might not even be legal in some municipalities or states!

If you are not careful and able to contain the fire after pouring diesel fuel or gasoline into an entryway in the nest and setting it on fire, you could be hurt or worse, the barn where the nest is located could go up in flames (sometimes hours after you leave and the animals are back in the barn where undetected smoldering wood finally catches on fire) or other various types of destruction that can come from playing with fire and an accelerant.

Verdict: just forget about it.

❓ Glass Bowl

If you know where the underground nest is located, place a clear glass bowl over the opening. But, only one opening, even if you find their backup escape route.

The yellow jackets will continue to use their main entry and exit point because they will not be able to figure out why they can suddenly no longer get out. The clear glass bowl (use a heavy one and/or place a rock, brick, or log on it, to keep it firmly affixed to the ground so the wasps cannot burrow out) allows the insects to still see the sun and be attracted to it.

Actually, not only will they be attracted to the warm glare of the sun created by the bowl, they will eventually get angry out it blocking their path and attack it.

Placing a second bowl over the other exit will immediately alert the yellow jackets that they have been trapped, prompting them to do just dig another way out. Once out, the colony may decide to abandon the nest and build another one nearby, in a spot that you will again have to hunt to find.

The stubborn meat bees have even been known to starve themselves to death because they refuse to leave the former entryway until they can clear it and remove the threat to their queen. But rest assured they will never give up; they’ll keep trying and trying until they’ll find a way out.

Anecdotal evidence is mixed with this one, and if you remove the bowls, it’s likely they will come back at some point. You can go ahead and skip this one.

Prevention

Sadly, these insects are an inevitable part of living in the countryside. If you live in the woods, you’re probably going to encounter these pests at some point or another. However, you can help prevent the establishment of nests by filling up any burrows or animal holes with dirt.

You can keep yellow jackets outside of your barn by repairing any holes in the exterior wall and by making sure all windows and vents have tight-fitting screens.

Chimney flus can be sealed temporarily with plastic sheeting and tape, and trash bins should be covered with tight-fitting lids to prevent yellow jackets from being attracted to their contents.

Repelling plants. While these tiny critters like flowers, there are a number of plants that will keep them at bay:

• mint
• eucalyptus
• marigolds
• thyme
• basil
• etc.

Sanitation is also important. Once you’ve removed a potential food source, you are going to be less likely to attract yellow jackets. This is especially vital during the key foraging months during the summer until mid-autumn.