I don't think the givenan explanation of how dish soap works (it doesn't have to be Dawn) is exactly correct. The soap is a surfactant, meaning it reduces the surface tension of water. This allows the water in the mixture to easily enter their breathing holes, effectively drowning them. Essentially the wasps are being asphyxiated.
I think you’re right. In searching for the mode of action, in preparation of the video, I found all sorts of explanations all loosely based on functions that lead to asphyxiation. You’re explanation, however, makes the most sense.
I have to agree with you about asphyxiation. I have used Dawn/Warm Water (5% solution) for years on wasp nests. I mix it in a cup and douse the nest. They fall dead instantaneously. I put the Dawn in last and mix it to reduce bubbles. The warm water makes the soap dissolve faster.
I love watching your videos. My family Head a business . My sister had a business exterminating company. My brother-in-law went out one night he had a call from a dentist that day about bees . He knew where the nest was he spray chemical up in there. He’s The next day the dentist office called him from payphone told him the office was full of Bees. I told him I thought he was smarter than that
Very good brief video, with surprisingly accurate/helpful info... also rather entertaining, I thought the spraying part was hilarious, I was NOT expecting to laugh as much as I did :) Anyway, after watching, I was armed with all I needed... I successfully removed a wasp nest. Thanks :)
When I was 2 years old I stepped on a in the ground wasp nest. I don’t remember how many times I was bit. But it hurts. I’m 60 now and can still remember it. My house now is being overrun by them recently. I’m thankful for your video.
I was dog sitting for a neighbor and was swarmed by wasp, resulting in over 100 stings on my head, chest & arms in less than 30 seconds. I live rural on a mountain, so I knew I was in trouble. I yelled at the dog to get in the house, & he hauled butt so fast he didn't get a single sting. I passed out twice before being able to low crawl to my house 200 meters up an embankment. I called 9-11, lost the connection, and took 3 benadryl, but my heart was pounding so fast I knew if I couldn't slow it down, I was going to die before the ambulance got here. I prayed to God to save me, and for some reason I remembered the New Years party for family & friends was at my house. I was not an alcohol drinker, but something told me that it could slow my heart down enough. I crawled to my pantry, slammed about 3 shots of vodka, and crawled out to my front deck. I put myself in the recovery position & elevated my legs. I passed out again and was revived by paramedics. I was hospitalized, had my head shaved so they could remove the dozens of stingers from my scalp. Now, I am deathly allergic & carry an epinephrine injector constantly. I also SWEAR by Dawn dish detergent to eliminate hives! Be proactive, be safe, & get rid of these hives before you, family, or friends get put into a life or death situation simply because they took a step that angered wasps. I don't recommend alcohol to anyone, but the E.R. doctor said the Benedryl & Vodka probably saved my life due to how long it took for the ambulance to get to me. Edit: they were bees at my neighbors, I have a crazy amount of wasps of different kinds on my property, so they are always what I refer anything stinging to.
Wow 😮 I’m glad you’re ok! What a story 😥 and big hugs to you for thinking of the fur baby ❤. Those things are the devil!! They keep popping up! Seeing those pest control people come in their flip flops to just put dust in there and leave for $180 when I just need to gain some courage and timing and do my homework. I’m hoping to get there soon before this nest gets any bigger.
@@JoJo-y9s3z Thankyou! It was a horrific experience, but it did help me remember I am a fighter! That pup KNEW we were in trouble. I always tell folks that if their pets could talk, they would say I talk WAY too much! I do that so they know my tones & inflection as to whats going on. I tell my story so people can take steps to reduce the chance of a swarm attack. I cannot imagine a child, elderly person or animal having to deal with the attack I had! Thankyou again for your kind words & reading my story!🙂👍Edit: I have recently learned that silica spray makes them unable to fly & if you take a jar with a third of it filled with gasoline and carefully put the jar over a nest it kills the nest very quickly. I haven't tried it yet, but its worth researching!
@synthesaurus Actually, they were honey bees that were very upset because a bear knocked over my neighbors huge hive that they never took the honey out of. I've been researching weird looking wasps I now have on my property! Great catch!👍
This is the perfect comment! My coworkers told me I was dancing out in the field after my last, most recent yellow jacket attack. I have named it the "socks full of hornets" dance because apparently that day, my socks were the most favorable piece of clothing for these tiny hellhounds to latch onto.
Great video. I improvised a bit. Layered up the clothing, grabbed my tennis racket and the hose. Indeed they led me to the ground nest. Tonight it's bath time for these little buggers. Thanks!!
@@lizzieorwig64it won't harm them I spray roses in the morning with a dawn solution to help mildew black spot and remove the 7 insecticide its only a problem if you spray it in full sun or add salt or oil to the solution
That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to get up early Saturday morning like at 4:00am. I’ve got a heavy duty Carhartt jacket, fleece lined work pants, gloves, a full face stocking cap with a scarf. Dawn dishwashing liquid, and Raid. I’m not taking any chances.
@@StainlessTIG2 You can just wait until it is dark in the evening. 10 or 11 o'clock. But, sure, they will be even less active at 4 am. I normally use about 1/2 cup of gasoline down the hole. I do it around 10 or 11 at night. They are always gone the next day. Don't light the gasoline, the fumes are what kills them. I may try the soap the next time to see how it works. I've heard to pour hot, soapy water down the hole too. I know gasoline works great though.
My favorite for several years is "Simple Green" spray cleaner. I keep a spray bottle of it handy all season to knock down the "starter nests" as they are found early in Spring, spray any strays on windows or doors, and wipe out larger colonies as found. It knocks the wasps out of the air before they can even begin to attack. I have bad reactions to the stings so it means a lot to knock them out fast.
Makes sense that it would work since it is a solvent and would break down the waxing layer of the insect just like soap. I use it for cleaning and will keep that in mind if I need to spray them.
Good video. I've used dish soap for years. Typically I'll put a cup of soap in a large bucket, and add 3 gallons of water. Wait till dark and pour into nest entry. Sometime I add soap after initial application and use a hose to force the soapy water into the nest chambers. Never had an instance where it hasn't worked.
You ALWAYS go after the nest after dark. The nasty little blighters will all be inside. Use wasp spray on the opening and watch for any other openings. Paper nests will rarely have a second opening. Darkness is key!
Be careful even at night. I came back at night to do in a yellowjacket nest I had seen during the day, and when I looked at the hole from about 3 feet away I could make out one yellowjacket at the entrance looking out, and it instantly flew straight at me and stung me. So be careful even at night. It was as if they had a guard posted. One year we had what seemed like millions of yellowjackets, probably dozens of nests. In the afternoon when the sun was at the right angle I could go out and see them coming and going from their nests. I mixed up some boric acid powder in tuna (about a level tablespoon in a can of tuna mixed in well). They cleaned out a can of tuna in about 4 hours, swarming like something from a horror movie. That did not seem to kill them that year, but, we have had very few yellowjackets since when my neighbors have many. I don't know if that is because of the boric acid or not, but it is easy and inexpensive to try if you have a massive yellowjacket infestation. (Just don't put the cans of tuna near where you will be outside.)
I'm used to taking out yellow jacket nests where hoses aren't an option so we just mix a cup or two of dish detergent (any kind works but Dawn has the fewest additives) into a 5 gallon bucket of water and pour it into the hole. Always be careful to watch for secondary holes as you do it. Hives often have more than one opening.
@@TylerLloyd I made it easier with flame in a torch and cardboard, I just covered the hole with cardboard and burnt all my garbage and plastics I did it during the day, but I thought at night might be better. I thought Diesel might be a good solution
From a NZ sheep farmer many years ago -- return to the nest at night when they are all at home, pour half a cup of diesel fuel with a small amount of petrol as a thinner into the nest opening, plug it with a ball of clay and walk away. No need for fire. The fumes will kill them all. Fire it if you wish, but it's not necessary!
Thank you for showing the failures as well as the successes. To me, that is more important as to the validity. We all go through our trials, and it's the failures that I learn from the most. That being said: Warnings to everyone... Yellow jackets can be extremely aggressive. I occasionally get them in my front yard. It doesn't take much to get the nest swarming... simply walking over or near the hole can agitate them to attack mode. For dogs and children's sake, I take them out if they're in the front yard. To someone that is allergic, this could be deadly. I can attest to the soap part. My method is to first locate the hole. Don't approach a yellow jacket's nest until at LEAST 1 hour after they're disturbed. Yellow jackets won't swarm on sight from my experiences, it's more vibration that gets their attention. So walk softly. Look during the day, and look to see where they land. I then mark where the hole is by putting something bright and light colored indicating EXACTLY where the hole is. At around 11:00, I go and fill a 5 gallon bucket with water. I then pour 1/4th a bottle of whatever dish soap I have into the water and stir softly (I try not to create bubbles as much as I can). I walk out there with a flashlight, and gingerly approach the nest. I then pour the whole 5 gallons into that little quarter sized hole. I quickly turn over the bucket, put it on top of the hole, and place a rock on top of the bucket to push it down. That's it. The next day, I lift the bucket to see the results. People would be amazed at what comes out of a hole about the size of a quarter.
agreed dish soap works. what i used was the initial hit with soap and water from a long PVC pipe. you can use a hose. Later in the evening I filled a 4 gallon jug for a water cooler with a water/soap mixture and flipped it up over the exit hole. Sometimes nests have 2 and also the queen can be protected because the design of the nests even when you flood the opening, the hive makes a air pocket. The water jug serves a second use as the few survivors try to leave and exit and fly up and into the jug repeatedly.
It's an annual crusade here in 30040. The dish soap works great. I use some old window screen to cover the nest entrance and weigh down the screen edges with garden soil. I mix a generous amount of dish soap in a bucket, pour it thru the screen and into the nest. Repeat nightly for a few days.
I usually use 4-5 ounces of dawn in a 5-gallon bucket of water and it typically kills any nest I’ve come across. I also use HOT water, as that kills them as well.
Yes .I did the exactly thing 5oz of dawn, a gallon of boiling water AND I added a cup of bleach...IT WORKS IT WORKS....kills the entire nest within minutes ..DO IT AT NIGHT!!
I have probably taken care of more than 100 nests of yellow jackets (in Sweden). I use several different strategies - sometimes combined depending on the context. One of these strategies involved dish-water detergent and a water hose and this is for either ground wasps or wasps in birds' houses and similar contexts. First - as said in this video - early in the morning (preferably on a chilly day if you can chose) and then just pour 10-20 ml of any dish water detergent (I never bothered about the brand - it always worked) and then just flood the nest with water and stay away for 3-4 days - usually all wasps are then gone - a few may still be around but has never been a problem. If it is a birds' house I usually open it - give it a week to be sure - get the nest out on the ground and just walk over it (boots!) and leave for one more day. I never noticed any leftover life in such rests. For ground wasps - I have also sometimes combined with the use of one of these battery driven "badminton-like" rackets (tie it to a long string or lace so that you can pull it away from the hole - after you have 20 wasps on it the electric charge won't work because of the short circuit - shake of the wasps and stomp on them - then repeat until most wasps are gone - can be done in a safe way even daytime). On a few such occasions where a water hose was not an option I instead arranged with a fire in the hole after most active wasps had been killed. Other methods I use involve the use of a vacuum cleaner with different variations depending on contexts, time of the year and so on. For small wasp nests with a few individuals in them one can use any hair spray or whatever and spray into the hole - it probably doesn't kill the wasps but they don't like it and move to some other place. The downside of this is that you may have a few irritated wasps flying around for up to 10 days afterwards but they don't seem to like hair sprays so it works (discovery more than 50 years ago when I used my mother's whatever it was - not exactly insecticide but enough unpleasant chemistry* to do the job). Wasp nests under roofs and smaller than a fist can often be knocked down physically and just stomped on (best early mornings when it is chilly...). Only got lightly stung on two occasions when I took care of wasp nests (and badly stung on a couple of other occasions but those times I was not aware of their presence until they got me). * Retired now but have three different academic degrees in science/technology - one of these in theoretical chemistry... (the wasp chemistry context is perhaps more practical than theoretical...).
I have a nest in my wall (entrance is on the outside of my house)..where my sunroom meets the main house. I wonder if hair spray would work. The humming at night was more loud than a refrigerator.. It was crazy. We killed a bunch (assumed) as its more quiet, although there are some still as I hear papery sounds in the wall. Its hard to spray in the hole as it's where a few things come together (siding, etc).
@@RunninUpThatHillh I have them at the corner soffit on my house. How do we get it into the nest? I don't want to rip out part of my roof and I am a single senior lady
@@RunninUpThatHillh Call a professional exterminator. Wasps can eat through drywall and end up inside your home. This happened to my home years ago. Very nasty if they get through the drywall.
That’s helpful - I’ll try the dish soap if there is a next time. I couldn’t help giggling at the evasive maneuvers when you were spraying them from a distance. We had a big colony in our little orchard and just did a can of yellow jacket killer directly into the opening and then ran like hell. It worked, though. Many years ago when there was a nest in the yard, we poured in a little gasoline at night and then threw lit matches at it until it went up in a fireball. Stupid, I know, but wildly entertaining.
I've seen some professionals use a soap hookup with a pressure washer, and you can absolutely decimate wasps with it. Especially nests up high, or with big swarms. I even use this trick on a smaller scale in the garden with aphids and gnats.
The bug spray would have worked too if you had done it at night. Your biggest mistake was trying to kill them during the day. Always go after wasps at night.
I tried that once on my porch outside the window. All it did was make them white hot angry and bash into the window to try to get me. That was with wasp spray.
In my teens I worked as a house painter in Texas. Whenever we came across a Yellow Jacket nest on a house we would tie a wad of newspaper to the end of a pole, light it on fire, and use it to burn the nest. This method was quick, efficient, and 100 percent effective. There were never any survivors and it was over in seconds.
in my woods, I stepped right ON a nest, must have crushed part of it, normally they swarm around below the knees, this time they swarmed me, chased me down the road for a mile. One sting is annoying, but 30 is dangerous. Swollen arms and hands, way past annoying. Just a reminder to pay attention when walking through wooded areas. There will be one small hole and a few wasps coming and going. Also; Tyler is not allergic and can get away with short sleeves.... when going after a nest, cover all areas with thick clothes, they can sting through pants and gloves,
Great info and presentation Got stung yesterday and need to eradicate this nest without pesticides Thanks, well done! Really appreciate this as I found out I’m severely allergic and ended up in hospital.
Thanks for sharing this one - I had heard about the Dawn dish soap treatment many years ago but had forgotten about it. You are correct - MUCH preferable to soaking our ground with the black Raid chemicals - that stuff is NASTY !!!!!! Thanks again for taking the time to explain all your steps and reasoning and help other people out while keeping the ground cleaner !!
I had the same problem so one night I cut a piece of window screen about 20" by 20" and laid it around the opening of the nest then put bricks around the edge of the screen. Poured a bottle of Dawn dish washing soap in the hole then filled it with water till it started to over flow. Next morning no more yellow jackets.
Hope this helps (posting in several vids because you all have been helpful to me) - I wanted a non toxic (as possible) solution to wasps/ yellow jackets. My children have been stung terribly by these things, so it was my turn to deal with it. I found their location through keen observation - just watching insects come and go and found a large concentration of them going into the ground, which was home for them. I was inclined to use gas, but then learned 1litre is enough to poison 1Million litres of ground water. No bueno. So I used regular tap water and four kinds of soaps: dish, a liberal sprinkling of "Comet", 3 dishwashing machine dissolvable pouches and 2 scoops of borax/soap flakes. Suffice to say there was enough bubbles for Africa. I carried a very large bucket of water (half a metal full size trash can worth) to the location, far away from my home. It was heavy going as I am fat. Tip: use a stout stick to help with the digging in of the handle by carrying the stick under the handle. I went at 9pm on late summer night. It was dark out. Using my head flashlight, I located the hole. There were dozens of them still buzzing around the hole. I was dead afraid having been stung by these before. I decided to forgo the funnel, steel wool as some advised. The hole was just far too big. I poured the water and the foam overwhelmed them. I poured about half quickly, then calmed down and poured till it soaked into the hole. Observed for a second, then got chicken and poured more in spurts, until it was all gone. I was shocked at the size of the things guarding the entrance at night. These were easily half as long as my tip of thumb to thumb joint. Not as thick obviously, but seriously large. Yellow jackets on kind of steroids. I saw them all on the surface completely motionless (I read the soap dissolves their wax, filling their spiracles, which drowns them instantly). After all was poured, I waited ten seconds at the hole and saw nothing come out. I was still scared in case there may be workers still coming back to the nest. I got out of there and will go look at it tomorrow/next day and report back if there is interest.
@@TylerLloyd my pleasure. The next morning I found activity at the wasp net entrance, though the big boys were dead, and severely diminished in terms of numbers. Not good enough. Last night I went with an acquaintance, and we poured double the amount of the soapy (hot) water concoction in at night time. There were no guards on duty. I poured my large container in slowly, and then he did his. We found several stragglers possibly coming from a second entrance close to the original gaping nest hole and doused those. The soap kills quicker than wasp spray poison I have found - back to back tests within 12hrs of each other. This morning I went to check twice. Before 7am and now at 1030am with sun. There were about 5 wasps in total buzzing around, I sprayed poison onto them and onto the nest entrance quite thickly. Otherwise, quiet and dead still after observing ten minutes. I might go again tonight to just rid the nest of any other wasps near the entrance. Feels way less stressful with about 99% of them eradicated. I am a believe in this method. Less environmentally negative than other methods. With limited water supply (no hose), it requires a few dosings. No big deal. And highly effective.
@@TylerLloyd once again, my pleasure. Great news is that I visited the nest site 4x today throughout the day. The nest is dead. No flying wasps, although there are a load of them dead in the entrances. Safety along the route, resumes. Thanks for the tips, advice, experiences all. Cheers Tyler
When I tried the vinegar and they swarmed, I nearly ran to the other end of my property 😆. But I’m ready for the next time they nest where I don’t want them.
Thank you for your video! ❤❤❤ ALL summer, I have been dealing with one type of wasp or another. Then a behive, the size of a grapefruit, hanging from my roof. Mind you, I've been in this house 43 years and have not had such a RIDICULOUS problem with bees and wasps like I did this year!!! The final straw was an underground yellow jacket nest. As I already use Dawn, I bought a LARGE bottle. I took the cap off, laid it next to the nest and let it run into the nest. About an hour later I followed the Dawn with 3/4 bucket of warm water. Now I wait. I will wait until tomorrow to check (visually!) the ground around my flower pot to see the results. (The ground around most of the pot was raised.) They had to go ... I have family that is allergic along with a neighbor.
Got stung 5 times a few days ago, while mowing. Found a large yellow jacket nest. I waited until dark and poured a half gallon of water and dish detergent into the hole and jammed a rock into the opening. Two days later, no more yellow jackets. Life is good!
Thank you so much for this video and all your painful experience! I also want to thank everyone for their experiential sharing. I used it all!!! I had wasps in my wood shed area. I also had straw stored there. Wood & straw are on pallets. A couple months ago, I noticed that there were wasps nesting in there. But with the straw all in there, I didn't know exactly where their nest was. So with wishful thinking, I hoped it would just resolve itself... Surprise, wishful thinking didn't work. Yesterday, when I put some pine shaving bails in the shed, the wasps chased after me when I was leaving and stung me twice. War on!! I was looking for another video that I found the idea of Dawn mixed in a spray bottle with peppermint essential oil, when I fell upon this video. This is what I did: I carefully removed as much straw as I could. I had the spray bottle with me and used it a few times. I identified the general location and prepared. I got screen netting, a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in it, Dawn soap mixed with water and the hose. Then I waited until 1am in the morning. I went out with a headlight and my beesuit jacket (grateful I had that!). I carefully removed the remaining straw and then immediately put down the screen and put the bucket down and poured the Dawn/water solution and hosed water in bucket. The entire time there were a few wasps flying around my face. I didn't see any movement from the nest. I then put wood around to hold the screen down. In the morning, crickets, nothing. Later in the morning I saw maybe a wasp moving and I knew it was time for the boiling water!! I will continue monitoring and pouring boiling water for the next few days before I remove the screen and clean up the mess. Thanks again everyone!!! I won, ha!
I have heard of this technique for removing aggressive beehives. Came here to make sure it works on Yellowjackets before attempting. Can confirm their stings are unpleasant 😅
I haven't ever had to deal with a *ground* yellow jacket nest,but have had to deal with lots of nests on my house and garage. One nest was somewhere behind a gutter. I bought some Sevin powder from a pest control company,and applied that to the nest,using a long snow rake pole with plastic tubing taped to the pole. Dipped the business end of the tubing in the Sevin,and attached my end of the tubing to a dollar store baster bulb,which allowed me to puff the powder into the spot on the gutter where they were coming and going from a safe distance. Took a few days,but all activity stopped eventually. The beauty of products such as Sevin is that they track the poison into the nest,which kills all of them eventually. It should work well on ground nests as well.
I've been stung by them before. They are sneaky little buggers. I've used Dawn mix to kill them or regular wasps, nesting in the wrong place. The first time I used the Dawn mix, I swore off retail "Wasp spray". It worked so great! 🤩
Omg I’m so glad I found you. I have a small beehive in my front yard n they stung me 4 times… and it hurts a lot. It took a week and a lot of cortisone max strength to heal. 😊😊😊😊
I have killed off 4-5 of these nests in my yard in the past few years. The method I use is boiling water - boil water in an electric kettle, then at night (9pm or so), pour the entire kettle down the entrance of the nest. This has been super effective in my experience, and it's environmentally safe. Sometimes I have had to return the following night and do it again. Doing it at night ensures that most of the yellow jackets will be in the nest. Good luck!
@@debragraff4649 have you tried dish soap yet? Others mix it with water and then pour, but I liked my squirt and then hose method. Just have to be able to reach the nest with a hose.
@@debragraff4649 What happened? How much water did you use? On the last nest I had to do it three (!) nights in a row before they were all gone - perhaps I did not use enough water the first 2 times.
Be aware that most colonies have a second entrance. If you can find it, either treat both or cover one entrance with a board. I haven’t tried the Dawn treatment, but I’ve had good results with Sevin dust. Just dump a lot of it on the entry and the wasps will get it on themselves and carry it into the nest. This may take 2-3 days to get all, but works really well
Dealing with an infestation right now. Have a nest with 3 entries! Each time I though I had it they popped up. Haven't used dish soap yet but it's going down the hole tonight. 3 active nests going on currently
I have taken out 2 yellowjacket nests this summer with sevindust. I go out at night right before dawn and ease a spoon of dust into the entry. No muss no fuss.
A good Yellow Jacket trap with Dawn Dish soap - small bucket, Regular MTN Dew, with some dawn dish soap. Works better than store bought traps, just make sure to use regular MTN Dew. They are very attracted to it.
I have bumble bees in a hole on the floor of my garage. I used Javex bleach in water to deter them but it was not effective. I will use dish soap next. Thank you for posting this video.
I admire your perseverance and fortitude , after being stung I would have brought in the artillery . I have bees and wasps ( feeding off them and their honey ) in the top of my redundant chimney . It’s. Long way up and I’m trying to figure out how to remove them !
I try my best, even though it feels like some of the comments want to call me a mass murder. I love and value all animals, but I’m part of nature just as they are and trying to carve out my little place to exist as well.
I have lived in my house 20 years and this is the first summer I have had a serious problem with yellow jackets. Two ground nests, one found by me after getting stung a couple times and the second found by the man who mows for me when he ran over the nest two days ago. I appreciate this information because I want to get rid of them but don’t like using chemicals although that’s what I have been doing because it works but also expensive. I’m out of spray so I will try Dawn this time. Also helpful knowing they eat insects since I put some old cantaloupe near the nest as a lure but I haven’t seen a single yellow jacket on it. But several flying around the backyard.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels bad about killing the yellow jackets. But they engaged in war. They swarmed me on my front porch a month ago, stinging me 8-10 times that lead to cellulitis (a secondary infection). I just found their nest in my pumpkin patch. Toxic chemicals are not an option. Thank you!
I’ve used dishwashing soap several times on wasp nests. Very effective. I put a cup of it into a gallon sprayer, so I can direct a soapy stream onto the nest. They drop instantly. I suspect that less soap may also work, but I haven’t been able to find the precise formula online.
When the mixture starts turning blue, you are close enough to kill bugs. I keep a spray bottle in the house. Kills flies, beetles, roaches, wasps, bees, dirt daubers, spiders, scorpions, etc. In short, just about every bug around. It also helps me get grease/dirt off when I get dirty.
Another thing that's worked well for me on about half a dozen ground wasp nests is to sprinkle about 1/4 cup of Sevin dust at the opening of the nest. The wasps carry it in on their wings and kill everyone on the inside as well. Within 24 hours there is no activity. I use a Dollar Tree water squirter from the beach/toy section to suck up the Sevin dust if I don't want to get close to the nest at night.
Thank you. I have a campsite at home that I use for You Tube. I discovered a nest this weekend while making a video. Fortunetly I didn't get stung. But these little guys have gotta go. I don't want my dogs getting into them either. Great idea, thanks again.
First, set a yellow jacket trap with the Shawn Woods method of chicken attached to the bottom of a board setting about 2-3 inches above a tote filled with soapy water. Once that has run its course, use a cheap Super Soaker filled with soapy water. The key of course is the soap, which as explained in the video, effectively suffocates them.
we had a nest located on a steep slope and up under some roots. could not get close enough to pour anything into the hole. So I took a large shopvac, added the longest hose and attachment I had and just slid it up near the hole. As the wasps came out, or tried to return, they were sucked up into the vacuum. I left it there, running, for about 2 hours and got most of them. A few were still returning to the nest, but a shot down the hole of spray and the nest was done. I think the Dawn idea is probably a more reliable solution in the long run.
excellent video. thanks very much. I was armed with 30% vinegar mixed with water and a hose to completely drown the nest, but I'm going back to the store and grab a big jug of Dawn to add to the mix. Cheers mate!
There was a large nest in the ground in my backyard. I put on my beesuit and studied the spot and noticed that there were two entrances. So I took a couple of large branches and jammed them into the entrances as deeply as I could. I wondered if they'd dig their way back out but the yellow jackets never reappeared.
@@TylerLloyd I built my first top bar hives in 2009 and then added langstroths a few years ago. Even if I didn't have bees, my suit has come in handy more than once when dealing with wasp nests.
I did something similar with a nest in a rotten tree that had several entrances. Took a big commercial roll of plastic wrap and wrapped the tree a dozen times one cool summer evening. Several months later we cut down the tree and it was nearly hollow and full of dead yellow jackets
I was stung 5 times this summer clearing my back yard. I am a bit hasitant to go there now. I am gonna try the soapy water thing as soon as I get some time.Thanks.
I feel your pain...literally. I tried vinegar and had the same results. Here is what worked for me: I went out after dark with a large pot of boiling water and poured the entire thing down the hole, and that was the last I saw of the yellowjackets. Problem solved.
@@TylerLloyd Yes, it worked perfectly. I should have mentioned I also tried flooding the nest with water via garden hose but it wasn't effective as they came back.
great video - thank you. just 'drowned a nest with dish soap yesterday. tried dropping it in at a distance with a long pvc pipe but ended up just getting close enough to toss a homer bucket full of sudsy water .... and ran. that kept the remaining workers busy/distracted enough that i was able to toss several more buckets of sudsy water on it without incident. i actually used ivory soap (cheaper). one small correction though ... you don't have to be allergic for yellow jacket stings to be dangerous. when they're pissed off & swarm, they sting in large numbers. anyone can get sick from enough stings. dozens of people die every year from yellow jacket stings. i hated killing the nest too but it was right next to our garage & the vibration from door and our cars in/out riled them up very time. it was self preservation 😞
Excellent point on not having to be allergic! With potentially thousands of wasps in the nest, it could end very badly. Thank you for sharing your experience. 💚
You were lucky. I once stepped in a ground nest in the woods while getting firewood. They quietly climbed up between my boots and pants legs then started stinging at the top of the boots. Pain city.
@@dianamcanally5515 Crawled up your boots..Damit! I figured that Yellowjackets would just swarm and sting. I ended up purchasing a Try-vex PPE bee-wasp nest removal suit off of Amazon for like $50.00. I went to exterminate them, but the whole in the ground is small and hard to see in the middle of the night. I’m going to use gasoline.
Very nice, I am currently at war with a yellow jacket hive & this might come in handy. I especially like that you were curious enough to know why that works & share what you found. Tyvm.
I had a Nest in My Back Yard in the Ground. If tou are going to use the Spray 1) Do it at Night 2) Get Close to the Opening and use just about the whole can 3) Cover up the Opening 4) go back about 2-3 Days later remove the block from the opening (At Night) 5) see if there is any activity during the day. If none. Then the job is likely done *** You could have had the same results with the Wasp spray as you did with the Dawn Dish Soap if tou would have applied it at Night Directly into the hole but I'm glad you solved your problem
The typical wasp/yellowjacket spray works well (the stuff that sprays to 20 feet). The key is to mark the nest, wait until nighttime, and basically empty the whole can into the nest at close range. Kills the nest every time. I also bought a bee suit from amazon for some odd 40 bucks. I had 5 nests to deal with this year, close to the house!
7:10 And this is the exact reason why you never use dish detergent on an automobile or cycle. It will strip away the wax sealant coat on the paint. But it does kill wasps!!! ALSO, for wasp killing, I normally add 91% rubbing alcohol to the mixture. 3 Dawn to 1 alcohol. I usually dilute that solution of Dawn and Alcohol with about 25% water. The alcohol speeds up the evaporation of the wasps' body moisture.
I did it and it worked . thought I'd let you know I have been stung 29 times in one go by these little chasers so really nervous. Therefore I taped the dish soap bottle to a long pole and then poured it . Felt very safe . Although I still ran just in case 😂
I’m Southern. I just used Dawn Dish Soap at 6:30 PM when the temp dropped to 55 degrees so they are cold and quiet. We are used to this yellow jackets are always a problem.
I had a yellowjacket nest near my garden that I wanted to get rid of, but I didn't want to use chemicals. I read that if you put something solid over thge next, they'll just dig around it until they find light. So I used a large inverted glass bowl instead and sealed around it using spray foam. When I checked the next day, I could see them in the bowl. A few days later, all activity ceased and the nest was no longer active.
You can also mix some daqndish soap in water in a sprayer and add some peppermint oil . This mixture is good for spraying under your roof eves to deter them. They dawn dishsoap helps the peppermint oil stick to the surface when it evaporates. I use it around all the door racks in my cars as well so they dont make nests there.
In these parts we use gas after dark. Just pour a small amount in the hole. It is very fluid so goes right in, quick an efficient. And, you do not have to light it.
Also have wasp spray close by as sometimes there are wasps still around the rim. Old timers would light the hole after gas. Never do that! Gas kills as you said. My dad lit the hole and and 20 ft away an old well had a 50 lb concrete cover and it flew up in the air. I used gasoline on wasp's nest that was huge from tree trunk in the ground. Old timer said it was the biggest he had ever seen. It worked. Good to know about small nest using soap.
I've done the same thing many times on my property. I usually use half a gallon just to make sure. Environmentalists will probably cringe at this but it works and gasoline is so volatile it will all eventually evaporate out of the soil. And as you said there is no need to lite it, the fumes kills them all.
Awesome video and very informative! I have a BIG job head of me where I can't actually see the nest that I am after... it's located between a shed and a wooden fence. I'm going to suit up in my thickest clothes and use a 2 gallon sprayer with a water / soap mixture! Wish me luck and thanks for posting!!!
Great video, reinforces my experience with getting rid of them. I have to say I really enjoyed the action/run away sequences, that's me to a tee...I have a very bad skin reaction to getting stung by them, or anything for that matter.
Dish soap is amazing for many pests. We had an Aphid infestation that was greatly mitigated with a spray of dish soap water - Now the Ladybugs are doing the rest :)
It is! The one thing I will caution is that the soap does not discriminate and will kill any insect, the good and bad. So like you said, use when they’re out of control and then allow nature to keep them in balance.
In the Midwest yellow jackets do not 'over winter'. The colony dies after the first hard frost. Although, queens that were born in the same year will over winter deep under tree bark, attic space, or some other confined area and start a brand new nest in the late spring or early summer of the next year. Great video, personally I prefer using pesticide dust for yellow jackets.
A quick fyi, I was never allergic to yellow jackets either, until I got stung by one last year. I had been stung many times by them over my life time, so I was puzzled how I became allergic to them. The doctor said, that people can have an allergic reaction at any time to anything. So be careful with these things, 1 sting put me in the ER.
I was just hospitalized w a wasp sting, wheezing, chest pain, vomiting, passing out like coma, falling, concussion: Life threatening. Be careful. Docs said that allergic reactions could happen any time. So scared of them now. EpiPen a must.
@@miming4015 Isn't it scary that a little bug can be so life changing, and not in a good way. I can empathize. One of my favorite things to do was cut grass, and now I don't even want to take a chance.
Damn Tyler, I could have told you this after growing up in Texas but dude . . . . You have invented the TARD DANCE ! I loved it and it made this entire video worth the watch. Thank you. //ji
Dawn dish soap is awesome. It works better than tomato sauce for skunked dogs. Here's what works: 2 tbs of dawn dish soap, cup of baking soda, half cup of peroxide. Mix with water to make a watery paste. Massage onto skunked dog. Let stand about 5 minutes. Rinse pup and reapply if needed. This works better than all other treatments for skunked dogs. Trust me on this one. My dogs got skunked 4 times last year alone.
@@dawn_keyes One time after my dogs got sprayed they ran back into the house and started rolling around on my mattress. RIP bed mattress! God that smell is something else up close!
@@stansmith4054 - I know what you mean. I had 2 out of 5 get skunked at the same time and my husband opened the door to let them back in and they did the inevitable slide across the livingroom carpet and up on the furniture (that was luckily covered at the time) But, I was finally able to get rid of the carpet without any complaints that time.
Was able to use my pump sprayer filled with the stuff (dawn, water and vinegar) from a distance and spray a nest that was on my roof inside the attic air vent. I remained on the ground and shot it way up so it came down like rain on the vent and they started coming out like crazy, falling dead in less than twenty seconds. Went up on the roof afterward to remove the nest with the end of a coat hanger, and wow it was the size of a baseball and full of larvae gross! Great video! Thanks for posting.
Perhaps it’s been said here but Sevin dust is very effective. Dump some in the hole and a day later they’ll be wiped out. It’s safe for use in gardens and kills many types of pests.
I finally had to call Orkin after tackling them every year for the last 40. In the past, I have drowned the nests out with water (I am a beekeeper and have all of the PPE). Usually the skunks will beat me to the larvae and this is why, no pesticide. This year, they built a nest up high in the wall of my house. Didn’t want to be swarmed when I am up on a ladder or have them break through into the wall board.
Good video, I just discovered a nest in my backyard when my sister got stung six times. A friend of mine who is a Beekeeper came over with a solution that he has found. Get a trashcan and put it over the top of the nest. Let the sun heat it up, and leave it there for a week or two. We just did it today, let's see what happens…
Keep your face far away from the hole when you do. Also hope theres no swamp gas nearby. Or farting cows. And doesnt work if you're in a dry area because you'll burn the forest down. Or just use dish soap
can I ask you a question? I was clearing areas out yesterday in the yard. nothing happened. it wasn't until 8 hours later something started to swarm over the entire yard into the neighbors yard, but the most were hover over the ground. they were so fast we couldn't see them with our eyes and too fast to get a picture. could you see yellow jackets if they are swarming?
Do a search for "ground / digger bees". We had some in our yard. They don't really hover, but buzz quickly around a small area (a few inches) and stay near the ground. Their markings are not as bold as yellow jackets, which might make them harder to see (as per your description). They apparently have stingers (I just found that out). I thought they didn't, as I've never been stung, and walk right through their area just like I would ant hills. They did have a space about 3-4 feet square, every year for about 4 years. This year, they are gone. Idk if it's because it's getting more foot traffic there, or bc the ants moved in. I hope that's what you have. So you don't have to worry about getting stung. But be careful. If they're yellow jackets...(I just got stung 2 or 3 times today) Good luck.
I don't think the givenan explanation of how dish soap works (it doesn't have to be Dawn) is exactly correct.
The soap is a surfactant, meaning it reduces the surface tension of water. This allows the water in the mixture to easily enter their breathing holes, effectively drowning them. Essentially the wasps are being asphyxiated.
I think you’re right. In searching for the mode of action, in preparation of the video, I found all sorts of explanations all loosely based on functions that lead to asphyxiation. You’re explanation, however, makes the most sense.
I have to agree with you about asphyxiation. I have used Dawn/Warm Water (5% solution) for years on wasp nests. I mix it in a cup and douse the nest. They fall dead instantaneously.
I put the Dawn in last and mix it to reduce bubbles. The warm water makes the soap dissolve faster.
I love watching your videos. My family Head a business . My sister had a business exterminating company. My brother-in-law went out one night he had a call from a dentist that day about bees . He knew where the nest was he spray chemical up in there. He’s The next day the dentist office called him from payphone told him the office was full of Bees. I told him I thought he was smarter than that
Said the office was plum full of live Bees That Cost him a bunch money . I hope I making sense I’m 72 years old but anyway I hope you can read this
@@perrydegonia5755 i don’t know why, but I find the idea of a dentist office full of bees to be hilarious. That’s a real rough day.
Little tip. Put a large window screen over the hole before you start. weigh the corners down with bricks
Brilliant ... That sounds like good defense followed by good offense!
Brilliant!!!!!
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing that tip.
Good Idea
Great idea 💡👍💡💡💡
Genius! Thanks!
Very good brief video, with surprisingly accurate/helpful info... also rather entertaining, I thought the spraying part was hilarious, I was NOT expecting to laugh as much as I did :)
Anyway, after watching, I was armed with all I needed... I successfully removed a wasp nest.
Thanks :)
Glad I could give you a laugh and help!
When I was 2 years old I stepped on a in the ground wasp nest. I don’t remember how many times I was bit. But it hurts. I’m 60 now and can still remember it. My house now is being overrun by them recently. I’m thankful for your video.
I was dog sitting for a neighbor and was swarmed by wasp, resulting in over 100 stings on my head, chest & arms in less than 30 seconds. I live rural on a mountain, so I knew I was in trouble. I yelled at the dog to get in the house, & he hauled butt so fast he didn't get a single sting. I passed out twice before being able to low crawl to my house 200 meters up an embankment. I called 9-11, lost the connection, and took 3 benadryl, but my heart was pounding so fast I knew if I couldn't slow it down, I was going to die before the ambulance got here. I prayed to God to save me, and for some reason I remembered the New Years party for family & friends was at my house. I was not an alcohol drinker, but something told me that it could slow my heart down enough. I crawled to my pantry, slammed about 3 shots of vodka, and crawled out to my front deck. I put myself in the recovery position & elevated my legs. I passed out again and was revived by paramedics. I was hospitalized, had my head shaved so they could remove the dozens of stingers from my scalp. Now, I am deathly allergic & carry an epinephrine injector constantly. I also SWEAR by Dawn dish detergent to eliminate hives! Be proactive, be safe, & get rid of these hives before you, family, or friends get put into a life or death situation simply because they took a step that angered wasps.
I don't recommend alcohol to anyone, but the E.R. doctor said the Benedryl & Vodka probably saved my life due to how long it took for the ambulance to get to me. Edit: they were bees at my neighbors, I have a crazy amount of wasps of different kinds on my property, so they are always what I refer anything stinging to.
Wow 😮 I’m glad you’re ok! What a story 😥 and big hugs to you for thinking of the fur baby ❤. Those things are the devil!! They keep popping up! Seeing those pest control people come in their flip flops to just put dust in there and leave for $180 when I just need to gain some courage and timing and do my homework. I’m hoping to get there soon before this nest gets any bigger.
@@JoJo-y9s3z Thankyou! It was a horrific experience, but it did help me remember I am a fighter! That pup KNEW we were in trouble. I always tell folks that if their pets could talk, they would say I talk WAY too much! I do that so they know my tones & inflection as to whats going on. I tell my story so people can take steps to reduce the chance of a swarm attack. I cannot imagine a child, elderly person or animal having to deal with the attack I had! Thankyou again for your kind words & reading my story!🙂👍Edit: I have recently learned that silica spray makes them unable to fly & if you take a jar with a third of it filled with gasoline and carefully put the jar over a nest it kills the nest very quickly. I haven't tried it yet, but its worth researching!
FUDGE!!!
Crazy! Are you sure they were wasps? Wasps do no leave stings in the skin.
@synthesaurus Actually, they were honey bees that were very upset because a bear knocked over my neighbors huge hive that they never took the honey out of. I've been researching weird looking wasps I now have on my property! Great catch!👍
Bless your tender little heart for having a conscience for those.wasps stinging you. You seem like a very good man.
I appreciate that 😊
I love that we all turn into Latin dancers when the wasp spray comes out. 😂
💃🏼 just let the music guide you 💃🏼 😂
This is the perfect comment! My coworkers told me I was dancing out in the field after my last, most recent yellow jacket attack. I have named it the "socks full of hornets" dance because apparently that day, my socks were the most favorable piece of clothing for these tiny hellhounds to latch onto.
😂
I was thinking more like a beginner at fencing
Hilarious 🤣
Great video. I improvised a bit. Layered up the clothing, grabbed my tennis racket and the hose. Indeed they led me to the ground nest. Tonight it's bath time for these little buggers. Thanks!!
Smart move with the layers! Best of luck!
And you kill anything that was planted there as well
@@lizzieorwig64it won't harm them I spray roses in the morning with a dawn solution to help mildew black spot and remove the 7 insecticide its only a problem if you spray it in full sun or add salt or oil to the solution
That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to get up early Saturday morning like at 4:00am. I’ve got a heavy duty Carhartt jacket, fleece lined work pants, gloves, a full face stocking cap with a scarf. Dawn dishwashing liquid, and Raid. I’m not taking any chances.
@@StainlessTIG2 You can just wait until it is dark in the evening. 10 or 11 o'clock. But, sure, they will be even less active at 4 am.
I normally use about 1/2 cup of gasoline down the hole. I do it around 10 or 11 at night. They are always gone the next day. Don't light the gasoline, the fumes are what kills them.
I may try the soap the next time to see how it works. I've heard to pour hot, soapy water down the hole too. I know gasoline works great though.
My favorite for several years is "Simple Green" spray cleaner. I keep a spray bottle of it handy all season to knock down the "starter nests" as they are found early in Spring, spray any strays on windows or doors, and wipe out larger colonies as found. It knocks the wasps out of the air before they can even begin to attack. I have bad reactions to the stings so it means a lot to knock them out fast.
Makes sense that it would work since it is a solvent and would break down the waxing layer of the insect just like soap. I use it for cleaning and will keep that in mind if I need to spray them.
I did the same thing with the dish soap. I covered the nest with a window screen before the soap and water. It worked perfect.
Good video. I've used dish soap for years. Typically I'll put a cup of soap in a large bucket, and add 3 gallons of water. Wait till dark and pour into nest entry. Sometime I add soap after initial application and use a hose to force the soapy water into the nest chambers. Never had an instance where it hasn't worked.
You ALWAYS go after the nest after dark. The nasty little blighters will all be inside. Use wasp spray on the opening and watch for any other openings. Paper nests will rarely have a second opening. Darkness is key!
I eventually leaned! 😆
Be careful even at night.
I came back at night to do in a yellowjacket nest I had seen during the day, and when I looked at the hole from about 3 feet away I could make out one yellowjacket at the entrance looking out, and it instantly flew straight at me and stung me. So be careful even at night. It was as if they had a guard posted.
One year we had what seemed like millions of yellowjackets, probably dozens of nests. In the afternoon when the sun was at the right angle I could go out and see them coming and going from their nests. I mixed up some boric acid powder in tuna (about a level tablespoon in a can of tuna mixed in well). They cleaned out a can of tuna in about 4 hours, swarming like something from a horror movie. That did not seem to kill them that year, but, we have had very few yellowjackets since when my neighbors have many. I don't know if that is because of the boric acid or not, but it is easy and inexpensive to try if you have a massive yellowjacket infestation. (Just don't put the cans of tuna near where you will be outside.)
I'm used to taking out yellow jacket nests where hoses aren't an option so we just mix a cup or two of dish detergent (any kind works but Dawn has the fewest additives) into a 5 gallon bucket of water and pour it into the hole. Always be careful to watch for secondary holes as you do it. Hives often have more than one opening.
Good point!
@@TylerLloyd I made it easier with flame in a torch and cardboard, I just covered the hole with cardboard and burnt all my garbage and plastics I did it during the day, but I thought at night might be better. I thought Diesel might be a good solution
You don't need to use that much soap, it goes a long way. I leave the bucket over the entrance so I can depart safely
From a NZ sheep farmer many years ago -- return to the nest at night when they are all at home, pour half a cup of diesel fuel with a small amount of petrol as a thinner into the nest opening, plug it with a ball of clay and walk away. No need for fire. The fumes will kill them all. Fire it if you wish, but it's not necessary!
@@peteacher52 Or I have an idea. Why not use something cheap and safe for the rest of the world like a squirt of Dawn in a bucket of water
Thank you for showing the failures as well as the successes. To me, that is more important as to the validity. We all go through our trials, and it's the failures that I learn from the most. That being said:
Warnings to everyone... Yellow jackets can be extremely aggressive. I occasionally get them in my front yard. It doesn't take much to get the nest swarming... simply walking over or near the hole can agitate them to attack mode. For dogs and children's sake, I take them out if they're in the front yard. To someone that is allergic, this could be deadly.
I can attest to the soap part. My method is to first locate the hole. Don't approach a yellow jacket's nest until at LEAST 1 hour after they're disturbed. Yellow jackets won't swarm on sight from my experiences, it's more vibration that gets their attention. So walk softly. Look during the day, and look to see where they land. I then mark where the hole is by putting something bright and light colored indicating EXACTLY where the hole is. At around 11:00, I go and fill a 5 gallon bucket with water. I then pour 1/4th a bottle of whatever dish soap I have into the water and stir softly (I try not to create bubbles as much as I can). I walk out there with a flashlight, and gingerly approach the nest. I then pour the whole 5 gallons into that little quarter sized hole. I quickly turn over the bucket, put it on top of the hole, and place a rock on top of the bucket to push it down. That's it. The next day, I lift the bucket to see the results.
People would be amazed at what comes out of a hole about the size of a quarter.
agreed dish soap works. what i used was the initial hit with soap and water from a long PVC pipe. you can use a hose. Later in the evening I filled a 4 gallon jug for a water cooler with a water/soap mixture and flipped it up over the exit hole. Sometimes nests have 2 and also the queen can be protected because the design of the nests even when you flood the opening, the hive makes a air pocket. The water jug serves a second use as the few survivors try to leave and exit and fly up and into the jug repeatedly.
Good idea with the PVC!
It's an annual crusade here in 30040. The dish soap works great. I use some old window screen to cover the nest entrance and weigh down the screen edges with garden soil. I mix a generous amount of dish soap in a bucket, pour it thru the screen and into the nest. Repeat nightly for a few days.
Great tip! I’ve got a stack of old window screens, so I’ll keep that in mind for the next nest.
Smart! But what about the ones outside the nest?
All the eradication advice says to work after sundown so same applies here. 99.9% of the trouble makers return to the nest prior to darkness.
That worked for me, years ago. About to have to do it again, sigh
I think you meant "repeat daily for a few nights."
I usually use 4-5 ounces of dawn in a 5-gallon bucket of water and it typically kills any nest I’ve come across. I also use HOT water, as that kills them as well.
Good to know what ratio works. I was a bit heavy handed with my application.
@@TylerLloyd when it comes to yellow-jackets, there’s no such thing as overkill!!
Yes .I did the exactly thing 5oz of dawn, a gallon of boiling water AND I added a cup of bleach...IT WORKS IT WORKS....kills the entire nest within minutes ..DO IT AT NIGHT!!
Along with doing this at night, it's good to place a screen weighed down with a rock or brick to prevent them from getting out and stinging.
I have probably taken care of more than 100 nests of yellow jackets (in Sweden). I use several different strategies - sometimes combined depending on the context. One of these strategies involved dish-water detergent and a water hose and this is for either ground wasps or wasps in birds' houses and similar contexts.
First - as said in this video - early in the morning (preferably on a chilly day if you can chose) and then just pour 10-20 ml of any dish water detergent (I never bothered about the brand - it always worked) and then just flood the nest with water and stay away for 3-4 days - usually all wasps are then gone - a few may still be around but has never been a problem. If it is a birds' house I usually open it - give it a week to be sure - get the nest out on the ground and just walk over it (boots!) and leave for one more day. I never noticed any leftover life in such rests.
For ground wasps - I have also sometimes combined with the use of one of these battery driven "badminton-like" rackets (tie it to a long string or lace so that you can pull it away from the hole - after you have 20 wasps on it the electric charge won't work because of the short circuit - shake of the wasps and stomp on them - then repeat until most wasps are gone - can be done in a safe way even daytime). On a few such occasions where a water hose was not an option I instead arranged with a fire in the hole after most active wasps had been killed.
Other methods I use involve the use of a vacuum cleaner with different variations depending on contexts, time of the year and so on. For small wasp nests with a few individuals in them one can use any hair spray or whatever and spray into the hole - it probably doesn't kill the wasps but they don't like it and move to some other place. The downside of this is that you may have a few irritated wasps flying around for up to 10 days afterwards but they don't seem to like hair sprays so it works (discovery more than 50 years ago when I used my mother's whatever it was - not exactly insecticide but enough unpleasant chemistry* to do the job).
Wasp nests under roofs and smaller than a fist can often be knocked down physically and just stomped on (best early mornings when it is chilly...).
Only got lightly stung on two occasions when I took care of wasp nests (and badly stung on a couple of other occasions but those times I was not aware of their presence until they got me).
* Retired now but have three different academic degrees in science/technology - one of these in theoretical chemistry... (the wasp chemistry context is perhaps more practical than theoretical...).
I have a nest in my wall (entrance is on the outside of my house)..where my sunroom meets the main house. I wonder if hair spray would work. The humming at night was more loud than a refrigerator.. It was crazy. We killed a bunch (assumed) as its more quiet, although there are some still as I hear papery sounds in the wall. Its hard to spray in the hole as it's where a few things come together (siding, etc).
@@RunninUpThatHillh I have them at the corner soffit on my house. How do we get it into the nest? I don't want to rip out part of my roof and I am a single senior lady
@@RunninUpThatHillh Call a professional exterminator. Wasps can eat through drywall and end up inside your home. This happened to my home years ago. Very nasty if they get through the drywall.
@@paulallen9991thanks for that tip...i dont want em in the house.
That’s helpful - I’ll try the dish soap if there is a next time. I couldn’t help giggling at the evasive maneuvers when you were spraying them from a distance. We had a big colony in our little orchard and just did a can of yellow jacket killer directly into the opening and then ran like hell. It worked, though. Many years ago when there was a nest in the yard, we poured in a little gasoline at night and then threw lit matches at it until it went up in a fireball. Stupid, I know, but wildly entertaining.
Gas and a match definitely works, but I’m always afraid of starting a brush fire.
You seriously were risking your life just to do this video.....thankyou kind sir
I've seen some professionals use a soap hookup with a pressure washer, and you can absolutely decimate wasps with it. Especially nests up high, or with big swarms. I even use this trick on a smaller scale in the garden with aphids and gnats.
Another use for a power washer !!!!!!!!!
The bug spray would have worked too if you had done it at night. Your biggest mistake was trying to kill them during the day. Always go after wasps at night.
I tried that once on my porch outside the window. All it did was make them white hot angry and bash into the window to try to get me. That was with wasp spray.
That was me with the spray foam! I have some pretty mean new dance steps for the next wedding I’m at!
In my teens I worked as a house painter in Texas. Whenever we came across a Yellow Jacket nest on a house we would tie a wad of newspaper to the end of a pole, light it on fire, and use it to burn the nest. This method was quick, efficient, and 100 percent effective. There were never any survivors and it was over in seconds.
did you burn down any houses, in addition to the bee nests, using this method?
@@silversage2728 just minor collateral damage 😅
in my woods, I stepped right ON a nest, must have crushed part of it, normally they swarm around below the knees, this time they swarmed me, chased me down the road for a mile. One sting is annoying, but 30 is dangerous. Swollen arms and hands, way past annoying. Just a reminder to pay attention when walking through wooded areas. There will be one small hole and a few wasps coming and going. Also; Tyler is not allergic and can get away with short sleeves.... when going after a nest, cover all areas with thick clothes, they can sting through pants and gloves,
Great point on the long sleeves! And good reminder to stay aware when out in nature.
Just now went out at 10:30 ish and poured a bottle down a hole. Not a yellow jacket showed up! Thanks for posting this! I will add water tomorrow
Dawn is good for many things. No household should be without it. Oddly, I've rarely washed dishes with it.
Agreed and same!
😂
And now they came out with power spray! Mwahahaha
A nurse told me it causes cancer and you should wear gloves to wash dishes with it.
I'm married, so neither do I ;
Great info and presentation
Got stung yesterday and need to eradicate this nest without pesticides
Thanks, well done!
Really appreciate this as I found out I’m severely allergic and ended up in hospital.
Thanks for sharing this one - I had heard about the Dawn dish soap treatment many years ago but had forgotten about it. You are correct - MUCH preferable to soaking our ground with the black Raid chemicals - that stuff is NASTY !!!!!! Thanks again for taking the time to explain all your steps and reasoning and help other people out while keeping the ground cleaner !!
Happy to hear you found it helpful!
I had the same problem so one night I cut a piece of window screen about 20" by 20" and laid it around the opening of the nest then put bricks around the edge of the screen. Poured a bottle of Dawn dish washing soap in the hole then filled it with water till it started to over flow. Next morning no more yellow jackets.
Hope this helps (posting in several vids because you all have been helpful to me) - I wanted a non toxic (as possible) solution to wasps/ yellow jackets. My children have been stung terribly by these things, so it was my turn to deal with it. I found their location through keen observation - just watching insects come and go and found a large concentration of them going into the ground, which was home for them. I was inclined to use gas, but then learned 1litre is enough to poison 1Million litres of ground water. No bueno. So I used regular tap water and four kinds of soaps: dish, a liberal sprinkling of "Comet", 3 dishwashing machine dissolvable pouches and 2 scoops of borax/soap flakes. Suffice to say there was enough bubbles for Africa. I carried a very large bucket of water (half a metal full size trash can worth) to the location, far away from my home. It was heavy going as I am fat. Tip: use a stout stick to help with the digging in of the handle by carrying the stick under the handle. I went at 9pm on late summer night. It was dark out. Using my head flashlight, I located the hole. There were dozens of them still buzzing around the hole. I was dead afraid having been stung by these before. I decided to forgo the funnel, steel wool as some advised. The hole was just far too big. I poured the water and the foam overwhelmed them. I poured about half quickly, then calmed down and poured till it soaked into the hole. Observed for a second, then got chicken and poured more in spurts, until it was all gone. I was shocked at the size of the things guarding the entrance at night. These were easily half as long as my tip of thumb to thumb joint. Not as thick obviously, but seriously large. Yellow jackets on kind of steroids. I saw them all on the surface completely motionless (I read the soap dissolves their wax, filling their spiracles, which drowns them instantly). After all was poured, I waited ten seconds at the hole and saw nothing come out. I was still scared in case there may be workers still coming back to the nest. I got out of there and will go look at it tomorrow/next day and report back if there is interest.
Thank you for sharing! What did you find the following day?
@@TylerLloyd my pleasure. The next morning I found activity at the wasp net entrance, though the big boys were dead, and severely diminished in terms of numbers. Not good enough. Last night I went with an acquaintance, and we poured double the amount of the soapy (hot) water concoction in at night time. There were no guards on duty. I poured my large container in slowly, and then he did his. We found several stragglers possibly coming from a second entrance close to the original gaping nest hole and doused those. The soap kills quicker than wasp spray poison I have found - back to back tests within 12hrs of each other. This morning I went to check twice. Before 7am and now at 1030am with sun. There were about 5 wasps in total buzzing around, I sprayed poison onto them and onto the nest entrance quite thickly. Otherwise, quiet and dead still after observing ten minutes. I might go again tonight to just rid the nest of any other wasps near the entrance. Feels way less stressful with about 99% of them eradicated. I am a believe in this method. Less environmentally negative than other methods. With limited water supply (no hose), it requires a few dosings. No big deal. And highly effective.
@@LitoGeorge thank you for the update! And yes, without a hose it makes it a little harder but still better than other options in my opinion.
@@TylerLloyd once again, my pleasure. Great news is that I visited the nest site 4x today throughout the day. The nest is dead. No flying wasps, although there are a load of them dead in the entrances. Safety along the route, resumes. Thanks for the tips, advice, experiences all. Cheers Tyler
Good tips. Will use that next time. The first time we had to get rid of a wasp nest in our backyard, my husband got chased 100 m to the house!
When I tried the vinegar and they swarmed, I nearly ran to the other end of my property 😆. But I’m ready for the next time they nest where I don’t want them.
I've done that miserable ,100 meter dash
OMG You finally got to the main point -- use your product AT NIGHT ! Whether you use a wasp spray or soap, do it at night.
Good things come to those who wait.
Great video. I appreciate the final point about the benefits of wasps.
Thanks!
Thank you for your video! ❤❤❤
ALL summer, I have been dealing with one type of wasp or another. Then a behive, the size of a grapefruit, hanging from my roof. Mind you, I've been in this house 43 years and have not had such a RIDICULOUS problem with bees and wasps like I did this year!!! The final straw was an underground yellow jacket nest. As I already use Dawn, I bought a LARGE bottle. I took the cap off, laid it next to the nest and let it run into the nest. About an hour later I followed the Dawn with 3/4 bucket of warm water. Now I wait. I will wait until tomorrow to check (visually!) the ground around my flower pot to see the results. (The ground around most of the pot was raised.)
They had to go ... I have family that is allergic along with a neighbor.
Did it work?
Got stung 5 times a few days ago, while mowing. Found a large yellow jacket nest. I waited until dark and poured a half gallon of water and dish detergent into the hole and jammed a rock into the opening. Two days later, no more yellow jackets. Life is good!
How much Detergent do you use?
Thank you so much for this video and all your painful experience! I also want to thank everyone for their experiential sharing. I used it all!!! I had wasps in my wood shed area. I also had straw stored there. Wood & straw are on pallets. A couple months ago, I noticed that there were wasps nesting in there. But with the straw all in there, I didn't know exactly where their nest was. So with wishful thinking, I hoped it would just resolve itself... Surprise, wishful thinking didn't work. Yesterday, when I put some pine shaving bails in the shed, the wasps chased after me when I was leaving and stung me twice. War on!! I was looking for another video that I found the idea of Dawn mixed in a spray bottle with peppermint essential oil, when I fell upon this video.
This is what I did:
I carefully removed as much straw as I could. I had the spray bottle with me and used it a few times. I identified the general location and prepared. I got screen netting, a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in it, Dawn soap mixed with water and the hose. Then I waited until 1am in the morning. I went out with a headlight and my beesuit jacket (grateful I had that!). I carefully removed the remaining straw and then immediately put down the screen and put the bucket down and poured the Dawn/water solution and hosed water in bucket. The entire time there were a few wasps flying around my face. I didn't see any movement from the nest. I then put wood around to hold the screen down. In the morning, crickets, nothing. Later in the morning I saw maybe a wasp moving and I knew it was time for the boiling water!! I will continue monitoring and pouring boiling water for the next few days before I remove the screen and clean up the mess. Thanks again everyone!!!
I won, ha!
I have heard of this technique for removing aggressive beehives. Came here to make sure it works on Yellowjackets before attempting. Can confirm their stings are unpleasant 😅
It works!
If it is a BEE hive then contact some beekeepers - they will come and take the hive and make use of those precious bees - DO NOT KILL BEES.....
I haven't ever had to deal with a *ground* yellow jacket nest,but have had to deal with lots of nests on my house and garage. One nest was somewhere behind a gutter. I bought some Sevin powder from a pest control company,and applied that to the nest,using a long snow rake pole with plastic tubing taped to the pole. Dipped the business end of the tubing in the Sevin,and attached my end of the tubing to a dollar store baster bulb,which allowed me to puff the powder into the spot on the gutter where they were coming and going from a safe distance. Took a few days,but all activity stopped eventually. The beauty of products such as Sevin is that they track the poison into the nest,which kills all of them eventually. It should work well on ground nests as well.
I've been stung by them before. They are sneaky little buggers.
I've used Dawn mix to kill them or regular wasps, nesting in the wrong place. The first time I used the Dawn mix, I swore off retail "Wasp spray".
It worked so great! 🤩
Glad to hear it has worked for you as well. Nice to know that my experience wasn't a fluke!
Omg I’m so glad I found you. I have a small beehive in my front yard n they stung me 4 times… and it hurts a lot. It took a week and a lot of cortisone max strength to heal. 😊😊😊😊
I have killed off 4-5 of these nests in my yard in the past few years. The method I use is boiling water - boil water in an electric kettle, then at night (9pm or so), pour the entire kettle down the entrance of the nest. This has been super effective in my experience, and it's environmentally safe. Sometimes I have had to return the following night and do it again. Doing it at night ensures that most of the yellow jackets will be in the nest. Good luck!
Appreciate the suggestion to simply use boiling water. Even better than soap!
We tried boiling water this week, and it didn’t work for us. :(
@@debragraff4649 have you tried dish soap yet? Others mix it with water and then pour, but I liked my squirt and then hose method. Just have to be able to reach the nest with a hose.
@@debragraff4649 What happened? How much water did you use? On the last nest I had to do it three (!) nights in a row before they were all gone - perhaps I did not use enough water the first 2 times.
Be aware that most colonies have a second entrance. If you can find it, either treat both or cover one entrance with a board. I haven’t tried the Dawn treatment, but I’ve had good results with Sevin dust. Just dump a lot of it on the entry and the wasps will get it on themselves and carry it into the nest. This may take 2-3 days to get all, but works really well
Dealing with an infestation right now. Have a nest with 3 entries! Each time I though I had it they popped up. Haven't used dish soap yet but it's going down the hole tonight. 3 active nests going on currently
I have taken out 2 yellowjacket nests this summer with sevindust. I go out at night right before dawn and ease a spoon of dust into the entry. No muss no fuss.
It has worked for me. Put it in an empty dish soap bottle stick it in the hole and you squeeze so the dust blows into the nest
Sevin is Carbaryl. Extremely toxic. Cancer-causing. Look it up.
A good Yellow Jacket trap with Dawn Dish soap - small bucket, Regular MTN Dew, with some dawn dish soap. Works better than store bought traps, just make sure to use regular MTN Dew. They are very attracted to it.
Yep, sugar will attract them
Helpful and entertaining, albeit at the expense of you being stung. Trying it tonight. Thanks
Tyler, thank you! I have a nest that I discovered mowing my lawn(ouch)! I am going to try this tomorrow!
You’re welcome! Hope it went well.
I have bumble bees in a hole on the floor of my garage. I used Javex bleach in water to deter them but it was not effective. I will use dish soap next. Thank you for posting this video.
You're welcome! I love bees, but would not love them in the middle of my workspace.
Oddly enough, I enjoyed this video. Informative.
Thanks!
I admire your perseverance and fortitude , after being stung I would have brought in the artillery . I have bees and wasps ( feeding off them and their honey ) in the top of my redundant chimney . It’s. Long way up and I’m trying to figure out how to remove them !
You are hilarious! It sucks when we can’t really co exist with critters. Yellow Jackets are no joke and I am thankful you shared this!
I try my best, even though it feels like some of the comments want to call me a mass murder. I love and value all animals, but I’m part of nature just as they are and trying to carve out my little place to exist as well.
@@TylerLloydmass murder is acceptable with wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, fire ants, etc. They'd murder us if they could without remorse. ,
I have lived in my house 20 years and this is the first summer I have had a serious problem with yellow jackets. Two ground nests, one found by me after getting stung a couple times and the second found by the man who mows for me when he ran over the nest two days ago. I appreciate this information because I want to get rid of them but don’t like using chemicals although that’s what I have been doing because it works but also expensive. I’m out of spray so I will try Dawn this time. Also helpful knowing they eat insects since I put some old cantaloupe near the nest as a lure but I haven’t seen a single yellow jacket on it. But several flying around the backyard.
Dawn dish soap is also great for fire ant mounds (in the south).
Good to know!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels bad about killing the yellow jackets. But they engaged in war. They swarmed me on my front porch a month ago, stinging me 8-10 times that lead to cellulitis (a secondary infection). I just found their nest in my pumpkin patch. Toxic chemicals are not an option. Thank you!
I’ve used dishwashing soap several times on wasp nests. Very effective. I put a cup of it into a gallon sprayer, so I can direct a soapy stream onto the nest. They drop instantly. I suspect that less soap may also work, but I haven’t been able to find the precise formula online.
Good idea with the sprayer. After getting stung a few times, nighttime was my preferred option.
When the mixture starts turning blue, you are close enough to kill bugs. I keep a spray bottle in the house. Kills flies, beetles, roaches, wasps, bees, dirt daubers, spiders, scorpions, etc. In short, just about every bug around. It also helps me get grease/dirt off when I get dirty.
Another thing that's worked well for me on about half a dozen ground wasp nests is to sprinkle about 1/4 cup of Sevin dust at the opening of the nest. The wasps carry it in on their wings and kill everyone on the inside as well. Within 24 hours there is no activity. I use a Dollar Tree water squirter from the beach/toy section to suck up the Sevin dust if I don't want to get close to the nest at night.
Thank you. I have a campsite at home that I use for You Tube. I discovered a nest this weekend while making a video. Fortunetly I didn't get stung. But these little guys have gotta go. I don't want my dogs getting into them either. Great idea, thanks again.
Happy to help a fellow UA-camr!
First, set a yellow jacket trap with the Shawn Woods method of chicken attached to the bottom of a board setting about 2-3 inches above a tote filled with soapy water. Once that has run its course, use a cheap Super Soaker filled with soapy water. The key of course is the soap, which as explained in the video, effectively suffocates them.
we had a nest located on a steep slope and up under some roots. could not get close enough to pour anything into the hole. So I took a large shopvac, added the longest hose and attachment I had and just slid it up near the hole. As the wasps came out, or tried to return, they were sucked up into the vacuum. I left it there, running, for about 2 hours and got most of them. A few were still returning to the nest, but a shot down the hole of spray and the nest was done. I think the Dawn idea is probably a more reliable solution in the long run.
😆 i love the many uses of a shop vac but never considered doing this. Not a bad idea!
Also, you can also fill the shopvac about 1/3 full of water-dishsoap mix. It will kill the insects when they hit the drink.
This is the second brilliant solution I have found in the comments!
excellent video. thanks very much. I was armed with 30% vinegar mixed with water and a hose to completely drown the nest, but I'm going back to the store and grab a big jug of Dawn to add to the mix. Cheers mate!
There was a large nest in the ground in my backyard. I put on my beesuit and studied the spot and noticed that there were two entrances. So I took a couple of large branches and jammed them into the entrances as deeply as I could. I wondered if they'd dig their way back out but the yellow jackets never reappeared.
Nice! I eventually want bees so if I have a bee suit, I’ll try this out.
@@TylerLloyd I built my first top bar hives in 2009 and then added langstroths a few years ago. Even if I didn't have bees, my suit has come in handy more than once when dealing with wasp nests.
I did something similar with a nest in a rotten tree that had several entrances. Took a big commercial roll of plastic wrap and wrapped the tree a dozen times one cool summer evening. Several months later we cut down the tree and it was nearly hollow and full of dead yellow jackets
I was stung 5 times this summer clearing my back yard. I am a bit hasitant to go there now. I am gonna try the soapy water thing as soon as I get some time.Thanks.
I feel your pain...literally. I tried vinegar and had the same results. Here is what worked for me: I went out after dark with a large pot of boiling water and poured the entire thing down the hole, and that was the last I saw of the yellowjackets. Problem solved.
Glad the boiling water worked! If I have a nest that isn’t super far away from my kitchen, I’ll give that a try.
@@TylerLloyd Yes, it worked perfectly. I should have mentioned I also tried flooding the nest with water via garden hose but it wasn't effective as they came back.
@@misterdrummings did you do dish soap and water hose, or just water hose?
great video - thank you. just 'drowned a nest with dish soap yesterday. tried dropping it in at a distance with a long pvc pipe but ended up just getting close enough to toss a homer bucket full of sudsy water .... and ran. that kept the remaining workers busy/distracted enough that i was able to toss several more buckets of sudsy water on it without incident. i actually used ivory soap (cheaper). one small correction though ... you don't have to be allergic for yellow jacket stings to be dangerous. when they're pissed off & swarm, they sting in large numbers. anyone can get sick from enough stings. dozens of people die every year from yellow jacket stings. i hated killing the nest too but it was right next to our garage & the vibration from door and our cars in/out riled them up very time. it was self preservation 😞
Excellent point on not having to be allergic! With potentially thousands of wasps in the nest, it could end very badly. Thank you for sharing your experience. 💚
Looks like I’m going with Dawn. How I found the nest in my outer backyard, I mowed right over them and luckily didn’t get stung. Thanks for the video.
Impressive on not getting stung! Hope it works as well for you as it did for me.
You were lucky. I once stepped in a ground nest in the woods while getting firewood. They quietly climbed up between my boots and pants legs then started stinging at the top of the boots. Pain city.
@@dianamcanally5515 Crawled up your boots..Damit! I figured that Yellowjackets would just swarm and sting. I ended up purchasing a Try-vex PPE bee-wasp nest removal suit off of Amazon for like $50.00. I went to exterminate them, but the whole in the ground is small and hard to see in the middle of the night. I’m going to use gasoline.
Thanks! Saved money not purchasing the traditional wasp spray from the big brand store.
A beekeeper suit really comes in handy for dealing with stinging insects
@@beetickler6418 wish I had one! It would work bette than my white undershirt 😂
Very nice, I am currently at war with a yellow jacket hive & this might come in handy. I especially like that you were curious enough to know why that works & share what you found. Tyvm.
Delta Dust. A few puffs at dusk, hive dead.
I had a Nest in My Back Yard in the Ground. If tou are going to use the Spray
1) Do it at Night
2) Get Close to the Opening and use just about the whole can
3) Cover up the Opening
4) go back about 2-3 Days later remove the block from the opening (At Night)
5) see if there is any activity during the day. If none. Then the job is likely done
*** You could have had the same results with the Wasp spray as you did with the Dawn Dish Soap if tou would have applied it at Night Directly into the hole but I'm glad you solved your problem
The typical wasp/yellowjacket spray works well (the stuff that sprays to 20 feet). The key is to mark the nest, wait until nighttime, and basically empty the whole can into the nest at close range. Kills the nest every time. I also bought a bee suit from amazon for some odd 40 bucks. I had 5 nests to deal with this year, close to the house!
7:10 And this is the exact reason why you never use dish detergent on an automobile or cycle. It will strip away the wax sealant coat on the paint. But it does kill wasps!!! ALSO, for wasp killing, I normally add 91% rubbing alcohol to the mixture. 3 Dawn to 1 alcohol. I usually dilute that solution of Dawn and Alcohol with about 25% water. The alcohol speeds up the evaporation of the wasps' body moisture.
Ammonia works too!
"they have a place in nature." Absolutely! On their backs, with all six legs motionless!
Why?
I did it and it worked . thought I'd let you know I have been stung 29 times in one go by these little chasers so really nervous. Therefore I taped the dish soap bottle to a long pole and then poured it . Felt very safe . Although I still ran just in case 😂
I’m Southern. I just used Dawn Dish Soap at 6:30 PM when the temp dropped to 55 degrees so they are cold and quiet. We are used to this yellow jackets are always a problem.
I don't remember them being a problem as a kid, but they sure are an issue with my new house.
@@TylerLloydBengal dust works or pour some powdered sugar with it
I had a yellowjacket nest near my garden that I wanted to get rid of, but I didn't want to use chemicals. I read that if you put something solid over thge next, they'll just dig around it until they find light. So I used a large inverted glass bowl instead and sealed around it using spray foam. When I checked the next day, I could see them in the bowl. A few days later, all activity ceased and the nest was no longer active.
You can also mix some daqndish soap in water in a sprayer and add some peppermint oil . This mixture is good for spraying under your roof eves to deter them. They dawn dishsoap helps the peppermint oil stick to the surface when it evaporates. I use it around all the door racks in my cars as well so they dont make nests there.
Tyler, you are a gem. Thank you so much for this brilliant advice.
Glad it was helpful! Wishing you the best! :-)
In these parts we use gas after dark. Just pour a small amount in the hole. It is very fluid so goes right in, quick an efficient. And, you do not have to light it.
Also have wasp spray close by as sometimes there are wasps still around the rim. Old timers would light the hole after gas. Never do that! Gas kills as you said. My dad lit the hole and and 20 ft away an old well had a 50 lb concrete cover and it flew up in the air. I used gasoline on wasp's nest that was huge from tree trunk in the ground. Old timer said it was the biggest he had ever seen. It worked. Good to know about small nest using soap.
@@garynorton4647😂
I've done the same thing many times on my property. I usually use half a gallon just to make sure. Environmentalists will probably cringe at this but it works and gasoline is so volatile it will all eventually evaporate out of the soil. And as you said there is no need to lite it, the fumes kills them all.
I use peppermint oil for the kill.
Sevin dust. Sprinkle in the hole when they're inactive before dawn or after dusk. Whole nest dead within a day.
Or you can target them with soap 🤷♂️
Sevin did nothing for mine
@@jillroach6965 strange. Worked for me on a number of nests in Georgia.
Awesome video and very informative! I have a BIG job head of me where I can't actually see the nest that I am after... it's located between a shed and a wooden fence.
I'm going to suit up in my thickest clothes and use a 2 gallon sprayer with a water / soap mixture! Wish me luck and thanks for posting!!!
I had multiple stings a few years ago and am truly terrifed of wasps. They are in a hole on an outside wall. But i am so afraid to do this
Sevin dust in the hole instant kill.
Great video, reinforces my experience with getting rid of them. I have to say I really enjoyed the action/run away sequences, that's me to a tee...I have a very bad skin reaction to getting stung by them, or anything for that matter.
Dish soap is amazing for many pests. We had an Aphid infestation that was greatly mitigated with a spray of dish soap water - Now the Ladybugs are doing the rest :)
It is! The one thing I will caution is that the soap does not discriminate and will kill any insect, the good and bad. So like you said, use when they’re out of control and then allow nature to keep them in balance.
In the Midwest yellow jackets do not 'over winter'. The colony dies after the first hard frost. Although, queens that were born in the same year will over winter deep under tree bark, attic space, or some other confined area and start a brand new nest in the late spring or early summer of the next year. Great video, personally I prefer using pesticide dust for yellow jackets.
A quick fyi, I was never allergic to yellow jackets either, until I got stung by one last year. I had been stung many times by them over my life time, so I was puzzled how I became allergic to them. The doctor said, that people can have an allergic reaction at any time to anything. So be careful with these things, 1 sting put me in the ER.
Great point! I’m not currently allergic but that could always change with the very next sting.
I was just hospitalized w a wasp sting, wheezing, chest pain, vomiting, passing out like coma, falling, concussion: Life threatening. Be careful. Docs said that allergic reactions could happen any time. So scared of them now. EpiPen a must.
@@miming4015 Isn't it scary that a little bug can be so life changing, and not in a good way. I can empathize. One of my favorite things to do was cut grass, and now I don't even want to take a chance.
Seven dust works great. A couple teaspoons dumped down the hole, they'll be gone in 12hrs. It's pretty benign pesticide
Damn Tyler, I could have told you this after growing up in Texas but dude . . . .
You have invented the TARD DANCE !
I loved it and it made this entire video worth the watch.
Thank you. //ji
Thanks, trying this tonight. Got stung 3 times today.
Ouch! Hopefully it worked well for you.
Dawn dish soap is awesome. It works better than tomato sauce for skunked dogs. Here's what works: 2 tbs of dawn dish soap, cup of baking soda, half cup of peroxide. Mix with water to make a watery paste. Massage onto skunked dog. Let stand about 5 minutes. Rinse pup and reapply if needed. This works better than all other treatments for skunked dogs. Trust me on this one. My dogs got skunked 4 times last year alone.
I 100% agree it works, that is what I use when one or more of our dogs get skunked after learning the hard way to NOT take them straight to the bath!
Appreciate the tip! I haven’t seen a skunk on our property, but my dog goes after anything that moves.
@@dawn_keyes One time after my dogs got sprayed they ran back into the house and started rolling around on my mattress. RIP bed mattress! God that smell is something else up close!
@@stansmith4054 - I know what you mean. I had 2 out of 5 get skunked at the same time and my husband opened the door to let them back in and they did the inevitable slide across the livingroom carpet and up on the furniture (that was luckily covered at the time) But, I was finally able to get rid of the carpet without any complaints that time.
I just used this method this morning. Worked great and just hours later was able to dig up the nest.
To avoid the stings wait until after dark to spray the nest.
Agreed! No need to try and dodge them like I first tried 😆
Was able to use my pump sprayer filled with the stuff (dawn, water and vinegar) from a distance and spray a nest that was on my roof inside the attic air vent. I remained on the ground and shot it way up so it came down like rain on the vent and they started coming out like crazy, falling dead in less than twenty seconds. Went up on the roof afterward to remove the nest with the end of a coat hanger, and wow it was the size of a baseball and full of larvae gross! Great video! Thanks for posting.
You’re welcome and I appreciate the tips for hard to reach nests!
Perhaps it’s been said here but Sevin dust is very effective. Dump some in the hole and a day later they’ll be wiped out. It’s safe for use in gardens and kills many types of pests.
harmful to living things and environment
I finally had to call Orkin after tackling them every year for the last 40. In the past, I have drowned the nests out with water (I am a beekeeper and have all of the PPE). Usually the skunks will beat me to the larvae and this is why, no pesticide. This year, they built a nest up high in the wall of my house. Didn’t want to be swarmed when I am up on a ladder or have them break through into the wall board.
Good video, I just discovered a nest in my backyard when my sister got stung six times. A friend of mine who is a Beekeeper came over with a solution that he has found. Get a trashcan and put it over the top of the nest. Let the sun heat it up, and leave it there for a week or two. We just did it today, let's see what happens…
I just wait until it gets dark and pour some gas down the hole and light it up.
Works every time.
Keep your face far away from the hole when you do. Also hope theres no swamp gas nearby. Or farting cows.
And doesnt work if you're in a dry area because you'll burn the forest down.
Or just use dish soap
😮Lol
Does this method work with colonies inside of my house ? lol
I tried this. . .colony was hurt but still active the next day. And it burned for 40 minutes.
Thank you! This worked and I love that I don't have to use a toxic spray.
Yay! Happy to hear it 💚
can I ask you a question? I was clearing areas out yesterday in the yard. nothing happened. it wasn't until 8 hours later something started to swarm over the entire yard into the neighbors yard, but the most were hover over the ground. they were so fast we couldn't see them with our eyes and too fast to get a picture. could you see yellow jackets if they are swarming?
Do a search for "ground / digger bees".
We had some in our yard.
They don't really hover, but buzz quickly around a small area (a few inches) and stay near the ground.
Their markings are not as bold as yellow jackets, which might make them harder to see (as per your description).
They apparently have stingers (I just found that out). I thought they didn't, as I've never been stung, and walk right through their area just like I would ant hills. They did have a space about 3-4 feet square, every year for about 4 years. This year, they are gone. Idk if it's because it's getting more foot traffic there, or bc the ants moved in.
I hope that's what you have. So you don't have to worry about getting stung.
But be careful. If they're yellow jackets...(I just got stung 2 or 3 times today)
Good luck.
I agree with Daniel, they may not be yellow jackets. What did you end up doing?
So helpful. You’re a good person 😊. I appreciate your concern for the environment. Thank you