Last year, I was attacked by some yellow jackets that started a nest inside my garden hose caddy on my patio. I knew they were there but one day, while I was out checking on my trees, I accidently bumped the caddy. As I turned to see if the wasp were coming, they were already in the air headed for me. As I turned to run, there was a large cinder block in my path. Turning and running works fine, but one can't run if there is a obstacle in the way. I went airborne, fell over the cinder block and landed on my left side and elbow. I rolled on the ground and crawl until I had enough strength to get up and recover. I don't think the bees got me. I was in too much pain on my hip. My wife came and helped me in the house. I didn't go to the hospital but I should have because, I think I fractured my hip. For 6 weeks I was in terrible pain. I could not sleep on that side for 6 weeks. All this made me suffer all because I did not get rid of a wasp nest.

Fast forward to today.....last week, I was out checking out my orchard trees. I noticed a bee, going into the ground at the base of my JH Adriatic tree. I kicked the spot with my foot and out came the bees. I ran faster than Jesse Owens! I came back with a long pole and poked the spot and noticed a larger hole. The bees were mad so I ran and stayed inside. The next day, I got a case of wasp spray but I didn't want to kill my tree with the spray. The third day, I came out and noticed a critter dug the hole to get to the honey. Now, I don't know what to do! The nest is pretty large and there is a huge air gap which explains why my tree was suffering the past months. So, what should I do?

Dennis, I usually get them at night with gasoline. You wouldn't want to do that because of the tree.
Try a load of sevin dust in the hole at night. Might do the trick and not hurt your tree.

Look in the phone book for a bee keeper and ask if he wants to come out and collect it - or what you can do to get them to safely move on.

Please don't use the spray. Bees in general are in trouble - the more of them that can be saved, the better.

I'd put one end of the garden hose in the hole and repeatedly fill it up.  If they are yellow jackets something was probably digging for the yellow jacket larvae in the nest.

Have you identified them as honey bees or yellow jackets?

In the state of Georgia it is illegal to kill the honey bees. Don't know about NC. If honey bees you can find
a bee keeper and they will usually come and remove them for free. Yellow jackets different story. I would probably
use a can or two of the hornet/wasp spray with the 20 foot hard stream, not really a spray and wear them
out just before dark. I had the yellow jackets in a whole in ground and emptied two cans of it on them.

I'm a beekeeper and I know a bunch of us here who will collect honeybee swarms or nests in awkward places, but not sure how many will try to relocate a yellow jackets' nest or any wasp. I've had issues with yellow jackets and white-faced hornets before. The yellow jackets got the gasoline treatment - it's so difficult to do anything with those nests because they're underground. Good luck getting them out. I hope you can get rid of them without anymore stings.

OH.. you don't know, I used fly traps. they glue to it and scream...
the rest of the colony drag their queen out of them as fast as they can.. just stick that yellow fly trap... make sure it is sticky. I got some that was dried up.. those are no good, and put in such way they have to hit it goin in... as the ones get out.. tthey cannot get in..the soldiers inside carry their queen out... and you are free! 

I have a video I made of the ones I had in my porch.. it was fun watching them glueing and screaming, the more they buzzed, more came out to 'check out' and more got caught, in a day, they scorted the big queen out. pretty cool, I will have to upload this one day.

Bees are not bad, you need to have an onion handy at all times...that way if stung, just rub the onion on the area and it improves...unless you are alergic to them, in which case, you better run to the doctor before the shock....

Blow torch with extension handle? The kind you can attach to a small LP tank?
Controlled burn, no extra damage.

I do not own one, but If I get yellow jackets that will be my weapon of choice.

Doug

you can use diotomaecous earth, but you have to get contact on them to work so you may get stung a lot.  You could put some fish on top of the nest at dusk and hope some raccoons will come and dig them out for you.

I know how you feel. About 10 years ago, when we paid to have our grass cut, the guy bumped into a tree and was attacked by a swarm. They took him to the hospital. I carefully scan the trees before I cut the lawn.

Two years ago I look out the window and see this huge hive on the corner of our yard.




Last month I find this small hive forming right above where I acclimate the figs. 5am I sprayed the hive and out they came right to the ground dead.

 

Dennis - I just went out to inspect my hives and saw a weird flash of color tussling in the grass. Hope it makes you happy that a yellow jacket tried to invade one of my hives, but a guard honeybee met the wasp head on and wrestled it away from the hive :) Honeybees don't like 'em either.

It looks like a yellow jacket nest to me.  And depending on how big the nest you could have thousands there.  One under a pear tree at our house had several openings 2 yrs. ago.  I put a thick piece of plastic that I got in the fabric dept. at WalMart.  Then that night I went out with a flashlight and picked the plastic up and sprayed heavily with hornet and wasp spray.  I put the plastic back down and it kept the fumes and the jackets in and deceased.  Last summer though we had them in between the wall of our house.  I drilled holes and sprayed and got stung about a dozen times over the summer. We had to have an exterminator come and 2 treatments and they were gone. 

Each honey bee can only sting you once but those yellow jackets can each sting repeatedly.

Also, whatever you do don't go to an auto parts store and ask if you can get anything like Freon to freeze them.  They look and respond to you like you're suggesting an act of treason...

Safers insecticidal soap or M-Pede works very well for them as a spray if above ground or for an in ground nest just flood it with a 5 gallon bucket full of water/insecticidal soap mix at the highest label rate.
Kills them very quickly , if flooding this nest I'd have a sprayer full of the soap mix on hand just to spray any that might be returning to the nest.

luckly bees are not ants...
worth checking this out.

Hi Snaglpus,
Honey-bees don't nest in dirt - at least they are not known for.
That nest seems to be buried, and I saw that once with wild-bumblebees and twice with hornets.
The easiest for me would be to spread hot-hashes or monitor a small fire in that area - insects will be destroyed passing through the fire in and out . After, I would over-flood the area - repeat two or three days
to get all bees that were outside while the fire was waiting for them.
Or call an exterminator ...
Good luck !

Ok. I really want to get rid of this thing. I think my entire root ball on my tree is in jeopardy. If I spray with harsh chemicals I could kill the tree. If you look close or zoom in, you can see the nest. I'm worried but decided to remove the tree this Fall. There is a huge root ball of a tree 8 feet from my tree. The tree was removed 11 years ago but the stump and roots are still there. I think the bees are there too.

Dennis, they are yellow jackets. Wet a sponge or small towel in gasoline or fingernail polish remover. At night drop that over the hole and lay something heavy an it. You can remove it in a few minutes and they will be dead. The fumes are heavier than air and will settle down in the nest and will kill them. Just remember there will be a few protecting the entrance and cover them the first try.

Those are yellow jackets nesting in the ground, not honey bees. They attack you if you threaten their nest. But, they recognize the nest by smell. If you put just a little bit of gasoline on the nest it kills their sense of smell and they'' fly around confused, but won't sting. I had some build a nest under a cabinet on a wooden porch. I didn't want to use gasoline or insecticides. I would take a shopvac, turn it on and stick the nozzle up to their hole. Sucked them right up as the were coming out to get me. I propped it up and let it run for 30 minutes, or so, to catch any that were out as they were coming back. Had to do it every few days as more hatched out, but it worked well.

I was cleaning up under a tarped over area where my wife kept her kilns. There was a folded up tarp on the ground and they'd built a nest under it that I didn't know about. I was pulling up an extension cord and it snagged on something under the tarp so I snatched on it, cut the nest right in two. They didn't have to wait a turn at the door to get at me, and, the air got real full of angry yellow-jackets quite suddenly. And, like you I tripped on my way out of there. Lightweight summer wear, shorts and tee-shirt, they tore me up. We counted almost thirty red stung areas, and more than one sting in each area. You get a histamine reaction to their sting so I took a half dozen benadryl to counteract it and came through  okay. Ammonia will neutralize a sting too. Smelly but pour it on and it will give quick relief. They make a gel with ammonia in it, it'll stay in place, but it isn't as strong as the stuff under your sink. And you can soak a cloth and hold it in place.

Yeap, you are correct....it is a yellow jacket nest. Here is one of them....

Remember. At night in the dark they can't see you or vise versa.

Hershell's idea is genious!  One of my chickens was smelling nasty and I found she had maggots, it was disgusting. the Internet says to use turpentine on a towel and they will crawl out of her skin and die.  It was awful, but I did that...and yeah, I saved my bird.  Those fumes almost killed her, but I think if you suffocate them with that nasty smell, they have to go away, and if the chemical is on a rag, you can always dispose of it, and may still save the tree, rather than pour nasty chemicals on the hole.  I hope you put some sticky tape also. Yellow jackets are mean!

Hey Dennis I have had good luck with a wasp spray that had peppermint oil in it. I don't think that will hurt your tree. Works well for ants too.

Variation of Hershell's idea is to use dry ice.  Set a block on top of the nest.  as it sublimates, the carbon dioxide will fall into the nest.  You could use a shovel to place the block in position.