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? [URL=http://s605.photobucket.com/user/snaglpus/media/imagejpg1_zps3e76c070.jpg.html][IMG]http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt134/snaglpus/imagejpg1_zps3e76c070.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFg21x2sj-M

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.... [URL=http://s605.photobucket.com/user/snaglpus/media/imagejpg1_zpsd8145aef.jpg.html][IMG]http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt134/snaglpus/imagejpg1_zpsd8145aef.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

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.

[QUOTE=Hershell]Remember. At night in the dark they can't see you or vise versa. [/QUOTE]

I'm a beekeeper and I would not advice this especially if you have summer, They more defensive at nights unless you get very cold nights, and They can and they will see you. Much like the bees they have guards at the entrance.
Call you pest control company.

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.

Bees are bees.
A very beneficial pollen-collector insect - more fruit-setting plus sweet-honey.

Wasps are wasps.
Also a beneficial carnivorous insect - they feeds on other insects (moslty bad ones).

Both carry a weapon (the infamous sting!) they use when alarmed/threatened.
I have experienced some minor attacks form both, but I let most of them 'bee'.

Around here at night when temperatures are in the upper 60s or lower the wasps can barely move (I have paper wasps, not yellow jackets).  That's when I go out with my wasp spray and hunt them down.  I don't believe this spray is harmful to trees, I've sometimes sprayed it directly on a tree and never noticed any damage.

One bit of fun I once had at dad's place really impressed him.  He had a wasp nest on the eve of his house.  He didn't have any wasp spray but he had starting fluid (ether) in his pickup.  I got the starting fluid and a butane lighter and torched them with a 6' flame.  Dad thought I was going to burn his house down but it was all over in a second and all the wasps were crawling around on the ground without any wings.

If there's someway you can safely cover the ground to prevent their escape you maybe could leave a garden hose there running for a day or two and drown them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF42nrZvb-g

[QUOTE]The third day, I came out and noticed a critter dug the hole to get to the honey.[/QUOTE]

   Skunks and raccoons dig up yellow jacket nests and eat the larvae.

Be careful using a flashlight at night because the yellow jackets will fly towards the light.

Some nests have more than one entrance so watch for a sneak attack ;)

You can use Sevin dust at night on the entrances and it will eventually kill them.

I managed to step on a nest in my field when I was watering some figs last week.I got stung once and I ran about 25 yards away.A couple of yellow jackets started buzzing around my feet so I ran another 50 yards and escaped.

I've been having trouble with European hornets eating my figs this year.Last year it was June bugs....

[QUOTE]Bees are bees.
A very beneficial pollen-collector insect - more fruit-setting plus sweet-honey.

Wasps are wasps.
Also a beneficial carnivorous insect - they feeds on other insects (moslty bad ones).[/QUOTE]

This is a good thing to keep in mind. They are beneficial, killing them because they might sting you is shortsighted. They are helping you with your garden.

White faced wasps eat flies, when I had chickens I was happy to see them nesting in the yard. It's a good idea to study up on the bug you've got before you start spraying nasty chemicals around where you live.

That being said, yellowjackets don't make good neighbors. We had a friend staying with us once, she got stung and had a serious reaction. Luckily we were only 5 minutes from an ER then. $500 for a yellowjacket sting! My wife called the insurance co. and our homeowners covered it. I never would have thought to ask.

I agree. Kill them only as a very last resort. I am happy yo have them around.

BEE (good) pollinators (both wild and cultivated) are in serious-peril and in short supply/demand.
Thanks to some exotic foreign parasitic 'mite SOB' that is doing them in USA ...

Had yellow jackets trying to chew their way into the attick through the underside part of the roof. Since the nest was behind the panels it was impossible to reach without taking the house apart. Exterminator came by with a powder that did not harm the house or plants. Was not expensive and it took care of things. Came same day. I would recommend this route for the piece of mind.

It could be worse. http://www.newser.com/story/193171/man-finds-giant-wasps-nest-in-bed.html

Glad it wasn't bees.. there seems to be no shortage of wasps..

[QUOTE=Hoosierguy86]Had yellow jackets trying to chew their way into the attick through the underside part of the roof. Since the nest was behind the panels it was impossible to reach without taking the house apart. Exterminator came by with a powder that did not harm the house or plants. Was not expensive and it took care of things. Came same day. I would recommend this route for the piece of mind.[/QUOTE]



About 10 years ago I noticed some yellow jackets had managed to enter a small hole at the very edge of the roof deck. It was early spring and still pretty cool so there weren’t many of them yet.  I had a good vantage point from one of the upstairs windows and noticed they would crawl up out of the hole and sun themselves for a minute or two on the roof before flying off. I did a little research and ordered Tempo SC Ultra from a Florida pest control company. At the time it was not available for non-commercial sale in New Jersey. I brushed some on their favorite singles and in about 5-6 days they were gone.

You've already identified them as yellow-jackets, not honey bees, so that's good. (If they were honey bees, I'd suggest as the others have -- try to locate some local bee keepers and they'll probably want to collect and relocate the hive.)

I don't think this has been mentioned, but one reason for waiting until night is that all the wasps will have returned to the nest....so a) you'll get them all at once, and b) there won't be any stragglers to get you from behind.
For yellowjackets I've had success just blasting a good amount of that wasp/hornet killer (the kind that comes out in a powerful stream to get nests from 10-20 feet away.)  The pressure of the blast will keep them from coming out of the hole as you're spraying it.  Then quickly cover the hole with something (i.e. create a physical barrier) and that will be that.  (And like the others said, if you can do this on a cold night, they'll be less energetic...)
Jim

So, what did you do Dennis?

dennis being just a few miles south of you I have the same problem from time to time. yellow jackets suck and there is always a guard waiting at the hole to call the troops. The best thing for you to do is wait till night and poor 1/4 gallon of gas in the entrance don't lite it regardless how much you want to. they will be dead in the morning at which time you should take cuttings incase your tree don't make it.  

Usually the brown paper wasps pick out a few figs and guard them. I live at the top of a hill and wasps do what's called hill topping meaning they like to nest in places like my house so I'll always have them around. Up until this year I didn't mind but geeeezzz I have so many different species all eating figs and being territorial and trying to chase me away -- which works more often then not as I just do not want any more bald faced hornet stings!!
Anyway I even have cicada killers (huge) and --  ahhh - it just seems like everything. I usually like watching the insects and taking photos but they are way too aggressive this year. Tomorrow I'm making traps out of gallon bottles and going through my ammo stash to find some 22 shot shells. I've had enough.

Tonight I picked just over a gallon of figs and could have picked almost twice that many if it weren't for the fact half my ripe figs have holes from bugs and insects -- ants, stink bugs, etc. etc. etc.


Dennis,
Go out at night with something very flammable like gas or ether and dump it on them, light it and run. If you do it right all the fluid will burn and you will have taken care of the bees, hornets, wasps -- whatever without doing any significant damage. I've done this many times. A lot of the time you only need a shot glass or two of fluid. Too much and you'll damage the stuff you want to keep.

For some reason the nasty flying stinging things really liked the 1100 tree filbert orchard I used to have and I was constantly burning them out. They used to dig in my fruit orchard as well and a couple have done so around my figs. I had the landscape guys over to do some vine removal and they were chased off by a bald faced hornets nest in front and a ground bee nest out back. They both got starter fluid barbecues. Problem solved.

Tomorrow starts pay back time !!!

Hi mgginva,
To chase Insects and birds remove the sources of food. Did you remove all the half faced figs that remained on your trees ?
Every damaged fruit has to be removed and buried, for instance, so that there is no food stock in your orchard.
I chased my house sparrows and yellow jackets like that - they are all gone and probably eating stuff in another garden or in the wild where they belong ...
I you let remaining "food" stay, they will start to nest ... and the matter gets worse . I know, I don't have 100 trees - so it is less time consuming to do - and I keep my trees at
a managed size for the same reason . Don't let food stock build up !

With figs on, I just left the tree alone.  Harsh chemical would have probably killed the tree.  A possum came and ate all the larve.  The nest is out and pieces are scattered on the ground.  The good news is the tree is still alive.  About a 1/4 of the root ball is exposed but the wasp are gone.  I've got to dig it up this Winter or it will die.  Part of this is my fault.  Last Fall, I dumped a whole bag of coconut husk at the base of the tree to keep the roots protected like I normally do every year.  I think the nest was already there when I covered it b/c it was pretty big.  But now, it's gone and I am happy. 

I guess the possums are good for something after all!

Glad to hear the YJs are no longer a problem.  They will eat all of your fruit if you don't get rid of them. 

When you can't find the nests:
http://www.livingwithbugs.com/yellowjacket_bait.html

Good to hear they are gone.