topic Re: Yellow Jacket Nests in Garden

Yellow Jacket Nests

Julie928 — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 20:54:42 GMT

For those of you that have read about this please forgive me. This past Wednesday I was out in my front yard watering. What I didn't know is there was a yellow jacket nest in the ground where I was watering. I found out about it the hard way. I was attacked by a swarm of them ~ up my sleeve, in my hair, basically coming at me like pellets. Turns out I was stung once on my left arm (and I had long sleeves on) and once on my right hand. The reason I am bringing this up is this. I went to urgent care this morning ~ I was feeling sick, the sting area is very swollen, red and itchy. Turns out I am having an allergic reaction and have been put on prednisone (I hate that stuff). They told me to stay off my treadmill (which I use every night) and stay inside out of the heat until this heals. I was told that August & September are yellow jackets "angry months." Seems I am the third person this week to be seen for this. One lady was just out walking and was attacked for no reason. Please be careful while outside ~ gardening, walking, whatever. We have sprayed the nest once but I noticed a few of them near it when I returned home. Scary. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

hoosieroriginal — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 21:16:56 GMT

It is good you bring this up. My neighbor found 5 nests in his small yard. I will be walking my 1 3/4 acre looking for nests before I take my mower out again. I am HIGHLY ALLERGIC to stings - epipens are ridiculously expensive. I have old ones, but can't afford $200 for a new one. My dog saved my life a couple of years ago. In the area where I use my weedeater, was a nest of hornets. She saw something, got curious and went to check it out. One stung her on the end of her nose. That's when I found the in ground nest. I would not have seen them as a rock hid their entry and I would probably have been rushed to the hospital had I used the weedeater in that area.

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

ECBG — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 21:31:11 GMT

@Julie928,I've never heard of spraying them. Spray only gets in so far. You have to kill the queen.

Here, after dark when they are all in we pour gasoline down the hole and light. If any "scouts' come up, the small flame takes care of them.

Yellow Jacket's nest and ground dug up. You can see how deep it goes.

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

StylishLady — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 21:34:38 GMT

Be careful for sure. Hornets (yellow-jackets) can sting you more than once as their stingers lack barbs like a honeybee. Chemical warfare may be needed.

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

RedTop — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 21:34:42 GMT

@Julie928,

Sending good thoughts your way for a better day tomorrow!

Yellow jackets and hornets are very angry bees, and their stings are absolutely the worst of bee stings. We dealt with a hornet nest on the house last year, and a yellow jacket nest under our lilac bush. My husband waited until dark when the bees are in their nests, and burned them out. With the yellow jackets, he poured a very small amount of charcoal fluid around, and in the hole, then struck a match and left the area. Bees will not come back to a burned out nest.

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

Perkup — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 21:46:48 GMT

A WORD OF CAUTION ABOUT YELLOW JACKET NESTS . . . .

Yellow jacket nests have more than one hole! If you pour something down one, they will often come out the other. Stop up one hole, and they will use the other as their base of attack. The wise thing to do is call an exterminator who can come in and gas the holes. Next door neighbor was hospitalized because he tried to burn out a yellow jacket nest that had multiple holes and was at least 50 x 50 feet when dug out. Waiting till after dark might help, but not a sure thing.

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

Julie928 — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 21:48:46 GMT

Thank you for your responses! Ugh, that nest! That picture gives me chills! I have heard about people burning them out of their nests. We have two areas in my front yard and I'm wondering ~ is it safe to burn them out & what kind of precautions should be take? We have lots of shrubs around the areas and it's been so dry here. We really need to get rid of them. I love to garden and I'm scared to death to go outside. Every time I hear a buzzing sound I freak out. With so little of summer left I don't want to spend it inside, afraid to go out.

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

Julie928 — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 21:54:52 GMT

@Perkup ~ Interesting you mention there being more than one opening. I found two near each other in the front yard. I think an exterminator is an excellent idea! It's on now, lol! :-)

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

colliegirls — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 23:26:21 GMT

About 10 years ago I was trimming bushes and must have stepped on a yellow jacket's nest. There were only a few stinging me but they chased me and kept on stinging until I and my husband slapped them and killed them. They are awful!!

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

Julie928 — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 23:50:45 GMT

@colliegirls ~ Yes! They kept coming at me! I dropped the hose (with the water still running) and ran into the house. I didn't know where else to go to get away from them. I ran through the house to the back door and could hear them buzzing & feel them in my hair. Honestly, I was never so scared in my life. We found three of them inside on the windows which we killed. I read about them online and learned they will keep stinging until their stinger falls off or you can get away. I will heal and this will pass but for now it really stinks. I hate the way the steroid makes me feel. :-(

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

Libbylady — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 01:58:02 GMT

How do you recognise the ground nest??

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

colliegirls — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 02:00:38 GMT

@Libbylady wrote:
How do you recognise the ground nest??

Often you can't. I had no idea that I stepped on a yellow jacket nest. It was somewhere under our pinestraw in the bed.

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

Julie928 — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 02:05:10 GMT

@Libbylady ~ Unfortunately for me, I didn't know the nest was there until I sprayed it with the hose. You know the rest of my sad story......

I did notice sort of a sideways hole just in front of one of the other flowerbeds. I thought it was a small animal's home until I saw yellow jackets flying in and out of it. Check your property carefully and cautiously. Look for holes in the ground that have been dug on an angle (hope that makes sense). Like I stated earlier, I wouldn't wish this on anyone. :-)

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

jlkz — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 14:21:01 GMT

@Julie928

Sorry for the bee stings and after effects.

As one poster mentioned, August and September are dangerous for gardeners and " hidden " yellow jacket inground nests.

While dividing my irises in a raised bed, my shovel dug into one of those hidden nests. I never ran so fast but still got bites on my wrist. Always a good idea to wear safety glasses just in case something goes wrong.

Safe gardening !

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

deb5555 — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 20:11:50 GMT

Libbylady wrote:

How do you recognise the ground nest??

They are usually well hidden. Our dog was playing catch with a tennis ball and it dropped on a hidden nest and they came up in a hurry and 1 stung him. It was around our backyard swimming pool.

They were everywhere. I gave his some liquid benedrayl and he was ok but it happened so fast you get caught off guard. We used some bee killer spray and it helped get rid of them.

I am always looking for them now .

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

JustJazzmom — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 22:38:29 GMT

The best time to attack with insecticide is at dusk when they are all inside the nest.

In all my years of gardening, I never saw a yellow jacket nest but one year while removing peony leaves, one must have been starting to hibernate for winter. It bit me on the hand and I slapped it off killing it.

Several hours later, my hand still hurt. Turns out the stinger was inside! Had to use a tweezer to remove it carefully so I wouldn't squeeze more venom into my hand. I also made a paste of baking soda and water which helped ease some of the pain.

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

Allegheny — Sun, 07 Aug 2016 13:39:26 GMT

Oh, I hate those nasty things. I am very observant when I go out gardening as I have accidentally disturbed them. There are two areas near the house they like to build their nests, but this year I have seen no activity.

Last year before I could try and eradicate them, something (perhaps a skunk) did the job for me and dug up the nest.

I am glad for Julie92's reminder because starting tomorrow we are having work done on our retaining walls and I want to caution the guys before they start.

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

Fressa — Sun, 07 Aug 2016 14:37:20 GMT

We have had this problem for years. We have woods surrounding our home but I never knew they build nests in the ground. My husband had the misfortune of stepping on one when mowing. We spent a few years killing off those nests with Raid at night. They just kept moving the nest to another location in the ground. I'm allergic to bee stings and now he is with as much as he's been stung. I purchased the DynaTrap and we have finally solved our problem. It really works!

Re: Yellow Jacket Nests

silkyk — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 14:56:50 GMT

Last year we had lots of yellowjackets but not this year thank goodness. One tip...if you get stung RUN and use.....Adolph's Meat Tenderizer neutralizes the venom of bee and wasp stings. ( Papain, the enzyme in meat tenderizer, breaks down the protein in bee venom) ... Make a paste of meat tenderizer and water, and apply it to the sting. This really works. I grabbed one of my hummingbird feeders once without really looking and there was a YJ right where I grabbed. YOW! On the hand is not good but I mixed up the Adolphs and it did the trick. I always make sure I have some in my kitchen...and medicine cabinet!