How To Get Rid of Yellow Jackets
Yellow jackets are predatory social wasps that can be a dangerous hazard to anyone with allergies. These DIY repellants can help you handle the problem before it becomes too large.
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Yellow jackets are predatory social wasps that are more aggressive than many other types. This type of wasp can build large nests in walls, eaves, trees, or attics and can be a danger to household members with related allergies. This guide explores several do-it-yourself (DIY) methods, such as repellent made from peppermint oil or Dawn, and tips on identifying yellow jackets. You’ll also learn how to remove attractants from your home to avoid future yellow jacket infestations.
What Do Yellow Jackets Look Like?
Yellow jackets are relatively small for wasps and are about a half-inch long. They are mostly black with sharp yellow stripes and zig-zag patterns. They may have black or yellow antennae.
Yellow jackets can look like honeybees or paper wasps from a distance, but they’re thinner with a brighter yellow color and longer wings. Below are some common signs that you may have a nearby wasp:
- Large numbers of yellow jackets frequently appear.
- You can hear crinkling, scratching, or rustling in your walls. This can indicate wasps have built a nest inside your home.
- You notice a small burrow opening outside and a stone or dirt pile nearby.
Dangers of Yellow Jackets
Yellow jackets can be dangerous individually or in large groups. If you are stung by a single yellow jacket, you may experience pain, dizziness, hives, and swelling. People who are allergic to yellow jacket stings may encounter fainting spells, wheezing, diarrhea, and trouble breathing. Allergic reactions to yellow jackets manifest quickly and are very dangerous.
Yellow jackets will sting you if they feel threatened, and each yellow jacket can sting you multiple times without losing its stinger. A yellow jacket can chase you for a mile and even follow you indoors.
Yellow jackets are particularly dangerous because they are social stinging insects, which means they attack in swarms. A large group of wasps may attack anything that jeopardizes its nest. Be especially cautious if you think there’s a nest anywhere near your property.
Yellow Jacket Nesting Sites
Yellow jackets nest all over the United States. You can find them in urban, suburban, and rural areas, but they are most common in parks, woods, and lawns. They prefer to nest within 1,000 feet of reliable food and water sources. Backyards, local parks, and rest centers at nature preserves have many potential food sources from trash, meals, and human activity.
Yellow jackets typically make their nests underground, in abandoned dens, or under raised platforms. They can also build nests in dense underbrush and ivy, storm cellars, wood piles, and any other sites that are close to the ground.
If yellow jackets can’t find these more common ground nesting sites, they’ll make nests in hollow walls, tree cavities, and backyard installations. Yellow jackets seek new nest locations in the fall before winter weather sets in.
What Attracts Yellow Jackets to Homes?
Minimizing the number of nesting sites and food sources around your home will help you keep yellow jackets away from your property. The less appealing your property is for wasps, the less likely yellow jackets are to stay.
Inspect your property for these attractants:
- Food sources: Yellow jackets love sugary and sweet-smelling foods. If your property has an open trash can, spills in the backyard from soda or other sugary foods, or even sweet-smelling flowers, yellow jackets will swarm. They can buzz around your trash bins, grill, outdoor seating areas, and garden beds. Thoroughly cleaning up your backyard, sealing your trash bins, and adding astringent herbs such as mint and citronella to your garden can keep yellow jackets away.
- Potential nesting sites: Yellow jackets seek nesting sites that provide protection, especially in the fall. If your property features vegetation, hollow cavities in structures or trees, or out-of-the-way wood piles, yellow jackets may move in. You can remove these potential nest sites by mowing your lawn, trimming landscaping plants, and regularly inspecting the area for wasps.
- Water: Individual wasps need water, and yellow jackets bring excess water back to their nests for other wasps. Water also points to the presence of flies, beetle grubs, and other insects that yellow jackets sometimes eat. Don’t allow standing water, pools, or puddles to collect.
Yellow Jacket Removal Methods
You need to remove yellow jackets as soon as you notice them and as safely as possible. Yellow jackets won’t naturally abandon nests.
You can use do-it-yourself yellow jacket removal strategies to address small nests. Consider hiring professional yellow jacket extermination services for larger and more established nests.
A great DIY yellow jacket removal approach is deterrence. Start making your home inhospitable with repellants and preventive measures as soon as you notice any yellow jackets. Remove potential nesting sites, clear up food, lock away trash, and apply preventive peppermint oil spray around your backyard or doorways.
If you see a small nest, mix together a solution of water, dish soap such as Dawn, and a few peppermint oil drops. Spray the wasp nest entrance and the surrounding area with the soapy water mixture. Continue to spray it every day until the wasps leave. Wear protective clothing with long sleeves when you do this, and aim to spray during the early morning or late evening, when wasps are less aggressive.
You can apply aerosolized pesticides to yellow jacket nests or spray them directly. Look for store-bought options that can send a stream of pesticide at least 10 feet long so you can aim from a distance.
Apply your preferred pesticide or DIY remedy to a nest over multiple days until there is no more wasp activity. Then, collect the nest and throw it away.
If you don’t want to risk getting attacked and stung, call a professional pest removal company. Professionals have especially effective methods for removing yellow jacket nests and deterring future infestations. Calling in the pros can help you stay safe.
Professional yellow jacket exterminators can assess your property, locate nests, and create a removal plan that protects your home and its inhabitants. Exterminators may come back across multiple appointments to spray the nest, exterminate the insects, and then remove the nest.
If you have a yellow jacket nest within your home’s walls or attic, it’s even more important to hire professionals. Disturbing the nest can drive the wasps further into the interior of your home or trap them inside the walls.
Shop around to find professional pest control companies in your area that offer comprehensive services that fit your budget and can prevent yellow jackets from coming back in the future.
Natural Remedies for Yellow Jackets
Many pesticides can pose a danger to pets, people, and even landscaping. There are numerous natural remedies for yellow jackets that don’t rely on artificial solutions and hazardous chemicals, though.
Natural remedies are most effective when used for deterrence, prevention, and controlling small numbers of wasps. Consider the solutions below.
- Fake nests: Hanging a fake nest is a popular strategy that homeowners can easily implement. There’s little evidence that fake nests are successful, though. Yellow jackets also prefer underground nests, and aerial nests are not helpful in these cases.
- Peppermint oil: Most wasps hate the scent of peppermint. You can use peppermint oil to create a soapy spray that you can apply directly to nests with a spray bottle, or you can spray diluted peppermint oil around your outdoor living space to keep wasps away.
- Protein baits: Yellow jackets fly around in spring and summer to find protein sources for young yellow jackets in nests. Homeowners can set out yellow jacket traps that use protein, such as canned white chicken meat or pet food, to attract yellow jackets. Choose wasp traps that collect yellow jackets in a container, and avoid traps that use poison. You can kill the contained wasps and re-bait your traps every week.
Our Conclusion
Yellow jackets are dangerous pests that can take over your property throughout spring, late summer, and fall. They cause painful stings and are particularly dangerous to anyone with allergies. Make your property less inviting to yellow jackets by keeping the landscaping tidy and clean. Use natural remedies and DIY solutions to repel small numbers of wasps. For larger nests, we recommend hiring professional exterminators so you and your family stay safe.
FAQ About How to Get Rid of Yellow Jacket
How do you get rid of yellow jackets fast?
Get rid of yellow jackets fast by spraying an area with a peppermint oil-based deterrent, hanging protein traps, and directly spraying or zapping individual wasps. These methods are useful for small numbers of wasps, not established nests.
What keeps yellow jackets away?
Unappealing smells keep yellow jackets away. Peppermint oil mint plants make landscapes uninviting for yellow jackets. You can also keep the pests away by removing food sources, keeping your trash bins tightly shut, and removing any potential nesting sites.
What smell do yellow jackets hate?
Yellow jackets hate the smell of peppermint. You can grow peppermint and related herbs in your garden and apply peppermint oil spray around your doors and backyard. Yellow jackets also hate the smell of spearmint, pennyroyal, and marigolds.
What is the most humane way to get rid of yellow jackets?
The most humane way to get rid of yellow jackets is to keep them away from your property through deterrence methods. Get rid of water and food sources in your yard, keep the landscaping trimmed, and add deterrents such as peppermint smells. Professional exterminators use insecticides that instantly kill yellow jackets, which is more humane than slow poisons.
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