Seemingly out of nowhere, yellow jackets come at you and strike at blazing speed. Their venom hurts like the devil. How do you deter yellow jackets and eliminate wasp nests? Learn all about how to avoid yellow jackets as well as prevent and treat yellow jacket stings.
In late summer and fall, untamed places abound with gorgeous displays of late goldenrod, joy-pye, and fall asters, but some less-welcome visitors are the yellow jackets and other aggressive wasps.
Unlike honeybees and bumblebees and gentle native bees, yellow jackets are extremely aggressive insects at this time of year. Yellow jackets are predatory social wasps which can be distinguished from bees by their thin “waists.” Bees are thick-wasted (and their bodies are fuzzy).
A yellow jacket stings multiple times without dying and injects venom into its victim. (A honeybee can only sting once.) Both honeybees and bumblebees will only sting defensively, while yellow jackets are easily provoked. They attack in swarms and will give chase over long distances if they feel threatened.
Please note: We’re not saying that wasps do not have an important part of the ecosystem. In fact, they are excellent at regulating populations of insect pests. They are parasites of caterpillars, aphids, whiteflies, and a lot of other insects which eat crops, and save farmers money. They are also pollinators for a lot of native plants, such a goldenrod, and many fruit trees such as figs.
However, yellow jackets tend to be quite aggressive around this time of year as natural sugar sources decline and they need to find energy. They are scavengers of meat and sweet liquids, which brings them in frequent contact with humans (whereas honeybees are visiting flowers for nectar and keep away from humans). Let’s briefly understand the yellow jacket’s life cycle:
The Yellow Jacket’s Life Cycle
- In spring, yellow jackets start building nests of extraordinarily sophisticated architecture—underground, suspended from tree branches, under the eaves, in shed rafters, in wall cavities, and sometimes in abandoned cars. Within the nest, the wasp queen lays eggs which will mature into adult workers.
- All summer long, the yellow jacket workers capture and kill caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects which, along with carrion, serve as protein foods to feed their growing broods. They sip flower nectar, rotting and damaged fruits, and tree sap to supply the energy to feed themselves.
- In late summer, the queen begins laying the eggs that will develop into potential queens and a few males (called drones) which will mate with the queens.
- As fall progresses and supplies of prey insects and overripe fruit decline, the wasps become increasingly aggressive in defending their expanding nests. You’ll see wasps showing up at barbecues and picnics and hovering near trash cans. They are going after both the meats (to feed their larvae) and the sweets (candy, desserts, sugary drinks) to furnish themselves with energy.
- In late fall, the workers, the drones, and the queen herself will all leave the nest and die. Only the mated queens survive, burrowing into leaf litter and hibernating in suspended animation until spring.
How to Prevent Yellow Jackets
From late summer on:
- Keep garbage cans and recycling bins tightly closed and far away from children, playgrounds, and social areas.
- Don’t wear perfume or other scented body products when you’re out and about performing yard and garden work. The wasps may mistake a floral scent for actual nectar-producing flowers.
- Stay aware. Watch the ground around you to look for wasps entering and leaving holes in the ground that lead to their underground nests. Approach outbuildings slowly and cautiously, looking up under the eaves and rafters; wasps will buzz out and around the nest hole to warn you not to approach further. Give them a wide berth and they are unlikely to attack.
- If you have the task of mowing tall grass or whacking weeds, wear protective clothing, including boots (long pants tucked inside), long sleeves tucked inside gloves, and face protection. (I use a bee veil.) Wasps nesting underground will sense the vibrations from power equipment and may strike from some distance away.
How To Avoid Yellow Jacket Stings
Resist the urge to swat, slap, and run away. The wasps may perceive rapid movement as even more threatening.
Move away slowly, covering your face with your arms, and keep moving.
If you’ve disturbed the whole colony and many wasps have come for you, run into a densely shaded spot; wasps prefer bright sunlight.
Don’t jump in a pond if one is nearby. The wasps will hover around waiting for you to surface, then immediately attack your head.
How to Treat Yellow Jacket Stings
Most people develop pain, redness, and swelling around the site of a wasp sting.
Self-care involves spreading a paste of baking soda or table salt and water over the area immediately after then sting, later applying an ice pack to reduce the swelling.
But some people have a severe, potentially life-threatening, reaction to a yellow-jacket sting, or stings. Get medical attention immediately if:
- You’ve received many stings.
- You’ve been stung in the mouth or throat.
- You begin wheezing or sweating profusely.
- You have difficulty breathing or speaking.
- If your throat or chest feels tight.
- You break out in hives.
- You feel nauseous, dizzy, or severely anxious.
Talk to your doctor about carrying emergency medication to use in case this happens again.
Eliminating Wasp Nests
Yellow jacket nests are built out of paper fibers and most often under ground but can also be seen under eaves. They are covered with a single opening unlike paper wasps which have exposed honey-comb like nests.
Because all wasps are useful to us as insect predators, experts suggest leaving their nests alone unless they pose an imminent threat to human or animal health. Mark the area, and stay away from it until the wasps all leave in late fall. They won’t return to the nest next year.
But when yellow jackets have stung or built their nest near the home or outbuildings, or in the path of human activities, you may want to eliminate it.
Here’s what to do:
- If it’s a very large nest or if you’ve ever had a severe reaction to wasp or other insect stings, hire a licensed exterminator to handle the job.
- If you decide to do it yourself, identify that the stinging insect is indeed a yellow jacket or other aggressive wasp. Mark the location of the nest without getting too close.
- Buy a pressurized can of wasp and hornet jet spray that sprays a solid stream of insecticide spray that will reach 10 feet or more
Then follow UNH Cooperative Extension entomologist Alan Eaton’s excellent instructions:
- Treat at night when yellow jacket are least active and most workers will be in the nest. Use a flashlight with a red filter over the bulb. Wasps can’t see red light well.
- At least two hours after dark, quietly and carefully approach the colony and thoroughly spray into the entrance. Don’t give a quick shot; spray for several seconds to make sure the spray penetrates deep into the nest.
- After spraying, walk away immediately and stay away for a full day. For ground colonies, carry a shovelful of soil with you to cover the entrance before you walk away.
- Coveralls can be helpful, especially if they are slick, smooth material worn over other thick clothing. Many people choose Tyvek.
- If wearing a shirt and pants, securely tape or tuck them together at the waist.
- Wear boots. Wasps may crawl over shoes and sting your ankles.
- Seal the pant cuffs securely over the boots with tape or rubber bands.
- Protect hands with leather or heavy rubber gloves, securely sealing the arms to the gloves at the cuffs.
- A beekeeper’s hat and veil will keep wasps away from your face and neck. Make sure to fasten it to the clothing around your neck and shoulders.
If you get stung, here is how to treat bee and wasp stings.
Reader Comments
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hornets
I find hornets to actually be the worst all all stinging bugs. They are bigger and hurt alot more. The ones with the White butt's worst of all.
Treating yellow jacket stings
I beg to differ on the content about how to treat yellow jacket stings. I have read in books and online that treating bee stings with a paste of baking soda is a good idea, but that yellow jacket and wasp stings should be treated with an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar. After being stung by both types of insects I have found this to really work. I just cut a piece of lemon and hold it on the sting area for a few minutes which cuts the length of time it hurts or itches.
Treating the sting
If you have a lemon slice handy, that seems like a good option. Over the years, I’ve seen/heard medical experts suggest baking soda paste, vinegar, lemon juice, an ice pack, hydrocortisone cream, a pinch of meat tenderizer (!), a dose of antihistamine and/or an over-the-counter painkiller. They probably suggest baking soda most often because almost everyone has a box of it handy.
Unless you have a serious allergic reaction, I’d say take your pick.
I’ve suffered a good many yellow-jacket stings in my lifetime, and to be honest, I usually just swear a bit, wash the area, and get on with it.
Yellowjacket stings
I had a very painful shoulder injury in a bicycling wreck. It eventually got better, then residual/chronic pain developed. On a warm day in late winter I saw a rotten limb on the trail ahead. Yellowjackets had burrowed in to overwinter and there was a cloud of them--it was a sunny cool day.
I rode through and thought I'd avoided them. I reached up to adjust my eye protection and this involved bending my elbow. Later I felt something near the crook of the elbow. It was a coolish day--enough to numb the skin where I'd rolled up my shirt. I looked to see what the sensation was only to see a yellowjacket doing a little circular dance---step step jab, step step jab. It didn't hurt then because of the cool air flowing over the sting site but I knew when I got to my turn-around point and got inside for some snacks and beverages I was "in for it" and yes, it did hurt.
But afterward the chronic pain developing in my healed shoulder injury ( and this was real real bad originally like a burning spear being jabbed in my shoulder all the time for weeks---the shoulder had swelled about 2X and had a multi-colored gradient bruising covering the whole shoulder originally ) disappeared and has never returned--decades later.
Evidently apitherapy does not pertain solely to honeybees. I always thought it was an "old-wive's tale" until I did a little investigation and found there's a valid explanation satisfying scientific rigor. Something about the venom "resets" prostaglandin levels---something like that----and those endochemicals stimulate secondary inflammatory processes which are intended to immobilize/cushion injured tissues in animals having to remain active to survive even in the presence of injuries. But if they run amok these inflammatory processes may be as damaging as the primary injury. I'm glad I didn't kill my little benefactor. An hour of bearable discomfort =ed a lifetime of benefit. I've always been able to coexist with known yellowjacket nests in my yard if I was observant of them and could mow right up to the entrance if being respectful without inciting all-out war. Same with a bald-face hornet nest just above head-height. Yes these insects are dangerous to people who are allergic. But they can be reasoned-with. It probably helps that I'm slow as steam off "what the bear does in the woods" on a cold/still day.
These little hornets are beneficial predators of yard/garden pests and if you don't like those bite-first/ask-questions-later hunting spiders of the Clubionidae family---obesa, cheirocanthium mildei, frequently pallid and often building a sac retreat---are just plain rude! Anything that happily thins their herd in my yard to feed to their larvae are welcome in my yard. Mildei can cause a mild envenomation which is not enjoyable---been there/done-that. At least yellowjackets can see and react to you in predictable ways that the observant gardener can use in order to avoid a painful escalation of interactions. Honestly the only yellowjacket stings I've had have been a result of stepping on 'em barefoot and that aforementioned event where I inadvertently compressed one in the crook of my elbow when she'd landed to rest there. Just watch out for 'em. At least they have bright warning colors.
Stings
Use a little household ammonia on the stings of bees, wasps, hornet,or fire ants. Soak a small cloth with straight ( some dilute it 50/50, but it doesn't seem to work as fast) and hold it to the sting/bite. Be sure you are in a ventilated area to avoid the fumes. Their venom is usually acidic and ammonia is alkaline so this neutralizes the poison, with the bonus of disinfecting the area.
Killing yellow jackets
That wasp spray is very toxic, nasty stuff! It will kill plants it gets on as well as insects. I use a spray bottle with soap water. Put the sprayer on the long shot setting, and test it (practice). All I do is spray the nest. Any yellowjacket hit with soap just drop down dead immediately. Then I knockdown the nest and step on it. When the others return, they don’t build there again.
Yellowjackets are HORNETS
They are a type of hornet, and hurt much worse than a bee or wasp! I've been stung multiple times at once while mowing with a tractor and cutter. NOTHING helped very long with the pain, except keeping ice on the stings.
We also had a LARGE nest in our attic a few years ago. We have a lot of them around our property every year, and I keep out traps around our yard area to help cut down on them bothering us in the yard.
If you have a nest that you know where the entrance is, at night, take a large clear mixing bowl and turn it upside down over the entrance. Be sure it's down on ground well where it seals off the entrance. Leave it there for several days, until you don't see any more yellow jackets attempting to get out. This will kill the whole nest.
A pesticide dust called Tempo will also work when the entrance to the nest is dusted well. They will take the dust into the nest, and it will kill the nest over several days. Only dust at night while they are inactive and in the nest.
Hope this helps someone!