Usually when yellow jackets are discussed in this house it is in a positive light–after all I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Georgia Tech. This time, however, I am writing about the fact that I want to kill a few thousand of them. We have had an active yellow jacket hole in our backyard for about a month and a half now. We tried a trap that’s supposed to attract them and then trap them (that caught about 10 or so out of the swarming mass). We tried the recommendation of our exterminator (who may get a call soon about treating more than just the interior of our house) which was to put a clear glass bowl over the hole at night when they’ve gone inside and leave it there for a couple of weeks. We’ve tried that but apparently there’s either a neighborhood cat or some sort of woodland creature who thinks that this is a game. We keep waking up to find the bowl overturned. At this point we can’t use the deck (including our grill). We can’t go out the back door except in the late evening. And Matt hasn’t been able to mow the grass in months which has caused the backyard to look even more jungle-like than usual. The only other suggestion we got came from the annals of Williams family history–and no offense Lou–but I’m not okay with any plan that involves kerosene and a match. So does anyone have any suggestions?
Saw this on a do-it-yourself site: “Any yellow jacket nests discovered in later summer or early fall should just be left alone. The coming cold will take care of a yellow jacket nest for you.” Unless it doesn’t get cold enough! And I think my father’s plan is to use gasoline, not kerosene. Doesn’t that sound safer?!
Leaving it alone is something I can handle. The necessary cold leaves me a but suspicious, though. As for the gasoline, ummm…