We suggest keeping food in the house as much as possible and covering items you bring outside. If you do plan on eating outside, try placing slices of cucumber around your yard. This might sound strange, but cucumbers actually serve as a yellow jacket repellent.
Peppermint oil: Yellow jackets are not fond of mint-based herbs like spearmint and peppermint. The great thing about peppermint oil is that it naturally repels all sorts of pests, including yellow jackets, wasps, flies and spiders.
Add natural wasp-repellent plants like eucalyptus, spearmint, or thyme around your yard or property. Scare off yellow jackets with a decoy yellow jacket nest; these wasps are unlikely to build a colony on territory that they believe is already taken by another nest.
If you have a problem with wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, or bees, Pine Sol can spare you from painful stings. Remember not to use it on honey bees – we need them to help pollinate our food plants – but for other hive insects, spray full strength Pine Sol as an insecticide.
Adults live through one season and feed on caterpillars, grubs and other insects. They also enjoy nectar and sweet substances such as fruit and tree sap. Yellow jackets are attracted to garbage and other human foods, particularly meats and sweets.
An effective method for underground nests is to use a mixture of boiling hot water and dish detergent. Fill a bucket with scalding hot water and soap and pour the entire bucket over the entry and exit holes. This will likely kill the entire colony instantly but is not recommended for above-ground yellowjacket nests.
You Have the Wrong Plants in Your Yard
Yellow jackets are pollinators and will look for nectar, which means that if you have flowering plants in your yard, you may want to switch some of these plants to flowers that bloom earlier in the year or plants that do not flower at all.
Spectracide Pro Wasp and Hornet Killer
The Spectracide Pro line works for up to four weeks when sprayed at the nest. It is effective against wasps, mud daubers, hornets, and yellow jackets and kills any insects and the nest within seconds of contact. You'll need to coat the nest for the best results.
Skunks, raccoons, badgers, bears, and other mammals have been known to attack and destroy yellowjacket nests in order to eat the wasp grubs, eggs, and even adults. Skunks typically attack at night when the yellowjackets are least active, digging into the burrow, pawing through the nest, and eating the wasp larvae.
The best time to look is after the day has warmed up - usually after 10 a.m. - when the yellowjackets are actively flying in and out of their nest. Yellowjackets are most active between 10 am and 4 pm, weather dependent. If the weather is too cold or too hot, yellowjacket activity will be a little sluggish.
When the weather turns colder, food sources disappear and they begin to starve. Starvation makes them angry and aggressive as they work hard to seek food. Yellow jacket colonies grow largest in late summer and early fall just when their food sources begin to diminish, providing plenty of frustrated, hungry wasps.
Pheromone is a chemical released when a yellow jacket is killed. This chemical signals to the other members of the colony that a yellowjacket has been killed. As a consequence, it will attract the other members of the colony.
If you can't find yellowjackets flying, you can still track them by first luring them to a food bait. Place the food bait near where you suspect the nest is located. Some of the best protein baits are tuna-flavored canned cat food, liverwurst, chicken skin, cold cuts, or ground meat.
Yellow jackets are less active at night and most of them will be in their underground nest. Yellow jackets are less active when the ambient temperature is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. If working at night, keep in mind a flashlight may attract the wasps.
While yellow jackets tolerate colder temperatures than bees, they will eventually die off. Only the new queen, who hides deep in the ground, will survive the winter to start the colony over again in spring.
At night, yellow jackets are typically inactive and stop flying out if the temperature drops below 50° F. If it gets colder than that, they look for places to stay warm, which means they're not out flying around foraging for food.
Late summer and early fall is when they're most active. But you knew that. "They're more aggressive this time of year," said Carol Fusco, senior naturalist at Bergen County Zoo in Paramus. "And your leftovers could be their food."
The average person can definitely outrun a yellow jacket, but you may need to run a fair distance. Some yellow jackets have chased people up to a mile. Do not run inside your home or a business. The yellow jackets will most definitely follow you into buildings.
How Long Do Yellow Jackets Live? LIke other similar insects, yellow jacket queens live longer than the workers (almost a year longer). Workers tend to live around 22 days.
Mothballs And Peppermint Oil Can Keep Yellow Jackets Away
It is important to note that mothsballs are safe for humans, but they can be effective at repelling yellow jackets. Peppermint oil, in addition to being a strong deterrent, may help to control these pests.
Combine equal parts vinegar and water in a plastic spray bottle. White distilled vinegar or apple cider vinegar both work equally well for repelling wasps without killing them. Spray bottles are inexpensive and can be found at any home improvement, convenience, or general merchandise store.
As mentioned above, Yellow Jackets are very susceptible to the weather and they will do anything they can to find a home that is safe and warm. Yellow Jackets will only die from weather exposure when there's been 5-7 days of weather under 45 degrees in a row.