The other day I was weed-whacking the yard perimeter when I exposed a small hole about the size of a racquetball. Typically in my yard these holes belong to chipmunks.
However this time as I looked at the hole I saw a yellow jacket crawl out.
Instinct took hold and I turned and ran at top speed to the front of the house.
I went inside to observe dozens of yellow jacket wasps swarming around the hole.
This lasted a good four hours or more.
The next day I observed the hole and there was a ton of activity with dozens of wasps going in and out of the hole every minute flying every which direction across my yard on their foraging missions.
Considering this hole was about 15 feet from my children's play-set I knew I had to take action.
This isn't my first time with underground wasps and I learned previously that running a hose for an extended period or spraying cans of insecticide inside were useless to fight this pest.
The first time around I resorted to pouring a little gasoline in the hole and it did the trick.
But that was a different time in a different place, not my own property where I am living.
So how to get rid of the wasps?
I researched the net and decided on a two pronged approach.
I would use a
rodent smoke bomb coupled with a
bug zapper right above the hole.
So the next clear night I suited up in my ski gear 100% protected as my wife amusedly stood around for support. I took a flashlight and made a red filter from a translucent red plastic cup.
I went out and placed the bug zapper above the hole (unplugged at the house).
I then lit and inserted a Revenge rodent smoke bomb covering it up with a damp
shop towel.
I ran back to the house and went to bed confident I got the job done.
The next morning I woke up and pulled out the binoculars to take a look.
The shop towel was completely gone and the smoke bomb was on the ground just outside of the hole!
Had these super-wasps really carried away a towel and moved a smoke bomb?
As the sun came up and the wasps starting flying I thought I began thinking maybe gasoline was my only choice.
Over the course of the day I observed that I had at least a partial success. Instead of dozens of wasps per minute of activity the nest was down to single digits of wasps per minute of activity.
Still not enough to make it safe for my kids though.
I waited another day and again observed my enemy from the safe distance of binoculars.
Hmm no wasp activity, occasionally I could see one fly in the general vicinity but none heading to and from the familiar hole. I noticed later in the day that the dirt around the hole which had been wet in the morning still looked wet and decided to go take a closer look.
It was a shock to see two sizable holes dug nearby to the wasp's hole and no wasps or nest to be found whatsoever.
I took a few pictures, picked up the bug zapper, and returned to the house to research animals that eat wasps nests.
I found a bunch of information on the net which pointed to three main potential predators and one anecdotally referenced predator.
It could be a. . .
Bear - Doubtful, they are occasionally around but i think highly unlikely
Skunk - Possible, but there has been no skunk odor in the neighborhood for a long time
Raccoon - Likely, haven't seen any for a year or two but they are definitely around
Opossum - Likely, these guys are always hiding out in New England
or maybe
Fox - Possible, used to be several in neighborhood but booming rabbit and chipmunk populations indicate they've probably moved on
My theory is that a raccoon or possum happened on my white shop towel which was under the bug zapper.
The bug zapper black light lit up the shop towel attracting insects all over it.
The critter found the towel and carried it away for a snack, maybe pulling out the smoke bomb to investigate further.
The next night the critter came back for a wasp buffet and dug up the nests finishing the job.
The next time I run into this problem I'll try another solution that I came across which is pouring honey into the hole to begin with and attract a critter to take care of the business for me.
In conclusion my yard is now safe and I think the best way to get rid of ground dwelling wasps is to encourage a local critter to do it for you.
I can say that the bug zapper method was pretty unsuccessful. It got a handful of wasps but not a huge amount and by no means did it anger them to the point where they all attacked it until they were wiped out.
