Having trouble killing nest of yellow jackets

Question

I got the ortho hornet and wasp killer. The nest is behind a piece of wood at the top of the house, so can't spray directly. I did spray in the place where the wasp are entering and leaving and some died quickly but most just moved around in the foam. They did not die and actually seemed to be attracted to it. Is this some other type of yellow jacket? Have you heard of this before and what can be done? I also used raid wasp killer and either was not able to get enough into the space they leave and enter as it's above my head or no effect. Is there any other way to deliver the wasp killer without actually spraying it? They are yellow and black and have yellow legs so I'm pretty sure they are yellow jackets.

Answer 1

yellow jackets are not much larger than honey bees and will number in the hundreds if not thousands in a nest and when you come across a nest many think they are honey bees because they are so active flying in and out of the opening of the nest.  Paper wasps are larger in size and a large nest may have a dozen or more wasps. Their nest is the inverted umbrella  seen hanging under the eaves where YJ will be inside a void in the wall or a hole in the ground.  With the paper wasps just getting the product on them and the nest should kill it out...with YJ you probably won't get the product into the nest itself and because of the numbers you are dealing with they just continue to be active, maybe just moving their entrance to the nest site a bit. If they are YJ in the wall void you may want to contact a pro that would be better equipped  with the tool to treat in such areas.

Answer 2

It's hard to kill a nest of yellowjackets. They have places they can hide inside the nest, and are protected from the spray. One of the best things is to get as close as you can to the nest, at NIGHT when they are not flying around, and spray as much as you can into the nest area. Then try to close off the entrance. You can sometimes do this with a newspaper that has been sprayed with the poison. Or construction spray foam, that swells up and then gets really hard, so they can't move around to get in or out. Good luck, and be careful!

Answer 3

get some viniger not a sweet one like balsamic  or bleach