In the Autumn the eating habits of yellow jacket wasps change a bit from a preference for savory snacks and proteins, to a preference for sweets like rotting fruit, as can be seen in the photo. In the photo a number of wasps are feeding on a green grape in a compost heap. This type of behavior is typically only seen in the fall. Knowing this, you can use this info to your advantage if you’re trying to get rid of them.
Yellow Jacket Feeding Habits
In the spring and summer yellow jackets scavenge some sweets like nectar, insect honeydew, sugars, but also balance their diets with aphids, insect larvae, as well as meats and other proteins. Despite the fact they’re listed as pests on this site, they really are beneficial as scavengers and predators, and if you can co-exist with them it can be to your advantage. In the fall, proteins get scarce and fruits (the harvest) move to the front of the menu.
While it’s best to subscribe to the if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you philosophy if at all possible because of their beneficial side, their social and territorial behavior, however, dictates that you will occasionally have to eradicate them from areas where conflicts with people or animals might occur. You have to consider that small colonies that don’t seem threatening will grow and can become a danger.
Acting Early
As a result you should do battle in the spring and early summer when they are in their nest building phase trying to establish colonies, instead of waiting. They start off small so acting early is easiest.
To get rid of small nests, I find a hard stream of very cold water works well — you have to knock off the nest else they will definitely try to re-establish. To be safer, do this in the evening. If you can’t use the hose for whatever reason, or for underground nests, I have found that the biodegradable cleaning product Simple Green works wonders (as good as if not better than those cans of poison that spray 20+ feet and used the same way — seriously).
For underground nests, if you’re lucky enough to find them early, you can pour the cleaner in the entry at night with relative safety. Another method is to pour honey on the nest which may entice a skunk or raccoon to dig it up for you.
Mike’s Strategy
I keep a lookout for early nests around my house in an attempt thwart later problems. Sometimes, though, a nest is missed that isn’t noticed until the late summer or fall. It happens. It can be in a rock wall — I “found” one of those once, and it was the size of a basketball — or it can be an underground nests (the worsts kind) just outside of the yard’s perimeter. In the fall yellow jackets won’t seem as aggressive as they do when the colony is going full tilt, but you may end up seeing a lot of nuisance wasps around in the fall.
If it’s late enough in the season, the nest removal can wait — if you found it that is. You can destroy it after a couple of hard frosts. This is a time when the wasps can effectively be trapped with a special yellow jacket trap. (This type of trap can be used throughout the whole season, but you mix it differently, with apple juice, etc., in the late summer and fall.) Other traps are also available, plus you can make your own.
As yet another trapping option, I speculate that drilling holes in a sticky-coated “Apple Maggot” or red sphere trap with an orange half inside might work well. As a last option, you can also keep them at bay with a strong repellent like a garlic spray.
Good luck and happy hunting.
Important Disclaimer
The advice given in this article is based on personal trial and error testing that comes with living in the country for well over twenty years. You need to understand that there is risk associated with dealing with yellow jackets. You need to weigh these risks for yourself. If you are hypersensitive to wasp stings, please do not attempt control them by yourself. Hire a professional.
