Ask Dr. Bug - Yellow Jackets

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This past summer we were plagued with yellowjackets. They obviously have nests beneath our 600 square foot deck that has latice around the periphery of the deck. How is the best way to deal with this situation. Is there a fogger that would work or, now that it is getting cold, should I go underneath the deck and destroy the nests? If I do, are more likely to move in again next summer? We hang hummingbird feeders in the area. Is this what draws them?

It would be best to remove the nests or the yellowjackets will return next year to the same nesting site.Removing the nest after the weather gets cold will insure that the yellowjackets are gone. The hummingbird feeders will attract these pest if there is a sugary base to the feeder material.

I can recommend two options in dealing with yellowjackets:

1. Paint or seal the underside of the deck so the nests cannot be adequately built and so that they can be easily spotted to remove.
   
   
2. Purchase and set up yellowjacket traps around the backyard to trap as many as possible. These can be placed at the perimeter of your property in the direction or in previous nesting areas, such as beneath your deck. These can be purchased at any hardware store, such as Home Depot.

An insecticide treatment would not last long enough to prevent the yellowjackets from re-building nests nor leave a residual effective to continually kill the yellowjackets.