Yellow Jacket Control in Media and Delaware County, PA

Signs of a Yellow Jacket Nest in the Ground or a Wall

Yellow jackets are compact wasps with bright yellow and black bands and almost no hair. Unlike paper wasps, they nest out of sight, so the clue is traffic: a steady line of insects flying straight into and out of one small opening.

Round, drilled holes in wood trim point to carpenter bees instead, and fuzzy, golden-brown bees streaming into a wall may be honey bees that need a different approach, explained on our bee removal page.

• A hole in the lawn, a mulch bed or the base of a shrub with constant traffic
• Activity under landscape timbers, stone walls, steps or patio edges
• Yellow jackets slipping behind siding, trim or a gap where pipes enter the house
• A papery rustling or scratching sound inside a wall or ceiling
• Yellow jackets showing up indoors near light fixtures or windows, especially in late summer

Late Summer Yellow Jackets: Peak Season in Delaware County

A yellow jacket colony starts with one queen in spring, often in an abandoned rodent burrow or a hollow under a landscape timber. Through June and July the workers feed the growing brood on insects, and the nest expands underground or inside the wall. By August and September a single colony can hold thousands of workers.

Late in the season the colony stops raising new workers, and foragers switch to sugar: soda cans, trash bins, fallen apples and picnic food. That's when yellow jackets crash cookouts, and it's why mowing over a ground nest in September can go so badly. The first hard frost kills the workers, and only new queens survive the winter.

Delaware County yards offer plenty of nest sites, from mulch beds and stone retaining walls to railroad-tie edging and the old rodent burrows common near wooded lots.

Found a Ground Nest? What Not to Do

The instinct is to pour something down the hole or cover it, and both can backfire. Anyone allergic to stings should avoid the area completely, and if someone is stung many times or shows signs of a severe reaction, call 911 or get medical care immediately.

• Don't pour gasoline or other fuel into the hole; it is a fire hazard and contaminates the soil
• Don't flood the nest with a hose, which usually just stirs up the colony
• Don't cover or plug the entrance; yellow jackets will dig a new exit, sometimes toward the house
• Don't mow or run a string trimmer over the spot until it has been treated
• Do mark the spot from a distance with a stake or flag and keep children and pets away

Yellow Jackets in the Wall: Should You Seal the Hole?

No, not while the colony is active. A yellow jacket nest inside a wall or ceiling has one way in and out. Block it, and the workers look for another exit, which can mean chewing through drywall and emerging inside a bedroom or living room.

We treat through the existing entrance, then leave it open so returning workers carry the treatment into the nest. Once activity has stopped, usually after a week or two or after a hard frost, the gap can be sealed. The paper nest left inside the wall dries out; unlike a honey bee hive, it holds no honey or wax to melt or attract other pests.

How Does Yellow Jacket Removal Work for Ground and Wall Nests?

The goal is to reach the queen and the brood, not just the foragers. Treatment works well late in the day, when most workers are back inside, and a colony in a wall void can take a few days to quiet completely. Our options:

• Dust at the entrance: a dust formulation placed into the opening that workers carry deep into the nest. The standard choice for ground and wall nests.
• Liquid treatment: useful for some ground nests in loose soil, though it may not reach a deep nest as well as dust.
• Traps and baits: they catch foragers around a patio, but they don't kill the colony and are no substitute for treating the nest.
• Digging the nest out: rarely needed, and only after the colony is dead.

Yellow Jacket Treatment Rules in Pennsylvania

Commercial yellow jacket work is governed by the Pennsylvania Pesticide Control Act of 1973. Under that law the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) issues business licenses to pest control companies and certifies the people who apply products for them, and 7 Pa. Code § 128.31 calls for the license number on company vehicles. Any homeowner can ask a provider for it.

Labels add limits of their own, such as how close a dust or liquid may go to a vegetable garden, a well or a fish pond. Ground nests on public school athletic fields and playgrounds are handled through the district's integrated pest management plan under Pennsylvania Act 35 of 2002, which also requires notice before applications.

Yellow Jacket Exterminator Visit in PA, Step by Step

Here's what to expect from the first call to the day the entrance can be closed.

1. 1

   Phone call

   Tell us where the entrance is, how busy it looks and whether anyone at home is allergic. Calling early in the day improves the odds of a visit the same day.

2. 2

   Free inspection

   We locate each entrance and check the rest of the yard and house for additional nests.

3. 3

   Written quote

   You see the plan and price for each nest before any treatment.

4. 4

   Prepare the area

   Pets and children stay inside, and we may ask you to keep doors near a wall nest closed.

5. 5

   Treat each nest at its entrance

   Dust or liquid goes into the opening, timed for when most workers are home.

6. 6

   Leave entrances open, then seal

   We explain which openings to leave alone and for how long. Once activity stops, we tell you which holes to fill and which gaps to seal.

Cost Factors for Yellow Jacket Control

We quote yellow jacket jobs in writing after the free inspection. The main factors are:

The calendar matters as much as the location. A ground nest found in June may hold a few dozen workers and take one treatment, while the same colony in mid-September can number in the thousands and stay busy for a couple of days afterward. Wall nests usually cost more than lawn nests because we have to find the true entrance, which can be a few feet from where the insects seem to be going in, and protect the interior side of that wall.

• The number of nests in the lawn, beds and structure
• Whether a nest is underground, in a wall void or inside a ceiling
• Height and access for nests in upper walls or eaves
• How large the colony has grown, which peaks in late summer
• Whether yellow jackets have already started getting indoors
• Sealing or repair needed once the colony is dead

Keeping Yellow Jackets Away From Your Yard

Preventing next year's colony comes down to fewer nest sites in spring and less food in late summer:

• Fill old rodent burrows and soft spots in the lawn in early spring
• Seal gaps in siding, trim and around pipes and wires entering the house
• Keep tight lids on trash and recycling bins, and rinse cans and bottles
• Pick up fallen fruit under apple, pear and plum trees
• Cover drinks and food outdoors in August and September
• Watch for traffic at mulch beds and stone walls before starting yard work