Yellow jackets in trash can. - Ask Extension
After an long absence I returned home to find Yellowjackets living at the bottom of a large trash bin which my housesitters had not emptied completely...
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Yellow jackets in trash can. #874433
Asked June 24, 2024, 1:07 PM EDT
After an long absence I returned home to find Yellowjackets living at the bottom of a large trash bin which my housesitters had not emptied completely. I opened the lid just once. They have been there for at least eight weeks. If I spend a lot of time in the (detached) garage, one will come out to investigate. A gardening friend suggested that I wheel the can into the alley, tip it over and run, then zap it with poison. Aside from the obvious problems with this approach, I am afraid they will find a home elsewhere in the neighborhood. So far, my neighbors have not seen any sign of them.
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
While wasp spray should work if it can contact the nest entrance, fortunately there is little risk that they will re-nest elsewhere (even if not sprayed). Only the queen wasp, of which there is one in a Yellowjacket colony, reproduces and lays eggs to generate the worker "caste" of the nest, so if she dies or leaves, and if the nest is damaged or removed, any remaining workers of that nest will not be able to restart their own. Unlike honey bees that can be rehomed with a queen and a contingent of workers, the same does not occur with social wasps like these.
There are probably other unnoticed Yellowjacket nests elsewhere in the neighborhood, as they are quite common, but they generally leave people alone if a nest is not disturbed (or if an individual wasp doesn't perceive a threat to itself or its food source).
Miri
There are probably other unnoticed Yellowjacket nests elsewhere in the neighborhood, as they are quite common, but they generally leave people alone if a nest is not disturbed (or if an individual wasp doesn't perceive a threat to itself or its food source).
Miri
Thank you
Mary
Mary
You're welcome.
