Yellow jackets in my compost

[spinbaby]

So I was shoveling in my compost pile, tossing the coarse stuff onto a sieve on the garden cart, when suddenly a small, angry swarm of yellow jackets appeared. I got the hell out of there and managed not to get stung. Later, when things had settled down, I went back to take a look and saw that I had uncovered their papery-looking nest. I’m considering my options.

[Laffy Kat]

1. Add water!

When I was getting bugs in my compost, a master gardener told me it wasn't getting hot enough and to add water. It seemed to work.

[Mersky]

2. I successfully knock down wasps nests with soap water.

Haven’t had to deal with ground nests, but if I needed to, I’d try this method:

Copious amounts of soap water sprayed on hanging nests at dusk works surprisingly well:

On the rare occasion I have to takedown a nest, I usually take an antihistamine like Benadryl half an hour beforehand. I also make sure my sprayer is working well - some are too wussy for the job.

[underpants]

4. Good to know.

Thanks

[SWBTATTReg]

3. Cover w/ black plastic or something like that...the heat from the compost under the plastic...

might do the trick. Be careful!

[spinbaby]

5. After thinking about it for a couple of days...

...I went for cold-blooded murder and hit it with a can of commercial wasp spray at dusk tonight. In a couple of days I’ll go out and poke it with a shovel.