# Yellow jackets in the Juniper bushes?



## telsonman (Nov 21, 2010)

Has anyone ever heard of yellow jackets nesting in juniper bushes? 

I know I have an in-ground nest in my backyard that I'm dumping gas on tonight, but in front of my garage are 3 8ft tall juniper trees and they are swarming with yellow jackets. I can't really dump gas on these trees. If I could cut them down I would, but then they would sting the crap out of me. I hate it because I can't even walk down my sidewalk to the front door without them dive bombing me. It just doesn't make sense that all these bees would be coming from the nest way in the backyard. I was spraying the bushes with wasp killer, and they just came out en masse. I'm questioning them being in the bushes because they don't all come out of the same spot, like they usually would out of a nest. I can't see a nest in there, but these junipers are pretty dense.

Any thoughts?


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## Georgia Hard Hunter (Nov 21, 2010)

Jackets do not nest in the Junipers above ground, most likely some type of food source insects aphids or some sort. Spray with general insecticide to remove the food source. There could be a nest in the ground under the junipers but unlikely, remember if you pour gas on the ground it will kill everything there including the junipers. Yellowjackets usually are in a fowl mood this time of year, I guess they know the cold is coming or they have seen GT's record.


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## Harbuck (Nov 21, 2010)

*Jacket problem*

Instead of useing Gas, apply a liberal amount of sevens dust around the whole that the YJ's come in and out of, then run like the wind. they will track the dust into the nest and it kills them deader than a door nail. Sevens dust works Great!


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## NCHillbilly (Nov 21, 2010)

Yellow jackets don't always nest in the ground-they sometimes build a paper nest like hornets. But they also for some reason swarm around junipers and pines this time of year-you likely have no nest, the bushes just attract yellow jackets. They will be gone soon, they're already gone up here.


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## telsonman (Nov 21, 2010)

Ok, well I went back out to the Junipers tonight, and most of them were gone. Even when I whacked them with a rake there were none of them. So, I'm destroying the nest in the back in the morning when its cold, then tomorrow I'm going to liberally put sevin dust on the junipers so they take it back to other nest. I notice that some of them fly into my neighbors yard.


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## Kawaliga (Nov 22, 2010)

It could be guinea wasps.


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## telsonman (Nov 23, 2010)

no these are yellow jackets.


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