A couple of days ago we started getting yellow jackets in our bedroom. The nest is in the wall apparently. We have vinyl replacement windows, and the yellow jackets appear to be coming in around the snap-in mounting screw covers in the window tracks (there are some visibly large gaps).

My plan is to spray an insecticide in the gaps and then seal them with strip caulk like Mortite. Will that be effective? What brands of spray are good (with a spray spaghettii)?

Any help appreciated. TIA

Harold

took 3 cans of Raid Wasp spray to get rid of the little yellow bastards I had. Don't bother with generic spray, like throwing water on them.

NO! It will be somewhat but for the most part you will not get them all. They will most likely find a way out and just move to an area inside the same wall just far enough away from where you can spray.

If you know right now where they are getting in get SEVIN DUST and at night in the dark, when you know they are all inside, figure out how to get the Sevin dust into or in the path of the entry and "dust" that area. If it is a hole that has no ledge or "porch" walkway then maybe take a small block of wood or plastic and make one for that entry so you can dust that "porch" and then they have to walk over the dusted area to enter and exit the nest so they bring the Sevin dust in and out of the nest as the enter and exit. They will be gone within a few hours or less once they start to walk through the Sevin dust.

If you want to try and capture any that are already in the house from the wall then get a Rescue brand W.H.Y. trap (image below) which is the only trap that has worked for us as it attracts several different types of Wasps, Hornets and Yellow jackets (two kinds of Yellow jackets I found out after several tries over the years on no results). I had a hummingbird feeder that after a while, this year and last year that eventually would get overrun by yellow jackets so I started to hang a standard yellow jacket trap and no results. When I found the W.H.Y. trap by Rescue the info pointed out that that we had one of the two types of yellow jackets and the standard yellow jacket trap did not have the attractant for the yellow jackets that were feeding on the hummingbird nectar. The W.H.Y. trap will figure out which one you have. Oh and when you go to Sevin dust and or put up a "porch" or walkway into the nest be sure to have someone else hold the flashlight or light far away from the nest entry. They have a real bad habit of going for the light. DAMHIK

If you can have the flashlight or light holder shine the light from inside out through a closed window that's much safer for the both of you. Just did this a few months ago with my son. When I told him that I was going to spray a Wasp (paper) nest that had attached itself to an outside light fixture at the back of the garage he looked at me and said "no way" as he remembered how the wasps had come after me when I was holding the flashlight and spraying years ago. I then said no your going to be in the house and I'll be outside on the other side of the nest. You can soak the wasp nest with hornet and wasp spray to a can full of saturation as you can't easily get the Sevin dust to work as good there. That's were the sprays work better than the Sevin "take it into the nest" dust.

At the risk of burning down or blowing up your house, a nearby open pail of gasoline will kill every yellow jacket. It's the darndest thing.

Small shop vac filled 1/4 of the way with soapy water. Tape the nozzle close to the point of entry and leave it turned on until there are no more wasps to catch. If you don't want to get that close, tape the nozzle to a long stick and position it .

Non flammable brake cleaner. Dead on contact. Head net and gloves. I usually empty the can to make sure. Works well with all bees.

[BEAVIS] FIRE, FIRE, FIRE! [/BEAVIS]

a bazooka would be my choice.............
when i was growing up next to my granma, she had a wild rose bush hedge all along the road next to the yard she was really proud of.
every summer, all the relatives showed up for a very large reunion over several days, and it always involved a ball game.
at one such event, i went to fetch the ball that had landed next to her rose hedge, only to be confronted with a giant paper wasp nest !
as i had been stung by bees before, i ran screaming back toward granny's house to hide !
after the elder bunch of the clan calmed me down enough to figure out what i was crying about, they set about hatching a plan to get rid of the wasps.
as this was in the early afternoon, it left plenty of time to hatch a plot and drink beer in the meantime.............
after it got dark, gramps retrieved a tv antenna pole from the garage, as well as a 5 gallon can of gas. [you can see where this is going ]
all the guys of the clan wanted in on this fun !
a couple of them held the pole, and stuck it into the nest, while gramps poured the WHOLE can of gas down the pole..............
a tossed cigarette toward the nest and a HUGE explosion followed ! i thought it was the coolest thing i ever saw, as the wasp nest was instantly obliterated, and i saw several of the wasps attempting to fly with their wings ablaze !
well my old man, gramps, and the rest of the males of the clan celebrated by more beer drinking............
in the morning, there was a HUGE hole in granny's rose hedge, and what remained of the wasps, just wobbling around with no wings.............
when granny saw the carnage, she went ballistic, but the uncles just proceeded to tell her how great the explosion was ! granny just got madder, and the uncles just laughed even harder............
this story is still talked about from time to time, brought up by us elderly grandkids.

Grampa's are great for things like that! A learning experience and entertainment all in one...lol

No real news yet. My wife called in a pest control guy, he sprayed some stuff and said they should be dead in the next few days. He may be right, because the number of them dropped considerably afterwards, and the ones we saw were wobbly and not flying very well. Thanks to everyone their ideas. I'll see what happens and let you know.

Right here - here's the ticket - Yellow Jacket Apocolypse:

https://youtu.be/zQ6k_px1Hu0

Looks like dawn dash soap works. But a big serving down the hole at night, run some water in then wait for the morning. I have a nest to take care of too.

Call a professional extermination company and get an inspection. You would be surprised at stuff you can miss on and the problem could be worse later on.