The exoskeletons of diatoms should make those critters extremely miserable, if nothing else. As they limp off, you should be able to knock them into the next county with that tennis racket I mentioned.
Vic Smith said:
Back to the issue…
I have read that pouring cheap vodka/alcohol down the hole works as good as gasoline. I cannot use gasoline as the nest in dead center of my front yard planting, and gasoline creates a good sized dead zone around the hole. I will check tonight to see if the mound of Diatomatious Earth has had any impact.
Never ceases to amaze me how far south a simple question can go.
Vic, wait until dark they are not active during the hours of limited visibility then pour a coffee can of gas down the hole (DO NOT LIGHT IT) Then fill the hole with dirt sealing in the liquid and fumes. The wasps, hornets, mud daubers, yellow jackets, what ever name you want to use, cannot survive this.
Gasoline is not the best thing for your growing plants but isn’t the worst either. After a few days and no activity around the nest site you can dig up the contaminated soil and dispose of it and fill with fresh soil.
I have used this method dozens of times through the years with success and never really had any plant or soil problems although once on the edge of a lawn I did dig up and ad fresh soil and replant.
Just make sure it is full dark so the little sob’s can’t nail ya.
After your done use the cheap vodka to make margaritas and
stop worrying about the little buggers
Vic, if, due to the drought, you cannot spare the water, I have a number of excess gallons I drained from my pneumatic switch system.
Seriously, since gasoline permeates soil pretty quickly I’m not sure I would want to do this anywhere I wanted to grow anything… besides the fact that doing that is illegal dumping in LA city and county.
Greg
No gasoline period. I have worked too hard to get the yard where it is today to end up with a big dead zone. Besides as Greg says …its TOTALLY illegal here.
Update …the little bastards dug out to the side. Dam…the tunnel entry is under a rock making it tough to get near to dump anything . I will try dumping more DE around the rock. I have been to OSH but the only things re: poison they have are the sprays. I was told many folks have used Boric Acid Powder …basically atomic borax. The guy said once it gets on them they will die. If the DE is not effective I’ll go that route. Worse come to worse I may have to choose the professionals.
FYI to clarify bastards ID’d as subterranean yellow jackets
Dam dam dam and blasted! They dug out again and seam totally unfazed by the DE. Next comes the Boric Acid Powder …tell you how that goes …
I had the same issue except I ran over the nest with the lawn mower and stopped it to move a branch. Next thing I know they are all over the place. You never saw a fat man run so fast. Three got in the house with me. Promptly killed them. I waited an hour and went back outside with hornet spray which got the ones I could see. I then gave the rest a bleach soaking. The backyard was safe again.
LAO
Vic,
you might try one of those 25 lb propane tank fed roofing torches, lit & placed where the flame covers the hole.
Dave I thought of trying that…I have to be rather careful there are redwood chips on the ground. I’ll save that for when I just have had it with them.
Go to a Pharmacy and get a pound of powdered Boric Acid, there’s also a granular but, the powdered clings the best. They will track it into the nest.
My favorite bug killer is Green Light, many purpose powder, but it’s most likely too much fun for Calif, Lowes carries it, Home Disappointment dropped it.
John
Vic, If all else fails, I’ve got some Chlordane Powder left. I’ll send ya a teaspoon. That will do the trick.
John Caughey said:
Go to a Pharmacy and get a pound of powdered Boric Acid, there’s also a granular but, the powdered clings the best. They will track it into the nest.
My favorite bug killer is Green Light, many purpose powder, but it’s most likely too much fun for Calif, Lowes carries it, Home Disappointment dropped it.
John
I just picked up a bottle of the fine powdered stuff, they sell it here as roach killer. I didnt get a chance to use it, will try tonight after dark.
Reburied the burrow opening this AM with the DE, did notice their are less of the little bastards, only one sentry on duty where before there have always been 8-12 little monsters hanging around the entry. The DE usually kills any insects that crawl thru it but it takes time for the effects to take hold and wear out their joints. Hoping the combined effect of the DE and the boric powder will do the trick.
BTW I remember reading in the news a few years ago, workers were bulldozing a vacant lot down in Florida and uncovered a yellow jacket nest of record size. It contained an estimated ONE MILLION yellow jackets! Needless to say the construction workers had a Very Bad Day.
Lots of powder covered dead and quivering little monsters starting to show up outside the burrow. Takes a few days but the boric powder looks like its doing the trick.
Vic Smith said:
Lots of powder covered dead and quivering little monsters starting to show up outside the burrow. Takes a few days but the boric powder looks like its doing the trick.
Keep that in mind because I’m sure another nest will show up somewhere else in the yard.
Glad you are winning the war Vic. I’ve been following along the whole time. I kind of think it’s a bit ironic that the guy who likes tiny models on tiny layouts is being plagued by tiny bees.
Victor, can you tell if it is the DE or the boric acid powder that got them?
A good article on boric acid, did not know the part about over application. Also I was told that some of the crystalline powders created cracks in the exoskeletons and they die from dessication, apparently untrue.
http://www.dodsonbros.com/blog/borax-and-boric-acid-for-insect-control-228.html
Regards, Greg
Greg I believe its the combination that’s getting them. I ended up pouring a good pile of the DE around the burrow and it didn’t seam to phase them, guess because they could just fly over most of it. At first I would just pour it over the entry, they would dig aside a new entry, I would pour over than, again new entry, so I poured all the way around the rock the entry was under, this forced them to tunnel thru the DE, that’s when I put the the Boric powder down the entry but I didn’t fill it just spread a good amount. then repeated the spreading around the entry and spraying again the Boric into the entry. The way it looks like its working is that the Boric effects them so its hard for them to fly right away, so they tend to walk around the burrow entry, in the DE which then gets on them. Eventually they just stagger off into the leaves to die. I’m pretty sure its the combo thats finally getting them.
FYI everyone about Diatomatious Earth, in order for it to work it must remain completely dry and powdery for it to effect their joints, once it gets wet, it just becomes silt and becomes useless. So no watering where you put it down. I have use DE very successfully over the years to fight fleas from the neighborhood feral litter of kittens we used to get every year, but since we got the momma cat fixed this hasn’t been as such an issue as in years past. If you can get the cats or dogs to eat the DE with their food its a great way to deworm them as well.
I’ve always wondered how the DE stays dry once its eaten by our pets. 
Yeah, did some more research, DE is little pieces of glass, not all crystalline, but all hard and sharp.
Interesting, so both “powders” work, but in different ways. Interesting about the boric acid, it must be ingested. Ingesting DE apparently does nothing for animals and us, and probably nothing on the insects.
I’ve heard all kinds of things, this thread encouraged me to research and find out what happens.
Greg
Greg, DE is the fossilized remains of the diatom, an algae with an exoskeleton. Granted, that exoskeleton is made of silica, but that doesn’t make it glass. I know that you like to be precise. I thought that you would want to know.