HomeDecoy wrote:

Can anyone tell me how to safely get rid of a bees nest in the ground?
So far I've taken a hose and left it going for a bit right inside the
nest. That seemed to cut down on some of them. I want to make SURE they
don't come back.
Winter is coming up so I'm figuring that after the first frost I can
maybe dig the area up and remove the nest or something?
Can anyone suggest anything to kill them or make sure they don't return
without dumping chemicals into the ground? It's right in the garden
that we're hoping to bring back to life. (Previous owners let it go
without tending for 5 years and likely never noticed the bees.)


If your critters are yellow jackets, they can be very dangerous. Only
stinging insects that pursue victim. In Florida, they tend to have
larger colonies and can swarm in reaction to just the vibration of
someone walking nearby or operating mower. Victims can get massive
numbers of stings.

Malathion is one chemical used on them. Haven't read the data recently,
so don't recall the toxicity stuff but they sprayed it from airplanes
over populated areas of Florida when citrus pests were a threat. That
implies it is relatively safe )

Whatever you do, if applying dust to the nest after dark, be careful not
to disturb them. No light, or flashligh with red lens. If I was going
to dig them up, it would not be after the first frost. Water with
detergent is good for drowning all sorts of bugs, but I haven't taken on
any yellow-jacket colonies. Their nest construction is pretty cool ..
engineered to make it tough to get them, so dust that they contact and
carry down to nestmates works best.