[JanM]

Yellow jackets and wasps love the inside corners of a porch, underside of the roof peak in front of windows, inside window frame top corners, and in a pinch they'll build under the top rail in a privacy fence between the post and fence. In Colorado I kept getting them under the raised deck, and you could tell they returned because they started swarming the area. And for wasps here I found that if you spray a nest, you let it set for a day or so to kill off the rest of the wasps when they come back to the nest, then knock it down if you can or they'll return.

[PRS]

For prevention: Get rid of the water source. They need water to make their nests. Once they are established you have to kill them: here is what I did when I worked as Pest Control Professional many years ago. We used a dry product called Drione Dust to take care of yellow jackets in attics, walls, and ground burrows. We would approach at dusk, put the dust in a trombone duster, add a length of rubber hose to it to give us some distance, place the rubber hose in the opening and dust away. It worked very well. Make a weekly inspection around your area especially where you see the wasps entering cracks etc. Check eaves and overhangs and spray with wasp spray when found.

[S1969]

Unfortunately my water source is a small, swampy creek and water tanks for horses... But, maybe useful to try around the house.

[BayRoan]

I have found the traps like these work well: http://www.amazon.com/Rescue-YJTR-DT.../dp/B00004TBKI I get them at a local hardware store. Farm stores and garden stores also usually carry them. If you want to get the queens, be sure to buy the traps with the chemical attractant and put them out early. Late in the season, you can bait them with soft cat food or cooked chicken, but, at that point, you're just trapping workers that are foraging. If your trap needs cleaned/rebaited and there are still live bees in it, put it in the freezer for a couple of hours to kill the bees.

I have Rescue traps that are 5 years old. You can buy the attractant separately in little tubes. Just be sure to wear surgical gloves or be very careful when applying the attractant to the cotton ball in the trap and wash thoroughly afterward. You do not want that stuff on you.

[Chall]

Bees on the other hand (real,true bees) are easy to get rid of. We had a nest, called the exterminator who couldn't come out till next day, then found bee sellers in the yellow pages. He drove two hours from upstate to collect the bees for free! Bees are valuable and since a kill off disease, sought after. Bee keepers will fight over the right to scoop them up.

[ReSomething]

For prevention: Get rid of the water source. . .

Oh right. I've got a 24 foot pool in the backyard and I have no plans to drain that anytime soon. 100 yards up the hill is a pond and then there is a perennial creek at the bottom of the hill, not to mention all the stock tanks and waterers.

I do have a lazy summer sport though, which is called sneak up on the hornet and drown him with the leaf screen. I wear a panama hat and cruise at chin level until I'm sure I have most of them.

[PRS]

Yeah, I know it's not possible to get rid of the water sources near all our homes. The OP did ask how to prevent them though . There really isn't any way to totally prevent them other than to make your place as inhospitable for them as possible. Seal up all possible nesting places, remove all sources of sustenance etc. It's best to just learn the best way to track them down and kill them, which is best done at dusk or before sunrise in the morning.

[JanM]

A friend suggested that if I wanted to get away from a certain pest that I should move, but everywhere has it's own pests.

I never even saw a wasp or yellow jacket in lower NM, wasps only in CO but they only went after the bottom of the raised deck/porch, and both here in Alabama where they like porch roof corners, eaves, and behind fence posts.

[SarahandSam]

Yeah, I know it's not possible to get rid of the water sources near all our homes. The OP did ask how to prevent them though . There really isn't any way to totally prevent them other than to make your place as inhospitable for them as possible. Seal up all possible nesting places, remove all sources of sustenance etc. It's best to just learn the best way to track them down and kill them, which is best done at dusk or before sunrise in the morning.

Well, I spent a whole summer digging/building the damn pond, so it's not going anywhere. (; I definitely didn't realize that it would be attracting things that sting as well as the nice pretty birds and butterflies, though. Sigh. I could probably pay for the pest control by trapping and selling all the crickets that it also attracts, though...

[Hulk]

For attracting butterflies the mexican torch flower is outstanding!!
We also have a pool in the back yard that I know attracts wasps and such, but it isn't going anywhere either. I value my swim time way too much.
Ground bees are fine if you dont anger them, because they will swarm. The neighbor rode over top of a nest with the lawn mower, got swarmed, stung a gazillion times, wrecked and flipped the mower in a deep ditch, went to the ER. It wasn't pretty. The first year we had them, they were in the zuchini patch. I didn't even know it, until the skunk took care of things. Funny thing is the skunk didnt disturb or harm the zuchini plants at all.

And if you move from one place to another to avoid a certain pest, I agree you will trade it for another. Texas has fire ants and those are not fun.

[Whitfield Farm Hanoverians]

I unfortunately had a MEGA yellow jacket hive on my farm last year. Not far from the barn & house. The opening in the ground was approximately 2'x4'. It took 2 different trips & over 125 gallons of pesticide into the hole by the exterminators to finally kill them. Still many escaped. I saw a new born fawn almost walk over to this hole while the YJs were swarming. Prayer turned it around I swear.
These things are so dangerous. Recently found a smaller hole in the front yard. They are everywhere & I try to kill them if I can find them. If anyone knows of anything that will actually act as a deterent, please let me know.

[JanM]

Hulk-Fire ants have spread all over, and every year I hear reports of them being found further north and west. One of my neighbors had an old car he was restoring, and it sat in the yard for about nine months, and a fire ant mound actually formed and covered one of the tires. It's was the biggest mound I've ever seen.

[Hulk]

Hulk-Fire ants have spread all over, and every year I hear reports of them being found further north and west. One of my neighbors had an old car he was restoring, and it sat in the yard for about nine months, and a fire ant mound actually formed and covered one of the tires. It's was the biggest mound I've ever seen.

Well and here I thought I was leaving them behind. Well with all the cold we are having here in N PA , I am wanting to spend my winters in Texas, big time. So I guess I will deal with fire ants more gracefully if I want to elude the snow and cold.

[SarahandSam]

I am beginning to want to encase my entire yard in a giant dome.

[msj]

I am beginning to want to encase my entire yard in a giant dome.

Hey, that was my idea. I've wanted a climate-controlled dome for years. With my luck, even if I could afford it, I'm sure the town of Mendon wouldn't let me do it.

[Hulk]

Hey I want a dome too. Actually I have been crabbing for years about wanting an indoor pool.