yellow jacket nests in my hugels

These aggressive ground dwellers have invaded 2 of my hugels that are filled with ready to pick squash etc. Any suggestions? I read a bunch of stuff and the suggestion that I preferred was to put a glass bowl over their main hole to create a greenhouse effect and run them off. anyone ever tried this or have any thought??? My serious allergy to these buggers makes it necessary for 1 of us to move on.

Could you burn some leaf piles around the hugel before and during the harvest? Or in a coffee can with holes poked in it for a more precise does of smoke.Treating it like harvesting from a beehive in a way. Could work maybe.

Many years ago I had a greenhouse that had stacked rock walls inside. The little buggers moved in to the rocks. I could only go in there at night when it was cooler. I made up some cob and slowly sealed up the cracks where they were nesting. ( it took a lot, about 6 inches thick.) Untill I won I could only pick at night with a flashlight!

I has a large wasp nest in wood pile. One night a badger turned up and trashed it, persumably it was after the grubs.

So hopefully nature will lend a helping hand!

I've been successful getting rid of ground nests by placing dry ice over the opening and covering that with a weighted plastic sheet. The CO2 suffocates them. Could have a little plant damage where the dry ice rests... This method is or has been used by people who are harvesting the wasps for their venom, I've heard.
Gani

Sometimes a bucket of soapy water dumped in the opening of the yellow jacket's nest works to kill them/drive them off. It shouldn't harm the plants. Even the aerosol cans of wasp spray don't cause that much damage to the plants.

please be careful, yellow jackets do not only sting once like honey bees and can be very painful and dangerous. I got stung last week and so did my husband. They are the ONLY bees I'll put poison on..as they are a serious danger for people who are allergic. Right now we are fightinig a bunch of them here in garage eaves where we need to do some carpentry repair.

I think the glass bowl thing works quite well..and it will keep them from getting to you while you pick the squash unless they have a back door...of course if they do you might be able to find that when they use it

I've heard of people having good results with sprinkling a nice helping of diatomaceous earth at the entrance to yellow jacket nests.
I've been both stung and bit by yellow jackets(they can and will do both repeatedly) and the best remedy I've found is a piping hot wet
washcloth full of Johnsons foot powder soap. It always seems to draw the venom out, but I'm sure there are lots of other home remedies.

I convinced a nest to move by letting the hose run on it for a while on two consecutive days.

We have had success with the inert gas electronics blower spray. It comes out colds and the nitrogen cools and sufficates the YJs in their nest. What ever you do, do it early in the morning a good while before sunrise. The bees are sleepy and sluggish and will not be flying about to sting you.
lcc

thank ya'll!!! Sorry I haven't been able to get on until today to see all of the great ideas - oh, living in the sticks with satellite internet!
I think I'll try an entertaining combo - some smoldering leaf filled cans to get the patty pans harvested and pulled, then dump soapy water in the hole & then cover it will a glass bowl and run like hell. The last time one of them got me, I was living in a city and could get to the ER pretty fast - by the time I got to the desk, I was having a hard time breathing. That being said - I SO APPRECIATE ALL OF THE HELP!
M

Ann, if you are that allergic to bees, please let someone else do the dirty work! Its not difficult to deal with them, but for you could be dangerous.
lcc

wait for the coldest night time temps you can get and toss that glass bowl/jar over the hole and get the heck out of dodge..in case there are some outside the hole..

Thought I'd give ya'll an update - OH YEAH to the glass bowl. Put that sucker on night before last - we've been in the awful 90s all week with sunshine galore. Y'day there were literally 100s of those suckers binging against the bowl by 9 a.m. I didn't stick around other than to see that, since their irritation wasn't something I wanted to see up close and personal. This a.m. all was quite, although that bowl may be there through the next millinium. I'm surely NOT removing it. I was also surprised that they didn't have numerous entries/exits as I've read that is their norm.
thanks again to all!
Marianne