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I was preparing the other side of my composting area for use when I discovered a ground hornets nest. Unfortunately, that discovery was not made until after I disturbed their nest and they started stinging me.

I want them gone! But I don't want to poison my compost and composting area in the process. Should I wait 'til winter and hope they go away or is there something more immeadiate I can do without contaminating the area or getting attacked again? The entrance to their nest is obscured by some dried yard wastes I had set aside so I'm not sure I could safely get a smoke bomb in there.

I'm afraid to set foot outside now. I feel like they're patrolling the area looking to finish me off!

what a scary thing to go through. my daughter was attacked when she was 8 . we had meat bees...they were all over her....my husband burned them out (they were under-ground)....but that could be hard to do with dried yard waste....good luck...

Thanx, I'll need all the luck I can get! We found the opening to the nest so I think we're going to try a smoke bomb. That is if I can find anywhere that sells one.

Your poor daughter, she must've been terrified when that happened.

she got to have a fun ride in an amblance...they gave her a stuffed bear(which she was very proud of)...I think the hardest part for her was going back outside...and just about any time a bee gets near her...

Lil,
I read some neat articles about our little flying creatures, hornets, wasps, and so on, because I really need to ward off some of wasps that come around my house.

I don't mind them in the yard in general of course, however, when they are too close to my house, and I have to walk right by them, I get a little scared.

I wish I could find the article, but, it was ages ago, so, I will give you the gist of what knowledge I gained.

Citrice extracts work well, all though, this is not the method I used.

Mints, lemon balms, and other citrice smelling plants actually ward off most of our wasps and hornet criters, so, I just planted a few of these types of plants around my house, fairly close to where the wasps were hanging out, and poof, a few months later, I noticed that the wasp nest had become vacant.

These methods may work for ground hornets, even though, I can't be sure because I never actually had those particular criters.

One thing is, find out when their normal "home" time is, if they sleep at all, or something like that, so that you can do whatever "killing" method you decide on at that time, to ensure that you get all of them.

Hope this helps
Sage

Thanks for the reply! I hope you are able to get rid of the variety of hornets you have. It's scary having to go near them. Especially if they are the aggressive sort.

We ended up stopping by our local fireworks warehouse and picking up a few smoke bombs. After smoke bombing them we found bits of the hornets' nest out on the surrounding area as if an animal got in there and ravaged the nest. It's just speculation if the smoke bomb killed them and an animal decided to eat the fresh kill or what happened. Maybe the hornets tried to save the babies and moved the comb out of the nest themselves? Anyhow, the hornets are gone and I'm back to composting, so I'm happy for that.

Good luck with your situation. I'd be interested in reading how it went!

To get rid of ground bees, also called yellow jackets, you need to locate their nest, then wait until late at night when they are all usually back in the nest, and pour pyrethrins (Drione), carbaryl (Sevin), or bendiocarb (Ficam) powder down the hole(s) (some folks use gasoline, but this is both environmentally unsafe and physically dangerous) and cover the hole(s) with moist soil. This will trap the wasps in the ground and allow the insecticide to work on them. You need to work quickly, so have everything on hand before you start. Be careful going to the nest at night and cover your flashlight beam with a red photo gel or some heavy read cloth to keep from attracting them.