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The insects we encountered on our walk were likely yellowjacket wasps, as they are the most likely to build ground nests. It would explain why we didn’t find any stingers on our dogs. Yellowjackets, bumblebees, paper wasps, and hornets can all sting multiple times without hurting themselves. A honey-bee stinger, however, remains in the victim’s skin, tearing out of the bee’s body when it flies away, and causing its death a short time later.
Nests can be found virtually anywhere, but ground nests are most likely to be disturbed by dogs. Eradicating nests found on your own property, before they become large, is a good idea. Tiny holes in your lawn may indicate the beginning of a ground nest. Wasp nests can also be found on walls or under eaves outside your home, or in trees or bushes.
The only way to know for sure is to slowly patrol your property every week, looking for insect activity. A nest can be recognized by sight of insects flying in a fairly regular traffic pattern to and from the nest. You may need to stand and watch for a minute or 10, to identify their flight path and follow it to its end. By summer’s end, many nests can be large, like the one we encountered. That’s why it’s recommended that you begin patrolling your property in the spring and early summer, as the queens are setting up house.
Many experts recommend using a mix of soap and water to get rid of the nest. You can use almost any type of soap, including dish and laundry soap, and mix it into a garden sprayer to pump onto the nest. We use about three ounces of dish soap to one gallon of water. Spray at dawn or dusk, when the bees are least active.
Treatments should be done about three days apart until all activity ceases. It’s worth trying the soapy-water spray before resorting to an insecticide or an attempted physical removal of a nest. Without question, removal is the most risky approach and absolutely not recommended for the inexperienced or with a large nest. In serious cases, you may also choose to use a professional exterminator. In any event, keep your dog away until all the wasps are gone.
