Yellow Jackets In My Maple Tree

Q: Yellowjackets are coming out from a hole underneath a young maple in my front yard. How do I get rid of them without killing the tree? 

A: All of the aerosol wasp and hornet sprays I’m familiar with have the insecticide mixed with a petroleum liquid carrier. I don’t recommend spraying any type of petroleum near the roots of a tree. In my experience, insecticide dusts do the best job controlling yellowjackets. Both deltamethrin and carbaryl dusts are available. I had a similar yellowjacket situation at my house. Not wanting to get too close to the hole, I made an applicator by taping a small plastic dipper to the end of a bamboo pole. This made it easy to drop the dust into my yellowjacket nest while standing back a safe distance.