 Hi, I'm Shane Harris with the Albemir Cooperative Extension System and this morning I'm standing on my back patio near a yellow jacket nest. I discovered this yellow jacket nest a couple weeks ago and want to talk a few minutes about controlling yellow jackets. We might be mowing the grass, we might be mowing a field, a green field, a pasture. We may be walking in the woods or we may be just around the house and we may stumble across a yellow jacket nest. Many cases when we find that yellow jacket nest, they found us first. We stumbled across it and they sting us to try to warn us because we got too close to their nest. Unlike other wasps, yellow jackets are smaller and usually build their nest in a cavity in the ground. If provoked or disturbed, yellow jackets will attack in large numbers. Keep in mind they have the ability to sting you more than once. Yellow jackets are excellent predators of potential insect pests but can become a problem to humans. Watch for yellow jackets when working outdoors, especially with power equipment and machinery. It's a known fact that the vibration of machines such as lawnmowers and tractors will agitate yellow jackets, especially if you run over their nest. If the yellow jacket nest is an area where it may deem unsafe and you're likely to get stung again, then you may want to take action to actually get rid of that yellow jacket nest. Be sure to locate that nest and properly mark it during the day so that you can go back at night and treat it when the yellow jackets are not active nor as aggressive. You can use a wasp and hornet spray, aerosol can, or you can use some type of recommended insecticide to treat that colony or that nest at night to permanently get rid of this problem. By late summer and fall, the population of yellow jackets are indeed quite high. There's less available food and there's also unfavorable weather conditions. This means you have unhappy and hungry yellow jackets. Yellow jackets will seek out alternative sugar sources such as rotting fruit. But they also can be a major nuisance at outdoor gatherings, especially picnics and tailgating. The best strategy against yellow jackets, if all possible, is just to leave them alone. They may outnumber you 5,000 to 1, those are not good odds. For more information on controlling yellow jackets and other pest management around the home, be sure to visit our website www.asis.edu or contact your local county extension office for assistance.