- 1 week ago
High summer brings wasps and yellow jackets back to porches, eaves, and yards, but this old Lancaster County method shows how to deal with them for just a few dollars. Elias explains the cheap boric acid bait trick, the simple dish soap and water spray for reachable nests, and the overlooked step that helps stop wasps from returning to the same spot year after year.
The video is part practical pest control, part old-fashioned homestead know-how, with clear safety warnings throughout. You’ll hear why hidden colonies can be reached through bait, why honeybees are spared, when a nest is too dangerous to handle, and why nests near wiring or on ladders should be left to a professional. It also covers the spring dusting and cleaning step that breaks the scent trail around eaves and porch roofs.
Created for anyone searching for wasp control, yellow jacket removal, homemade pest control, boric acid bait, dish soap wasp spray, and cheap pest control tips. This is useful for homeowners, homesteaders, and viewers looking for practical backyard pest control and old-time home-saving methods.
The video is part practical pest control, part old-fashioned homestead know-how, with clear safety warnings throughout. You’ll hear why hidden colonies can be reached through bait, why honeybees are spared, when a nest is too dangerous to handle, and why nests near wiring or on ladders should be left to a professional. It also covers the spring dusting and cleaning step that breaks the scent trail around eaves and porch roofs.
Created for anyone searching for wasp control, yellow jacket removal, homemade pest control, boric acid bait, dish soap wasp spray, and cheap pest control tips. This is useful for homeowners, homesteaders, and viewers looking for practical backyard pest control and old-time home-saving methods.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00It is high summer, and the wasps and yellow jackets have taken over.
00:04You cannot sit on your own porch, nor eat a meal in your own yard,
00:08without them swarming your plate and your cup,
00:11and there is a nest under the eave you are afraid to go near,
00:14and every year it is the same.
00:16They come back, no matter what you do.
00:19So you go buy the cans of poison foam at the store, $40 a season,
00:24and you spray, and they drop,
00:26and a week later there are just as many as before.
00:30The store has you spending good money on a thing that does not truly solve it year after year.
00:37Now I am going to show you how to be rid of the wasps and yellow jackets around your place
00:41for a few dollars with things you can buy at any store,
00:45and better still, how to stop them coming back at all,
00:49which is the part near everybody misses.
00:52But before I tell you a single method, I must give you the plain safety word first,
00:57for these are stinging insects, and they are not to be trifled with,
01:02and I will not have anyone hurt.
01:04I am Elias, and I keep up this Lancaster County place with my own hands,
01:09the way my people always have.
01:12So here is the safety, and you heed it.
01:14A wasp or yellow jacket sting is painful to anyone,
01:19but to some folks it is far worse,
01:21for some people are badly allergic,
01:24and a sting can make them dangerously ill,
01:27even threaten their life.
01:29So know your own household.
01:31If you or anyone near has that allergy,
01:34you do not go near a nest at all,
01:37you have someone else do it,
01:39or you call a professional,
01:40plain and simple.
01:42And even for the rest of us,
01:44a nest is dangerous to disturb,
01:46for the whole colony can come boiling out
01:49and sting you many times over.
01:51A big nest,
01:53a nest high up where you would need a ladder,
01:55or a yellow jacket nest down in the ground,
01:58those are not a job to tackle yourself,
02:01and there is no shame in calling a professional for those,
02:04for a man up a ladder swarmed by wasps
02:07can fall and be badly hurt.
02:10What I am showing you today
02:12is for the smaller troubles
02:13a careful body can safely handle.
02:16Know your limits,
02:17and when it is beyond them,
02:19call for help.
02:21Quick word before I go further.
02:23The old methods my family uses,
02:26there is more of it than fits in any one video.
02:29I gathered the whole of it into a book
02:31at EliasYoder.com.
02:33The book is the long version.
02:36If you want it, it is there.
02:38I will not mention it again.
02:40Let me tell you where I come at this from,
02:43for it is the heart of why I trust the cheap ways.
02:46The old people had no store to run to
02:49for a $40 can of foam,
02:51and no money to spend on it if they had.
02:54So when the wasps got bad,
02:56they made do with what was in the house and the shed,
02:59a little borax,
03:01a little soap,
03:02a little sugar water,
03:04and their own wits,
03:05and they managed the pests well enough
03:07for next to nothing.
03:09My grandfather kept a tin of borax
03:11on a shelf in the shed
03:13that did a dozen jobs about the place,
03:15and dealing with the wasps and ants
03:18was one of them.
03:19He used to say there was an answer in the house
03:21for near every pest,
03:23if a man only knew it,
03:24and that the dear poisons from the store
03:27were mostly for folks
03:28who had forgotten the cheap answers.
03:30That is the spirit of what I am giving you today.
03:33Not the expensive can that fails,
03:36but the few-cent answer that works,
03:38the way the old people did it.
03:40So here it is.
03:42Now, with the safety understood,
03:44let me give you the first and best method,
03:47the one that kills the whole colony for a couple of dollars,
03:50even the nests you cannot find.
03:53You need two things.
03:54A bottle of sweet juice,
03:56apple juice does fine,
03:58from any store,
03:59and a small container of pure boric acid,
04:02that fine white powder,
04:04which they sell at the hardware store
04:06right by the pest things,
04:08and a little container of it costs a few dollars
04:11and lasts you years.
04:13Mind you get the pure boric acid,
04:16the plain white powder,
04:17not the roach powders mixed with other chemicals.
04:21It is the same stuff, near enough,
04:23as the borac some folks have in the laundry cupboard,
04:26only finer and purer,
04:28and you will find it sold plain and cheap
04:30for just this kind of use.
04:32One little container is a couple dollars
04:34and will make up batch after batch of bait for years,
04:38so it is about the cheapest pest remedy there is.
04:42Now you make your bait.
04:43In a container, mix about two cups of the sweet juice
04:47with two teaspoons of the boric acid
04:49and stir it until the powder is all dissolved.
04:53That is the whole of your bait,
04:55and it costs you pennies.
04:57You can use a flat soda pop in place of the juice,
05:00if that is what you have,
05:01or a little sugar water,
05:03anything sweet that draws them,
05:05for it is the sweet that lures
05:07and the boric acid that does the work.
05:10Now let me tell you why this works,
05:13for it is a clever thing,
05:14and why it is different from the foam that fails you.
05:19Wasps and yellow jackets are scavengers,
05:21greedy for both sweet and meat,
05:24and that sweet juice draws them hard.
05:26But here is the beauty of it
05:28and the part that matters.
05:30The honeybees will leave it be,
05:32for the honeybee is a different sort of creature.
05:36She forages the flowers in an orderly way
05:39and carries word of the flowers back to her sisters,
05:42and a dish of juice on the ground
05:44does not draw her
05:46the way it draws the greedy, scavenging wasp.
05:49So this bait takes the wasps and yellow jackets
05:53and spares the honeybees,
05:55which matters greatly,
05:56for the honeybee is a friend to us
05:59and to the garden,
06:00and we must never harm her.
06:02This is no small thing,
06:04and it is why I favor this bait
06:06over a broad poison
06:08that kills everything that touches it.
06:10The honeybee pollinates your garden
06:13and your orchard
06:14and the whole countryside,
06:15and her numbers are hard-pressed enough these days
06:18without us poisoning her by carelessness.
06:22A method that takes the troublesome wasp
06:25and leaves the helpful bee unharmed
06:27is a method worth knowing,
06:29and it is one more reason
06:31the cheap old way
06:32is better than the foam,
06:34which kills friend and foe alike.
06:37Now the boric acid
06:38is a slow poison to the insect,
06:40and slow is exactly what you want.
06:44The wasp drinks the sweet bait,
06:46and it does not drop dead on the spot.
06:49It lives long enough to fly home
06:51and share that bait,
06:52as wasps do,
06:54with the queen
06:55and the young
06:56and the whole nest,
06:57and so the poison spreads
06:59through the entire colony
07:00from the inside,
07:02and within a few days
07:03the whole nest dies,
07:05even a nest you never found
07:07nor saw.
07:09That is why it works
07:10where the foam fails.
07:12The foam kills the few wasps
07:14you can see and spray,
07:16while this bait
07:17kills the whole hidden colony
07:19through their own sharing.
07:21Think on what that means,
07:23for it is the whole genius
07:25of the thing.
07:25When you spray a nest with foam,
07:28you kill the wasps
07:29that are home at that moment,
07:31but the ones out foraging
07:33come back to a ruined nest
07:35and simply rebuild,
07:37or the queen survives
07:38and starts anew,
07:39and so the trouble goes on.
07:41But the bait
07:43turns the wasps
07:44own nature against them,
07:46for they cannot help
07:47but carry food home to share.
07:49It is bred into them,
07:51and so they carry the poison
07:52into the very heart of the nest,
07:54to the queen herself
07:56who you could never reach.
07:58Kill the queen
08:00and the colony
08:01cannot go on.
08:02It is a slower way,
08:04taking some days,
08:06but it is a surer
08:07and a deeper way,
08:08for it strikes the root
08:10and not just the leaves
08:12of the trouble.
08:13Patience does
08:14what force cannot.
08:17Here is how you set it out.
08:18You do not set out
08:20an open dish
08:21they will drown in,
08:22for a drowned wasp
08:24cannot carry the bait home
08:25and the colony lives on.
08:28Instead,
08:29pour just a little of the bait
08:30into the bottom
08:31of an empty soda can,
08:33just enough to wet the bottom,
08:35not enough to drown them.
08:37Then break a little stick
08:38and stand it in the can
08:40for a ramp
08:41so the wasps
08:42can climb down to the bait
08:43and back out again.
08:44They land,
08:46walk down the stick,
08:48drink,
08:48and fly home
08:50carrying their doom
08:51to the nest.
08:52Set these cans
08:53about the edges
08:54of your property,
08:55up under the eaves,
08:57near where they gather,
08:58and here is a firm rule.
09:00Set them where no child,
09:02nor pet,
09:03nor dog
09:04can get at them
09:05or knock them over.
09:07Up out of reach.
09:09Set out several of them
09:10in the places
09:11you see the wasps working
09:12and have patience,
09:14for this is not
09:15the quick foam.
09:16It works over some days
09:18as the poison spreads
09:19through the colony,
09:20so do not be discouraged
09:22if you still see wasps
09:24the first day or two.
09:25That is the bait
09:26being carried home
09:28and doing its work unseen.
09:30Refresh the bait
09:31every few days
09:32as it dries up
09:34or fills with rain,
09:35mixing a fresh batch,
09:37and keep it going
09:38until the wasps are gone,
09:39which is usually
09:40within a week or so.
09:41Mix the bait fresh
09:43as you need it
09:44and do not keep
09:45a great deal of it about,
09:47just enough for the cans
09:48you are setting.
09:50Now let me say
09:51a plain word
09:52about the safety
09:53of this boric acid,
09:54for it is the honest
09:55kind of word
09:56that matters.
09:57Boric acid
09:58in this little dose
10:00is not dangerous
10:01to people or pets
10:02the way it is
10:03to insects.
10:04A dog or a child
10:06would have to eat
10:07spoonfuls of the raw powder
10:09to come to any harm,
10:10and at the weak strength
10:12in this watery bait
10:13it is genuinely safe
10:15around the home.
10:16But,
10:17and I always tell you
10:18the safety plane,
10:19that does not mean
10:21you leave the powder
10:22where children get into it,
10:23nor the bait
10:24where a pet drinks it down.
10:26Keep the powder put away
10:28like any such thing,
10:30up high and closed,
10:31and set the bait cans
10:33out of reach.
10:34Safe, used rightly,
10:36but treated
10:37with the plain care
10:38you would give
10:39anything of the sort.
10:40That honest caution
10:42is how I keep your trust.
10:44I would rather tell you
10:45a thing is mostly safe
10:47and still bid you
10:48mind the children,
10:49than over-promise it
10:51and have someone
10:52careless come to harm.
10:54Boric acid,
10:55or borax,
10:56is an old
10:57and useful thing
10:58about a house,
10:59but like salt
11:00or lye
11:01or any such,
11:02it has its right
11:03and careful use,
11:05and a thing kept up
11:06out of reach
11:07and used with sense
11:08is a thing
11:09that serves you well
11:10and harms no one.
11:12Now the bait
11:13is for the hidden colonies
11:15and works over days,
11:16but what if you have
11:17a nest right there
11:19on the house
11:19that you can reach
11:20and want gone now?
11:22Here is the second method,
11:24and it is so simple
11:26you will not believe
11:27it works,
11:28but it does,
11:29and it costs you
11:30near nothing.
11:31Take a spray bottle,
11:33fill it with water,
11:34and add a good squirt
11:35of plain dish soap
11:36and shake it up.
11:38That is your wasp killer.
11:40Here is why it works,
11:42plain physics,
11:43no poison at all.
11:45A wasp's body
11:46is coated
11:47in a fine,
11:48waxy layer
11:49that keeps the water out,
11:50and it breathes
11:51not through a mouth,
11:53but through tiny holes
11:54along the sides
11:55of its body.
11:56The soap breaks down
11:58that waxy coat
11:59and lets the water
12:00flood in
12:01through those
12:01breathing holes
12:02and the wasp drowns,
12:04quick.
12:05You spray the nest
12:07directly
12:07and keep spraying,
12:09do not stop,
12:10and within seconds
12:11the wasps drop.
12:13Soap and water
12:15from your own kitchen
12:16and the nest is done.
12:18Now here is the right way
12:20to go about it
12:20so you do not get stung.
12:22You do this at dusk,
12:25in the evening
12:25as the light fails,
12:27or in the early dark,
12:28for that is when
12:29the wasps
12:30are all home
12:31and gone quiet
12:32and sluggish
12:33and slow to rouse,
12:35where in the heat
12:36of the day
12:36they are out
12:37and active
12:38and quick to swarm.
12:40So wait for the cool
12:41of evening,
12:42approach quiet,
12:43and have your way
12:44clear to step back
12:46quick.
12:47Soak the nest
12:48well and steady,
12:49and then leave off
12:50and step away.
12:52A good stout stream
12:53of the soapy water
12:54reaching the nest
12:55is what you want,
12:57so a spray bottle
12:58that shoots a stream
12:59rather than a fine mist
13:01serves best,
13:02letting you stand
13:03a little back from it.
13:05But now I must give you
13:06the one hard rule
13:07of the soap and water way
13:09and it is a matter
13:10of life and limb,
13:12so hear it well.
13:13You must never,
13:15ever use this water spray
13:17on a nest
13:17near anything electrical,
13:19not near a light fixture,
13:21not near a switch
13:22or an outlet
13:23or a breaker box
13:24or any wire.
13:26Water and electricity
13:28together can kill you
13:29and every single year
13:31folks end up
13:32in the hospital
13:33or worse
13:34because they stood
13:35on a ladder
13:35spraying water
13:37at a wasp nest
13:38stuck up against
13:39an electric light fixture
13:40and got a terrible shock.
13:42So if that nest
13:44is anywhere near
13:45electrical wiring,
13:46you put the water away
13:47and do not use it.
13:49For a nest near wiring,
13:51there is a special
13:52non-conducting wasp spray
13:54made just for that danger
13:56that the professionals use
13:58or better yet,
13:59that wired location
14:00is just the kind of job
14:02where it is wise
14:03to call a professional
14:04and not risk yourself.
14:07Never water near wires.
14:09I cannot say it plainer than that.
14:12Now here is the part
14:14that almost everybody skips
14:15and it is the single reason
14:17the wasps come back
14:19to your house
14:19every single year
14:21like clockwork.
14:22You knock down the nest
14:24and you think you are done,
14:26but you are not,
14:27and next spring
14:28they are right back
14:29in the very same spot.
14:31Why?
14:32Because a wasp nest,
14:34even after it is gone,
14:36leaves behind its scent
14:38on the wood,
14:39a chemical mark
14:40the wasps lay down,
14:41and that lingering mark
14:43is like a signpost
14:45to next year's young queens
14:46that says,
14:48here is a proven,
14:49safe place to build.
14:51So a new queen
14:52comes in the spring,
14:53smells that old mark
14:55under your eave,
14:56and builds in the exact same spot
14:58her predecessor did.
15:00That is not bad luck.
15:02That is the real reason,
15:04the thing you could not see,
15:05and it is why folks
15:07have the same wasp trouble
15:08in the same corner
15:10year after year after year.
15:12So here is how you break
15:14that cycle
15:15and stop them coming back.
15:17After the nest is gone,
15:19you treat the spots
15:20where they like to build,
15:21the eaves,
15:23the rafters,
15:24the corners under the porch roof,
15:26with a long-lasting
15:27insecticidal dust
15:28made for the purpose,
15:30which you puff into the cracks
15:32and corners
15:32with a little duster.
15:34This is the one
15:35store-bought helper
15:36in the whole business,
15:38and I will be straight
15:39with you about that.
15:40It is a real pesticide,
15:42and not a folk remedy.
15:44But a good one
15:45lasts many months
15:46out in the weather,
15:47even through rain,
15:48and any wasp
15:50that lands on a treated spot
15:51picks it up
15:52and carries it home
15:53to kill the nest
15:54the same slow way
15:56the bait does.
15:57You dust your eaves
15:59and building spots
16:00once in the spring,
16:01and you head off
16:02the new nests
16:03before they ever start,
16:05breaking that scent trail cycle
16:07that brings them back.
16:08And there is a planer step
16:10you can take too,
16:11with no pesticide at all,
16:13which is to scrub down
16:14the spot where an old nest was,
16:17a good wash with soapy water
16:19to clean away as much
16:21of that lingering scent mark
16:22as you can,
16:23so the new queen
16:24has no signpost
16:26telling her to build there.
16:27It does not erase it
16:29as sure as the dust does,
16:31but it helps
16:31and costs nothing.
16:33Treat the surface,
16:35not just the nest,
16:36whether with the lasting dust
16:38or just a good scrubbing
16:39of the old spot,
16:40and that is the secret
16:42almost nobody knows.
16:43Most folks fight
16:45the same nest
16:46in the same corner
16:47their whole lives,
16:48never knowing
16:49that the corner itself
16:50was calling the wasps back.
16:52Now let me say
16:53the small, honest word
16:55about why the title of this
16:56is what it is.
16:58The wasp trick
16:59the pest control companies
17:01do not advertise.
17:02For I want to be straight
17:04with you about that,
17:05since some might take it wrong.
17:07I am not telling you
17:08the exterminators
17:09are hiding some great secret
17:11from you in a plot.
17:12The boric acid is no secret.
17:14Anyone can buy it.
17:15The professionals know it well
17:17and use it themselves.
17:18The plain truth
17:19is simpler than a plot,
17:21and it comes down to money.
17:22A jar of boric acid
17:24costs a few dollars
17:25and lasts you years,
17:27and there is simply
17:28no money in it
17:29for a company
17:30to drive out to your house
17:31and earn a $300 service call
17:34by pouring out
17:35a $6 jar of powder
17:36you could buy yourself.
17:38So they do not advertise
17:39the cheap thing
17:40you can do alone,
17:41because there is no profit
17:43in teaching it.
17:44I am not telling you
17:45a man schemed this against you.
17:47No one had to.
17:48It is worse than a conspiracy,
17:50because it is a system
17:51nobody had to coordinate.
17:53It simply pays far better
17:55to sell a service call
17:56than to teach a body
17:57the few dollar fix
17:58he could do himself,
17:59and so the cheap fix
18:01goes untaught,
18:02not hidden by any plotter,
18:04just quietly left unsaid
18:06because no one profits
18:08by saying it.
18:09So there is your whole system,
18:11and it costs you
18:12but a few dollars all told.
18:14The boric acid
18:15and sweet juice bait
18:16in the little cans
18:17to kill the hidden colonies
18:19you cannot even find
18:20from the inside out.
18:22The dish soap
18:23and water spray
18:24for the nests
18:25you can reach
18:26that are well away
18:27from any wiring.
18:28Great care
18:30or a professional
18:31for any nest
18:32near electricity
18:33or any nest
18:34too big
18:35or too high
18:36or down in the ground.
18:37And the lasting dust
18:39on your eaves
18:40and building spots
18:41in spring
18:42to break the scent trail
18:44and stop them
18:45ever coming back.
18:46That is the cheap,
18:47honest,
18:48mostly self-reliant way
18:50to take back
18:50your porch
18:51and your yard
18:52the way a careful body
18:54can manage
18:54for a few dollars
18:55instead of 40 a season
18:57on foam
18:58that does not last.
19:00Now I want to hear
19:01from you
19:01and I ask honest
19:03because I learned
19:04the whole country
19:05from these comments.
19:06Tell me in the comments below
19:08where do your wasps
19:10and yellow jackets
19:10keep building
19:11the same cursed spot
19:13every year
19:14I will wager
19:15and have you tried
19:16the boric acid bait
19:17for I would know
19:18how it serves you.
19:20And tell me your county
19:21because the kinds of wasps
19:23and how bad they get
19:24differs across the country
19:26and I like to map it
19:28by where you all
19:29write from.
19:29I read every one.
19:32Next time
19:32I want to show you
19:33more of the cheap
19:34natural ways
19:35to handle the common pests
19:37around your home
19:38the ants
19:39and the flies
19:40and the rest.
19:41The simple
19:42few dollar methods
19:43the old people used
19:44to keep a house
19:45and yard
19:46free of pests
19:47without spending
19:48a fortune on poisons
19:49for there is an old
19:51plain answer
19:52for near every pest
19:53that troubles us.
19:55The old people
19:56lived close among
19:57the insects
19:57with no store
19:59to run to
19:59for a can of foam
20:01and so they learned
20:02the cheap
20:02clever ways
20:03to keep the peace
20:04with what they had
20:05a little borax
20:07a little soap
20:08a little knowing
20:09and they kept
20:10their homes
20:11and tables
20:11free of pests
20:12for next to nothing.
20:14There is a plain wisdom
20:16in that
20:16we have traded away
20:17for the expensive can
20:19that does not
20:20even work.
20:21The home
20:22kept free of pests
20:23by a few cents
20:24and a little knowing
20:25is the home
20:26that remembers
20:27how the old people
20:28really managed.
20:29The people who built
20:30this country
20:31with their hands
20:32knew that
20:32and we are only
20:34just starting
20:35to remember it.
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