We have them something AWFUL this year. We had a fair problem with them when we moved into our house about 8 years ago, but haven't had more than the occasional nest over the years. This year, I have knocked down/sprayed at least 10 nests, including nests in places where I have NEVER seen a nest. They've been nesting under chairs on our patios (one of those stung my wife), on the side of a bucket in the garden shed (one of those stung me), even underneath a tiny child's chair in a playhouse (I had checked the playhouse, but didn't check the chair -- they stung my son, and one of his friends). We even found a nest inside a dinner bell hanging on our back porch. We saw the usual handful of nests under eaves, under the roof of the garden shed, etc., but it's been the unusual places, and the high number, that have gotten to us this year. And they are relentless. I wipe out a bunch of nests, and within a couple of days, I see more buzzing around, building new ones in different places. Other than hitting the nests as they start, is there anything we can do to repel them and/or keep them from building additional nests in our yard? I really hate the ********. Bees don't bother me. Snakes don't even bother me. Yellowjackets piss me off. Oh, and I did some looking, and realized that what we have called yellowjackets are actually golden paper wasps. No matter -- they're mean sumbitches who nest in areas where we tend to run into them.
Yellowjackets usually nest in the ground. Look for the source somewhere in your yard. The good news is that yellowjacket colonies only remain active for only one summer. After the summer, the queen will fly away to start more colonies. The remaining bees, die at the end of the summer. There are two options. One is to spray the hedges with an appropriate insecticide which will kill the food source of the yellowjackets (other insects). Hopefully, they will leave at that point. The other option is to treat the nest with a pyrethrum aerosol. After all the yellowjackets are gone, dust the opening with Drione Dust or Seven Dust. Personally, I would try option one and option two simultaneously.
A few summers ago, I kept getting stung while mowing, and I couldn't figure out where they were. Then one day, I apparently mowed over their hole, and a cloud of yellow jackets rose through the air like something out of a stephen king novel. Called an exterminator first thing the next morning.
It sounds like he is talking about paper wasps that build paper nests on your porch overhang. Sorry I can't help. They are good for keeping worms down in the trees, but you can't have them in dangerous places.
It's funny, but I was noticing that we don't have ANY this year and I have a pool which is a good indication that you will have them in your eaves at least. I got molested by the ground dwelling critters last year when I stepped on the sprinkler valve box right after the yard guy had mowed them, but there was just the one nest. Other than an application of pre-emergent herbicide, we haven't used any chemicals at all in the yard this year. Go figure.
That's because what we were taught that paper wasps and yellow jackets are one and the same. They apparently aren't.
Sorry about that - I probably did the same thing when I was in Texas. When I moved to Georgia, I learned what yellow jackets really are. They don't look anything like paper wasps. Yellow jackets are pretty small and look more like a thin honey bee than a paper wasp. You should know though that yellow jackets probably suck more than paper wasps. When you walk barefoot across the lawn it is very easy to get stung.
Wait till night time and hit every nest with soapy water. It will kill everything on it (the soap will sophocate the wasps). You can also get a little even by stomping them as they squirm on the ground. Knock every last nest down (I like to light them on fire and kill all the larvae) and dispose of. Finally get about a half dozen wasp traps and set around lawn furniture, front door, back door, playscape, garage, etc... Once everything is erradicated any new wasp coming to the area should end up in the trap before he ever gets around to building a nest. We did this at the ranch house when I was a kid. Chief
Kill 'em all. When I lived in Guam, there were some wasps there (we called them Boonie Bees) and they were aggressive as hell! You could walk 20 ft. under a nest in a tree and they would be disturbed and ready to attack. And they hurt something awful. Needless to say, anytime I know wasps are in the area and something flies by me, I duck and jump away like a little *****. I've been scarred for life. So let me reiterate, kill 'em all.
Brisket, You are right to get rid of the paper wasps in areas where you are going to be in phsycal contact with them. But you shouldn't kill them all off. They really aren't aggressive if you stay a couple feet away from the nests, and they are a reallly top notch predator insect, extremely benficial. You wouldn't have so many if there wasn't a food source, and I'm not sure you want what they are controlling. Do you have pecan trees? They are the key natural control of bag worms, and since I started leaving mine alone I don't get bag worms anymore. Likewise, I can sit and watch them kill things on my tomato plants, which is nice.
I just wiped out a huge nest in my yard shack when I was reaching for some weed killer. I will kill every one of those little mofos I see, because the last one that stung me caused my forearm to swell up like Popeye's or an aggy recruit - not to mention that my trachea swelled up pretty bad. - sounded like Tiny Tim for awhile.
The guinea wasp is often confused with the yellow-jacket because of similar black and yellow markings (Figure 8). It is probably encountered more than any other paper wasp. It will nest under mailboxes, propane tank tops, above doorways, under decks and porches; on playground equipment and in shrubbery and brush piles. The nest is usually small (20 wasps) and is attached by a single pedicel The yellowjackets are medium sized wasps marked with black and yellow bands or stripes that build nests below or above the ground (Figure 4). Subterranean nests are often built in rotten stumps, under landscape timbers and firewood piles, and in the sides of terraces, gullies or ditches. Above ground nests occur in barns between stacks of baled hay or straw, under porches, in block voids and wall voids of buildings (Figure 5). The eastern and southern yellowjackets are two common species found in the South. Both species are very aggressive when nesting sites are approached and intruders are often stung repeatedly before they can retreat. People are often stung by yellowjackets while mowing grass, walking behind tractors that are plowing or excavating dirt or walking through wooded and brushy areas. Nests located in wall voids may threaten people inside the home when individual yellowjackets enter a room through openings around electrical outlets. I did not know the difference myself. Always assumed yellowjackets were hornets and paper wasps were yellowjackets. Growing up in East Texas on a farm we always had big troubles with these: And I don't care what you want to say about them being insect predators or my environmentally incorrect method of ridding them, but if I can get a cup of gasoline up to them, their mine. I usually like to stomp on them when they hit the ground. I have been nailed too many times walking into the tractor shed, tool shed, hay barn or on the tractor mowing around structures. I am just glad they came out with that can sprayer that shot up to 30ft! That really helped my lethal range I don't know what is happening on the last pic of the red wasps. I right clicked on the frame and hit show picture and it came up. Guess I need to find a smaller picture?
I've noticed a lot of wasps this year too but dang if I can find any nests. I check the eaves nearly every day. I don't think they're under the deck because we're out there all the time and they don't really bother us on the deck, just in the yard especially around the garden. If you guys say they're killing critters that would otherwise be attacking my tomatoes, I'll try to leave then alone. But if they make a nest on the house, they're mine.
We've had tons too. So far, I've killed one nest on the overhang of our roof, 3 in one of my dwarf holly bushes (that poor bush had to die by the way) and 4 inground in my flower beds. I know there's more, I just haven't found them yet. I hate those damn sumbitches. I think I'm gonna try the soapy water thing. Pesticide worries me with my bushes/flowers.
