Hi everyone,
My wife discovered the start of a wasp nest in our backyard. I’m unsure if these wasps are aggressive or if they might be beneficial pollinators. Can anyone help identify the type of wasp and advise whether we should remove the nest or leave it alone?
I’m impressed. Try to leave the wasps alone; they’ll protect themselves if necessary, but so will we, right? They also help by eating small pests. They really appreciate having some water left out for them, especially during the summer.
They eat the annoying, plant-damaging bugs, so if you appreciate that service, they’re your buddies. Just make sure there aren’t too many colonies, as that can become overwhelming.
I have wasps and they build nests. Once the nest reaches a certain size, I knock it down. They start rebuilding immediately, but I don’t want a large wasp nest on my house.
What works well for me with paper wasps is to spray the nest with a hose on the jet setting before it gets big enough for workers to hatch. While the queen is stunned by the water, I put her in a container and relocate her to a far corner of the property. Then I knock down the nest. She gets the message that the spot isn’t safe and doesn’t come back. If I knock it down when she’s gone, she just starts rebuilding.
Isn’t this a yellow jacket?
It definitely looks like a yellow jacket to me. I spent some time this weekend on another post just like this. Oh, the horror stories about yellow jackets!
Definitely a foe! They can kill bees, and we need bees much more!
