AHHHH!!!! HELP!!! WASP/HORNET/YELLOWJACKET NEST!

[kayjay]

Uh... so I have some uninvited guests squatting along my fence.

I've spent the last day or so googling around, and best I can tell, these are paper wasps. Can anyone confirm? I ain't getting any closer for better pictures!!!!



Funny thing is, I never would have noticed it except for seeing what I thought was a single wasp going to the same part of the fence maybe three, four times. All this time, I never noticed it because they spend no time in my yard or near my house. I started watching them and they fly away, over the fence. They don't bother me at all.

I'm not sure what to do about them, but my first step will be to call the condo corp. They might call an exterminator for us, just because we're so close to the children's playground, the nest is near the lobby, and several neighbors have dogs.

Any insight?

[GardeningCook]

First off, Paper Wasps (which are what you have there) aren't even remotely as vicious & nasty as the hornet clan (ground-nesting Yellow Jackets & the Hornets that build those large round/football-shaped paper nests). Those can be a deadly bunch. Unless I have Paper Wasps building in an area that I frequent or in/on something that I use regularly (like our barbecue grill), I leave them alone & they leave me alone.

However, the fact that yours are nesting in an area where residents, children, & pets will be nearby, I agree that it's best if you notify the appropriate admins & get them removed asap.

[imafan26]

They are actually good predators in the garden but they are very territorial near their nest and they will attack anyone who gets near their nest.

Unfortunately the wasps we have always come back every year to nest in the same place. After the nest is removed you need to do something to seal the area so they can't come back to rebuild the nest and they will try.

[sweetiepie]

If you are not going to get rid of them, I would try and make sure you have some epinephrine and benadryl on hand encase a child got stung and is allergic. It's hard for parents to know until they get stung if they will have a reaction. We are going into the season where bees, etc start getting more desperate to find food for winter. In another month, they might become more of problem especially if kids have food or drinks. Just my thought, if it was me, I would remove but then husband is allergic to certain wasps, not bees, and not all wasps. But how do you know.

[GardeningCook]

If you are not going to get rid of them, I would try and make sure you have some epinephrine and benadryl on hand encase a child got stung and is allergic. It's hard for parents to know until they get stung if they will have a reaction. We are going into the season where bees, etc start getting more desperate to find food for winter. In another month, they might become more of problem especially if kids have food or drinks. Just my thought, if it was me, I would remove but then husband is allergic to certain wasps, not bees, and not all wasps. But how do you know.

This is good info, but NEVER give a child an Epi-pen injection or even oral Benadryl unless you know their medical history &/or the parents are present & have given consent. Epinephrine in particular can end up being more dangerous than the sting.

[applestar]

Subject: WASP, Garden Patrol caterpillar removal specialist

I have been lamenting that there are white cabbage butterflies everywhere. They are starting to lay massive egg dumps -- dozens per leaf and I can't keep up with them.
(Still dithering about using Bt or Spinosad)

...then today I saw a wasp crawl out on top of a broccoli leaf with a mangled caterpillar clutched in its claws. The caterpillar was "bleeding" all over the leaf. I ran to get the iPad and was back in time to capture photos of the wasp bundling up the caterpillar in a neat package in her mandibles and fly away


Later I saw another/same? wasp flying low, among and under broccoli and cabbage leaves while a cabbage butterfly was also fluttering above the same bed.

...I've mentioned In various threads/posts how the wasps have been constantly patrolling the cabbage leaves and my first harvested head of cabbage was perfect (only little nibbles here and there on the outer leaves but no caterpillars anywhere).

[applestar]

Unless the nest is so close to human activity areas to be a hazard, I wouldn't remove the nest. Your garden will benefit if the removal can be postponed until they are finished raising their young to pupa stage, because until then, they are like nesting birds and will be feeding caterpillars to their baby sisters all day long.

You are far enough north that, if they are not a danger to the community, you could wait until they go dormant in frosty weather, then dispose of the nest or significantly reduce the nest mass so they won't be a problem (in my area the queen and 3-4 drones/males will overwinter and start over).

I once had a paper wasp nest inside the PVC fence rail right over the raspberry patch and we co-existed peacefully until I lost my balance while picking raspberries and accidentally slapped my hand on the fence rail right next to the nest. I got stung once. After that, I was a little more careful whIle picking berries. I didn't have to do anything about the nest that time -- I think mice got into them and ate them during the winter because they weren't nesting there next spring.

I once had a far more aggressive yellow jackets nesting on my driveway. They would attack anyone who approached within 3 feet. I got stung twice and one of my children got stung once. I didn't want to use poisons in front of my house, so I put up a perimeter with warning signs around the nest to prevent anyone from approaching, then periodically "bombarded" the nest entrance with diatomaceous earth to reduce their numbers after mid-summer, then as soon as we had a good freeze, DH easily removed the nest with no incidents.

[applestar]

Ha. This is an old thread, but I’m resurrecting it to plop in this post — the title was perfect

Hornet nest covering inside of the window — mysterious gigantic growth at a house in Nagano prefecture
(2020, November 27)

- the built-in outside storm shutters had been closed the whole time so it was not discovered from the outside‘ curtains were closed inside
- the spare room is being used for storage — the nest wasn’t there in April
- photographed by grandson - grandfather was asked to “come take a look” and opened the curtain
- identified as ‘Suzumebachi’ which is according to wiki ...

The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), including the color form referred to as the Japanese giant hornet,[2][3] ... by 2008, some popular media outlets in Japan also began referring to this wasp as satsujin suzumebachi (殺人スズメバチ, literally, "murder hornet").
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet

窓一面に“ハチの巣”　長野の一軒家で謎の巨大化
(2020年11月27日)