Yellow Jackets in the Garden
Are Yellow Jackets beneficial to the garden? I don't see any bees and I was wondering if Yellow Jackets pollinate or do you think they are nesting in my cukes??
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LindsayArthurRTR
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Gary350
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I had some yellow jackets living in the ground in my yard about 3 years ago. We tried to avoid them but they were pretty agressive if we got too close we would get stung several times. The sound of the lawn mower within 20 ft would get them all fired up pretty bad. I placed my shop vac hose next to the hole and turned it on and let it run from about 2 pm until dark about 8:30 pm. I unplugged it after dark next morning I looked at the hole and no yellow jackets at all. I poured about 1/2 gallon of very loose dirt down the hole and that took care of the problem. I let the shop vac set in the driveway in the hot sun for a week then I opened it. It was about 1/3 full with dead yellow jacket bodies. I couldn't begin to guess how many dead yellow jackets were in there. It was a quantity of about 2 gallons of dead yellow jackets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_jacket
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_jacket
WOW, no kidding? I guess I should investigate further. I've got a shop vac and I'm not afraid to use itGary350 wrote:I had some yellow jackets living in the ground in my yard about 3 years ago. We tried to avoid them but they were pretty agressive if we got too close we would get stung several times. The sound of the lawn mower within 20 ft would get them all fired up pretty bad. I placed my shop vac hose next to the hole and turned it on and let it run from about 2 pm until dark about 8:30 pm. I unplugged it after dark next morning I looked at the hole and no yellow jackets at all. I poured about 1/2 gallon of very loose dirt down the hole and that took care of the problem. I let the shop vac set in the driveway in the hot sun for a week then I opened it. It was about 1/3 full with dead yellow jacket bodies. I couldn't begin to guess how many dead yellow jackets were in there. It was a quantity of about 2 gallons of dead yellow jackets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_jacket
I think they are nesting next door. No one lives there and the backyard is over grown. Thanks for the wiki link also!
I don't know about deterents.
They love to clean up the big squashed hornworms I leave for them. The carcass will be gone by the end of the day. I welcome them in the tomato patch because I assume that they get alot of the little hornworms and fruit worms. They don't seem to be too good at finding cabbage worms on the brussel's sprouts though.
I have never had them be aggressive, or attracted to sweat while I've been in the garden. I certainly would not take a can of soda in with me though because they love sugary liquids. They are a bit dangerous when there are rotting apples on the ground because they tend to congregate and it is easer to kick them at that level.
They love to clean up the big squashed hornworms I leave for them. The carcass will be gone by the end of the day. I welcome them in the tomato patch because I assume that they get alot of the little hornworms and fruit worms. They don't seem to be too good at finding cabbage worms on the brussel's sprouts though.
I have never had them be aggressive, or attracted to sweat while I've been in the garden. I certainly would not take a can of soda in with me though because they love sugary liquids. They are a bit dangerous when there are rotting apples on the ground because they tend to congregate and it is easer to kick them at that level.
I've been stung by them a few times, but the pain and swelling doesn't last long so I don't worry about it. I usually knock the nests down that are close to our house and get rid of those that build in the bird houses. Other than that, I leave them alone. I've always figured they must be doing something good.
Since most large insects seem to have a purpose, I've always wondered what the purpose of yellow jackets is. Now I know from this thread. I have also always wondered what the natural predator of yellow jackets is. I have a few million dragonfly's of various sizes, shapes, and colors in my garden. I noticed a dragonfly about two inches long carrying a big yellow jacket away the other day. I didn't know dragonfly's are insect predators, but I know now.
Ted
Since most large insects seem to have a purpose, I've always wondered what the purpose of yellow jackets is. Now I know from this thread. I have also always wondered what the natural predator of yellow jackets is. I have a few million dragonfly's of various sizes, shapes, and colors in my garden. I noticed a dragonfly about two inches long carrying a big yellow jacket away the other day. I didn't know dragonfly's are insect predators, but I know now.
Ted
Gary, we used to call the wasps in the ground simply ground wasps or pygmy wasps. They are extremely aggressive and protective of their nests. They will attack anything that approaches the nest. I've seen them attack a man and the horse he was riding. I've seen them attack and almost kill dogs in the yard. In East Texas near where we used to live, they would build their nests in the high banks along roads. We would call the county who would send a tractor with a front end loader to dig them out. The loader operator would dress like a bee keeper and simply scoop the nest out of the ground. Once the nest was exposed, they would spray the nest to kill the wasps. Sometimes, the paper nests would be three feet in diameter and three or four feet deep. They were only about 1/2 as large as normal yellow jackets, but their sting was twice as bad as a yellow jacket.
Ted
Ted
Thats why I only kill the ones around or close to the house. They have a nasty habit of flying into the house when a door is opened. That usually results in at least one scream from any female who happens to be in the house with the wasp.garden5 wrote:Yellow jackets are good for the garden, the kill some harmful insects.
While I don't pick them up with my bare hands (resulting in a sting), I normally will move my hand very close to the wasp encouraging it to hitch a ride on the back of my hand and we go happily outside together.
I did kill a hornets nest in the pasture today. They had built a nest inside of a bird house and drove my son-in-law from the riding mower yesterday when he approached the bird house. He said he could have won the Olympic 100 yard dash exiting the vicinity of the lawn mower and bird house. Since my wife also rides the mower in that area at times, I felt it prudent to remove the hornets rather than visit my wife in the hospital.
Ted
Ted
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DoubleDogFarm
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Hispoptart
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I really enjoy watching the Bumble Bees. There are many different varieties, but mine are the black ones with a large yellow stripe around the top part of their abdomen. They are covered with hair that makes them look as if they have fur on them. I saw one this morning on my cucumber vines that was so heavy with pollen on both legs plus pollen stuck to its hair, it was having trouble getting airborne.
When I am working next to them in the squash plants or cucumber plants, they dive right into the top of my head but don't sting me. It's as if they are telling me to stay away until they are finished. The problem is, they are never finished. They are in the garden when I get up in the morning and they are still working when the sun goes down.
I've seen them on basil flowers, bean flowers, tomato flowers, squash blooms, cucumber blooms and probably a few things I forgot about. I think I prefer them to honey bees for pollinating. They don't miss a bloom. They are not good pollinators in the spring garden because they don't usually appear until the really hot weather arrives. By that time, the honey bees are usually finished and gone.
Ted
When I am working next to them in the squash plants or cucumber plants, they dive right into the top of my head but don't sting me. It's as if they are telling me to stay away until they are finished. The problem is, they are never finished. They are in the garden when I get up in the morning and they are still working when the sun goes down.
I've seen them on basil flowers, bean flowers, tomato flowers, squash blooms, cucumber blooms and probably a few things I forgot about. I think I prefer them to honey bees for pollinating. They don't miss a bloom. They are not good pollinators in the spring garden because they don't usually appear until the really hot weather arrives. By that time, the honey bees are usually finished and gone.
Ted
And here I thought the sun would reflect off of the yellow and energize my plants....stupid infomercial....sure buy one jacket for $19.95 and get the second free (just pay p/h)....never again I tell you, never again!!DoubleDogFarm wrote:specgrade, I don't think your vegetables care what color jacket you are wearing.Are Yellow Jackets beneficial to the garden?
Eric
Last edited by specgrade on Wed Jul 21, 2010 2:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I tried to wash them out of my mothers rose bushes with a water hose once. Used up a whole bottle of Calomine lotion the first day covering all those stings. I guess next time I will just have to find me one of those climbing skunks since most of my wasp nests today seem to be about ten feet off the ground. Wonder if one of your white virgin goats could do the same thing TZ. They like to climb.DoubleDogFarm wrote:specgrade, I don't think your vegetables care what color jacket you are wearing.Are Yellow Jackets beneficial to the garden?
I have Paper Wasp nesting under the eaves of my shop every summer. If they become a nuisance, I pressure wash them. 2500psi makes quick work of it.
Eric
Ted
I found that racoons like to dig up their nests, too. I spent weeks spraying that stinking hold in the ground with bee/wasp spray and it didn't work... Wake up one morning to go look at it and it was dug up! Only a few yellow jackets were investigating, but they left. I found out later that it was a racoon!
tylianna, how did you find out it was a Racoon? Racoon's wear masks so you can't recognize them. May have just been a possum wearing a mask.tylianna wrote:I found that racoons like to dig up their nests, too. I spent weeks spraying that stinking hold in the ground with bee/wasp spray and it didn't work... Wake up one morning to go look at it and it was dug up! Only a few yellow jackets were investigating, but they left. I found out later that it was a racoon!
Ted
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LindsayArthurRTR
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sweet thunder
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FieldofFlowers
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Are you sure they are yellowjackets? maybe they are, but in our garden, the wasps that visit often are usually paper wasps or the European paper wasps. The European ones look like yellowjackets but they have orange antennae.
They are very likely looking for nectar, just like bees and many others. That is what the adults eat. If your wasps aren't going after the flowers,then they are probably hunting. They search for flies, caterpillars, butterflies, just about anything that can be grabbed and chewed up.
They also look for nesting materials. if you have a wooden fence,they will chew some of the wood to make paper to build their nest.
They are very likely looking for nectar, just like bees and many others. That is what the adults eat. If your wasps aren't going after the flowers,then they are probably hunting. They search for flies, caterpillars, butterflies, just about anything that can be grabbed and chewed up.
They also look for nesting materials. if you have a wooden fence,they will chew some of the wood to make paper to build their nest.
LOLtedln wrote:tylianna, how did you find out it was a Racoon? Racoon's wear masks so you can't recognize them. May have just been a possum wearing a mask.tylianna wrote:I found that racoons like to dig up their nests, too. I spent weeks spraying that stinking hold in the ground with bee/wasp spray and it didn't work... Wake up one morning to go look at it and it was dug up! Only a few yellow jackets were investigating, but they left. I found out later that it was a racoon!
Ted
Okay, I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I went out in the pasture to check the bird house which housed the bees that chased my son-in-law off the lawn mower. I had sprayed it with some of that wasp spray that shoots a solid stream for about twenty feet. When I got within about ten feet of the nest yesterday, I threw a small rock and hit the bird house pretty hard. I waited to see if anything buzzed inside the bird house or flew out. Nothing happened. I walked within about five feet of the bird house to look for dead bees or wasps on the ground. Suddenly, the bird house started buzzing like crazy and the bees started flying out of it. I started running, but still got a couple of stings right on top of my head.
I recognized the bees coming from the bird house as the bumble bees which have been pollinating my garden and told my wife I will not kill them. The only time they bother us is when we approach the nest. We can stay away from the nest until gardening season is over. In the garden, they collect pollen within inches of my hands working in the plants and don't bother me.
The wife says that doesn't sound like such a good idea. After all she said, you are the only one who gardens, everyone else, including our grand kids; are in danger of bee stings if they mistakenly approach that nest. I want to leave them alone, but I'm sure she will soon ask if I have killed that bee nest yet. I'm trying to figure out which I want to keep, the bees or the wife.
Ted
I recognized the bees coming from the bird house as the bumble bees which have been pollinating my garden and told my wife I will not kill them. The only time they bother us is when we approach the nest. We can stay away from the nest until gardening season is over. In the garden, they collect pollen within inches of my hands working in the plants and don't bother me.
The wife says that doesn't sound like such a good idea. After all she said, you are the only one who gardens, everyone else, including our grand kids; are in danger of bee stings if they mistakenly approach that nest. I want to leave them alone, but I'm sure she will soon ask if I have killed that bee nest yet. I'm trying to figure out which I want to keep, the bees or the wife.
Ted
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Gary350
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Some of you folks are too Radical with it comes to organic. Next time you get sick don't go to the doctor the medician he will give you is not organic. Factory made medician is not organic. Do not take your medician use herbs, bark, roots, berries, weeds, flours, etc. make sure it is organic. LOL.
30 years ago some of my old Hippy friends were all the time telling people to boycott foreign products made over sea, buy American. They knocked all the products that were not made in USA. They handed out pamplets at the mall telling people why it is bad to buy foreigh products. One day I was at their house I could NOT miss the chance to point out they own a Sony TV, a tape player, telephone, several kitchen appliaces and many other items including a foreigh made pickup truck that were not made in USA. He who yells the loudest usually has the least to say.
30 years ago some of my old Hippy friends were all the time telling people to boycott foreign products made over sea, buy American. They knocked all the products that were not made in USA. They handed out pamplets at the mall telling people why it is bad to buy foreigh products. One day I was at their house I could NOT miss the chance to point out they own a Sony TV, a tape player, telephone, several kitchen appliaces and many other items including a foreigh made pickup truck that were not made in USA. He who yells the loudest usually has the least to say.
Last edited by Gary350 on Sun Jul 11, 2010 2:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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applestar
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Bumblebees usually give you plenty of warning -- and the head-butting that you've mentioned before -- before attacking I believe. I've never been stung by a bumblebee though I have been head butted on occasion. I once accidentally dropped a banner out of the upstairs window and startled a bumblebee, which zoomed at and headbutted my DD, who was about 4 yrs old at the time, watching me from below. It didn't sting her, though she was plenty scared.
Maybe you could put up a fence around the bird house to mark off the safe distance and keep people away (and protected). At the end of the season, when it gets cold enough that they'll hopefully stay quiet in the chill early mornings, you could either sacrifice the birdhouse and move it elsewhere, or try to pry the nest out and put it elsewhere.
I was too cheap to let them have the box and the nest was a small one so that the Winter contingent was only the Queen and 4 or 5 followers, but I scraped out a paper wasp nest during the winter and the poor things did nothing to stop me. I felt bad because I doubt they survived the move, but I couldn't leave them in there.
ETA -- Ted I can't imagine being stung in the head. I was stung TWICE in the calf by yellow jackets and that hurt and swelled up badly enough. I'm allergic to mosquito bites and get large welts so I might be more susceptible to bee/wasp stings as well, however. Hope that the stings heal up soon.
ETA2 -- Gary, some people are allergic to preservatives or even containers used for pharmaceuticals and the simplest treatment can potentially make them considerably worse rather than better.
Maybe you could put up a fence around the bird house to mark off the safe distance and keep people away (and protected). At the end of the season, when it gets cold enough that they'll hopefully stay quiet in the chill early mornings, you could either sacrifice the birdhouse and move it elsewhere, or try to pry the nest out and put it elsewhere.
I was too cheap to let them have the box and the nest was a small one so that the Winter contingent was only the Queen and 4 or 5 followers, but I scraped out a paper wasp nest during the winter and the poor things did nothing to stop me. I felt bad because I doubt they survived the move, but I couldn't leave them in there.
ETA -- Ted I can't imagine being stung in the head. I was stung TWICE in the calf by yellow jackets and that hurt and swelled up badly enough. I'm allergic to mosquito bites and get large welts so I might be more susceptible to bee/wasp stings as well, however. Hope that the stings heal up soon.
ETA2 -- Gary, some people are allergic to preservatives or even containers used for pharmaceuticals and the simplest treatment can potentially make them considerably worse rather than better.
applestar,
I don't mind an occasional sting from a bee or wasp. The pain usually only lasts a few minutes and the swelling is usually gone in a couple of days. Fire ants are another story. Their sting hurts, produces a little white blister that lasts about a week, itches like crazy for a couple of weeks, and sometimes becomes infected from scratching the itch. I can't even imagine trying to estimate the number of times I've been stung by wasps and it really isn't a big deal. The bumble bee stings yesterday were on the back of my head because I was moving away as fast as I could. The pain only lasted about ten minutes and wasn't very bad. I usually get a laugh from a sting because it is normally the result of my doing something stupid. I was moving a pile of paving stones to my garden yesterday to use between my beds (we have had a lot of rain resulting in a lot of mud between my beds). As I was picking up one of the paving stones, I noticed my thumb was about 1/4" from a scorpion clinging to the stone. I was glad I noticed because their sting really hurts.
Ted
I don't mind an occasional sting from a bee or wasp. The pain usually only lasts a few minutes and the swelling is usually gone in a couple of days. Fire ants are another story. Their sting hurts, produces a little white blister that lasts about a week, itches like crazy for a couple of weeks, and sometimes becomes infected from scratching the itch. I can't even imagine trying to estimate the number of times I've been stung by wasps and it really isn't a big deal. The bumble bee stings yesterday were on the back of my head because I was moving away as fast as I could. The pain only lasted about ten minutes and wasn't very bad. I usually get a laugh from a sting because it is normally the result of my doing something stupid. I was moving a pile of paving stones to my garden yesterday to use between my beds (we have had a lot of rain resulting in a lot of mud between my beds). As I was picking up one of the paving stones, I noticed my thumb was about 1/4" from a scorpion clinging to the stone. I was glad I noticed because their sting really hurts.
Ted