Yellow Jackets
Yellow Jackets - Look out!
by Dave Molinaro
Yellow jackets are house fly-sized wasps with distinct yellow and black markings and a few hairs, which usually construct a type of tan-colored paper nest in an underground cavity. Common locations for nests are in lawns, particularly in sandy exposed areas, as well as at the base of trees or shrubs. Occasionally, yellow jackets will nest in attics or wall voids in houses or storage buildings.
A yellow jacket queen begins building a nest alone in the spring. Once a queen has produced enough workers to take over nest-building and foraging duties, she remains inside producing more offspring. The workers expand the nest, forage for food, feed the young and defend the nest.
Like other predatory wasps, diet consists mainly of other insects such as flies and bees. (Yes, yellow jackets are beneficial in this way.) Yellow jackets continue to enlarge the nest until fall when there may be 600-800 workers.
Frequently, it is not until this time the nest is noticed, although it has been there for many weeks.
In late summer, the colony produces reproductives—insects that will mate. The mated female reproductives will serve as the next generation of queens the following spring. The male's main purpose is to mate; males cannot sting. By wintertime, nests are abandoned and the future queens seek shelter alone in protected places under tree bark, in old stumps, or sometimes attics. The current year's nests are not reused the following spring and yellow jacket colonies die out each year.
Control yellow jackets by applying a pesticide directly into the nest opening.
Do this near dusk when most of the insects are more likely to be inside the nest.
You can use any of the aerosol “wasp and hornet” sprays that propel insecticide in a stream about 10-12 feet. You may need to repeat the treatment for a couple evenings.
Do not pour gasoline or oil down a nest hole. This is extremely hazardous and environmentally unsound. If the nest is in a wall void or other inaccessible area in your home, you may consider hiring a pest control company.
Sources: Department of Entomology, North Carolina Cooperative Extension
Dave Molinaro, is a former Extension Master Gardener Volunteer with Mecklenburg County, NC. During his tenure as an active volunteer, Dave was a frequent—and witty—writer for the in-house newsletter, The Thymes.
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