Those
are the names given to these tough little members
of the large insect order Hymenoptera, and in the
family Vespidæ.
These insects, or
closely related forms, are found over most of the
world, and they are very protective of their
territories. What is their territory? Wherever they
happen to be foraging or nesting. This means they
can become very aggressive anywhere and with little
provocation. They are very protective of their
nests, and being able to sting many times, can be
very dangerous to anyone who might be, or become,
allergic to their venom. Hundreds of stings are
often inflicted on people who disturb a nest and
don't run out of the area fast. Such incidents have
been known to cause fatalities.
Wasps build paper
nests with wood pulp and saliva and it is real
paper. Some nests in tropical areas become very
large, measuring four feet in diameter, and housing
about a hundred thousand workers.
Many people have
wasp problems because wasps nest in places around
the house and yard, making frequent and sometimes
dangerous encounters inevitable.
What
to do about it:
Before one can combat some insect, mammal, germ
etc., its life history must be studied and
understood. How an organism lives and reproduces is
vital to finding the vulnerable points where
controls become practical or even possible.
Spring is the
beginning of new birth and spring is when the large
fertilized female wasps come out of hibernation.
They have spent the winter in hollow trees, under
the roots of trees, in attics, sheds or any other
place out of the weather. Many insects, including
some butterflies, some amphibians such as wood
frogs and other creatures, produce glycols which
function as antifreeze and keeps them from
freezing.
When spring arrives
the female wasps are hungry and feed upon pollen
and nectar of early spring plants. Lacking that
they will feed on sap oozing out of scars where
winter winds have stripped limbs from trees. Only
when there are enough spring flowers as a supply of
nectar does it begin building a nest.
She first must find
a suitable place to build... a hollow log, a tree
limb, beneath a porch, under eaves or in a hollow
place under moss in deep woods. Bird boxes are
ideally suited for some wasps, in fact, a wasp can
drive a bird from a box. Those in moss are bad
because they go up pant legs before you know what's
going on. Children playing in the mossy woods are
in constant danger.
Once she has
claimed a site she will begin to build the first
few cells with silk-like threads that are from
natural wasp secretions. She then lays her first
eggs, one in each cell and continues to build up
the cell walls and add new ones to the site. As the
nest becomes larger she must go to dead wood and
chew away the fine top layer to make paper.
Secretions are naturally added during the process.
An interesting anecdote here is that different
colors of wood can create a nest of unique
coloration and patterns. Some wasp species add fine
pieces of silica to the paper which is interesting
because it would allow light to enter an otherwise
dark interior.
When the first eggs
hatch the female hunts spiders and insects which
are chewed into a pulp to feed the new larvae.
Everyone has watched a wasp working back and forth
under the eaves of a house hunting spiders. With
their powerful jaws paper wasps need not sting
prey, they chew it up.
When the larvae are
grown they build a silken cocoon sealing the cell,
and after pupation they hatch into neuter female
workers. Soon the young workers take over all of
the work, enlarging the paper nest, feeding new
larvae and the female.
The paper nests are
composed of a number of layers forming the globe
shaped exterior and the cells are attached at the
center top by a a thick paper rod. If conditions
are right they will increase the size of the nest
and the number of cell layers. Under optimum
conditions the nest will be about a foot in
diameter and perhaps sixteen inches tall with four
or five layers of cells.
Occasionally one
sees small round deserted nests in sheds or other
places. That indicates that the female was killed
before raising her first batch of workers.
As the number of workers
increases, the demand for more and more food makes
them very anxious and they will attack nearly any
kind of prey. They decimated our honey bees one
year. Their prey includes any insect, spider, or
fresh meat and fish left unprotected. They kill and
feed to the larvae, as many beneficial insects and
spiders as they do harmful ones such as aphids
(whose numbers are never reduced by wasp
predation.
When the workers want to
eat they go to flowers or fruit. Simple sugars are
their main diet.
When summer wanes,
the cells become filled with the larvae of true
females and males (drones), When these hatch they
leave the nest and the females are bred, the drones
die and the females travel and feed until time to
hibernate. The nest with its workers remain behind
and slowly die off, with no larvae to feed the
instinct to hunt becomes less. All of the wasps
that remain in the nest will die during the
winter.
The nest once used
is never used again. The paper has too much size in
it and wasps cannot reconstitute it. Nests are only
made by new fertile females, it cannot work any
other way.
If you have sprayed
it to kill its occupants just forget it. Destroying
it is meaningless. Save it for the kids' show and
tell at school.
If
wasps are making your life miserable around your
home or garden:
In early spring you must catch the fertile
queens as soon as they come out of hibernation. You
can catch them in a trap baited with honey and
concentrated pineapple juice with a bit of water
added.
What trap? The
Yellow Jacket and Wasp Trap by PIC Corporation. Ask
for it at your supermarket or contact
PIC's
web page.
I am not selling their product but after building
my own traps for sixty years, I saw these at Carr's
Supermarket in Kenai Alaska, and bought one. I find
that it is the finest trap I have ever seen or
used. Just follow the directions. It comes with a
string to hang it by but it is too long and the
wind knocks it around. Shorten the string and hang
it to a stout tree limb or something. It will catch
every wasp that comes near. They will go right in.
You must try it to believe it. At last someone who
knows the life histories of these wasps and has
produced a trap that works . My thanks to PIC
Corp.
wasp
trap by PIC
It is fall, so begin control of new fertile
females now. These large wasps will be feeding on
flowers and ripe fruit such as raspberries. They
want sugars. You know their weak spot so go get
them.
You can trap worker
wasps in summer in such great numbers that the
nests are starved out. I had a real large number of
early spring fertile females and killed over one
hundred in two days. Their numbers didn't decrease
very much until I got my first PIC trap. It worked
so well I bought four more and within a few days I
was wasp free. I will keep them active for those
fall females that travel great distances to find a
new home area. Yes, I will catch them before they
can hibernate on my
place.
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