It’s time to address customer concerns about the wasps that build those mud tubes on houses in sheltered places such as under eaves, porch ceilings, or in sheds or garages. Mud daubers are solitary wasps which means that they are not part of a large social colony with many workers. Like other solitary wasps, they
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There are some large, scary wasps that keep flying to the lilac bush in our front yard. They look like they’re chewing on the trunk. Are they going to kill the bush? P. O., Marblehead, MA You’re witnessing a behavior typical of the European hornet, Vespa crabro. These hornets are social wasps similar to yellowjackets
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When I opened up a wall in our house this morning for some electrical work I found what looks like a wasp nest. It’s gray and papery and fills most of the bottom half of the void space, about 2 feet long by 1 foot wide. It freaked me out and I quickly closed the
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We have these wasps bumbling around outside our house, banging into windows and buzzing around the front porch. They look like paper wasps but we don’t see any nests. Isn’t it kind of early for paper wasps? T. T., Dracut, MA They probably are paper wasps and they’ve actually been around all winter, hiding in
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Wow, the first half of the month of March 2016 was pretty spectacular with lots of sunny days and mild temperatures. I went skiing on March 9th and I think the temperature was in the mid 60’s that day. So I guess we can dig out that old cliché about this most fickle of winter
VIEW MOREA yellowjacket nest grows in size and in numbers of workers as the summer progresses. Many people don’t even notice yellowjackets until late summer. A nest is probably at peak size in mid-August with up to 4,000 worker wasps. At about this time, the nest starts to decline and begins to die off. There are no new larvae produced and worker yellowjackets are no longer collecting insects to feed to the young.
VIEW MOREThis summer seems to be shaping up as a banner year for yellow jackets in the New England. Since early July, the calls I’ve been receiving in my schedule have been non-stop and often with multiple wasp colonies at each account. Nests in the ground, aerial nests on eaves or up under decking have been
VIEW MOREThe main problem with trying to treat a void nest is that the nest is not necessarily right behind the hole where the wasps enter. It can be several feet away in any direction. Your spray, no doubt, didn’t make it to the nest. That’s why it’s important to inject an insecticide dust or a fogging spray that can fill the entire void space. You can sometimes locate the nest by listening for buzzing sounds behind walls (a stethoscope helps). In some cases, an injection hole may have to be drilled to reach the nest.
VIEW MOREEuropean hornets are not “in your face” like yellowjackets and seldom interact with people. Whether you decide to eliminate these wasps and their nest will depend on whether you intend to use that shed or the immediate area, whether you have children or pets that might interact with the hornets, and whether or not the wasps are causing damage to your trees or garden.
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