June 2006, Volume 3 Number 1

Return to What's Bugging You?

Taking the Right Steps to having a beautiful
and healthful display

Preparing your Lawn for Spring

Bug Out! Homeowners have many things to consider
when choosing an insecticide

Plant Spotlight — Berries

Rose Care

Pest Spotlight - White Grubs

Stinging wasps are just one variety of more than 75,000 species of wasps, including hornets and yellow jackets.  These menaces are characterized by their two pairs of membranous wings and a tube used for laying eggs, known as an ovipositor.  The ovipositor also is used as the wasp’s most feared weapon — its stinger.

While wasps are dreaded by many for their painful sting, only females are capable of delivering the deterrent, as males lack an ovipositor.  Wasps are irritable, for certain, but they will only attack in self defense.

Wasps are both predators and scavengers.  One benefit to the bug is they prey on caterpillars, which munch upon garden plants.  Wasps also are known to consume flower nectar.

Some species of wasps rely on their nests as a base of operations; however some only use nests as a nursery of sorts for young wasps.  They have an innate instinctive ability to fashion nests out of mud, while others burrow into the ground, attach nests to twigs, rocks, and human structures.  The most intricate nests are made of dry wood and bark, and are held together by wasp saliva.

Yellow jackets are universally known for their black and yellow-striped bodies, which are naturally intimidating.  Some, however, have black and white bodies.  Yellow jackets are an aggressive pest and will attack without much provocation.  Feeding on arthropods – grasshoppers, beetles, and butterflies — and nectar, they are often in close proximity of humans, increasing the danger of being stung.  Fortunately, at least for humans, yellow jackets generally live for only one season, their colonies dying in the winter.

Living in hidden bunkers underground or in holes in trees and homes, yellow jackets are very territorial.  They also are attracted to the same foods humans like, such as sweet drinks and hot dogs.  The best way to protect your backyard picnics is to eliminate the yellow jacket threat.  Do this by introducing carbaryl dust to the underground nests at night.  Then put a layer of moist soil over the entrance, preventing the pests from escaping.  Similar tactics can be used to protect against their cousins, the hornets.

The most common hornet found in the United States is the bald faced hornet, noted for its
all-black body, which is almost an inch long.  Disturbing a hornet’s nest can result in a squadron of thousands of angry hornets patrolling the skies.  Nests are tear-shaped and often out of reach.  Luckily, as with yellow jackets, hornet colonies last only a year.  To rid your yard of hornets, treat their nests with carbaryl at night when workers are least active.  Spray the insecticide into the hole then douse the rest of the nest.  Do not attempt to remove the nest until you are certain all the hornets are dead, otherwise you could find an unwelcome and painful surprise.  To be safe, wait a day or two before removing the nest.

A less-intimidating cousin of the wasp is the carpenter bee.  Aptly named, the carpenter bee causes headaches for homeowners by burrowing perfect circles into exposed wood and making themselves at home…in your home!

Carpenter bees are easily identifiable.  Resembling large bumble bees, they have a metallic look to them and have a blue-black body, with green-purple highlights.  They are also covered in yellow or orange hair.

Again, as with the wasp, males are unable to sting, but they do appear to be quite aggressive.  The female, while not easily perturbed, is able  to sting.

It also is fairly easy to tell if carpenter bees have made your home their home.  They are attracted to uncovered wood, burrow within, and lay eggs.  Telltale signs include yellow sawdust with unsightly waste materials in it. 

However, it is simple to deter carpenter bees.  Start by spraying carbaryl in the shoot they created.  Leave it alone for a few days, allowing the eggs to die and exposing the bees to the insecticide.  Then plug the hole with putty or carpenter’s glue.  You also can spray carbaryl on the exposed wood.  Then paint the wood, effectively saying, “No Vacancy”. 

Be aware that stains have proven to be less effective than paint in deterring carpenter bees.

Carbaryl, while very effective in deterring carpenter bees, is deadly to honey bees and should by no means be used indoors.  For the safety of your family and pets, only use products designated for indoor use when treating for pests inside your home.