[csa]

Just got nailed on my upper arm by one of these beasties. Boy do they get your attention. They evidently are attracted by water, as I noticed them hovering around the hose as I was watering, then wham, it got me!

Be careful out there; this time of year they are more aggressive than ever!

[forensicscientist]

I feel your pain.....I have an tree house for the kids in the backyard. The "lowest' point is just high enough so I can just walk underneath and mow the grass. Also a favorite spot for the yellowjackets' to build their nest. Last summer I was mowing underneath....and well you can see where this story is going.....my head was a tad too close to their nest and they let me know it....must have had 10-12 stings in my hair. OUCH!

The pain goes away in a few hours.....luckily I'm not allergic to the sting...hope the same for you.

regards...

[csa]

Thankfully I'm also not allergic to them. Sure hurts the first day though! Not sure why, but in the Fall, they become more aggressive.

[PJ1]

We have paper wasps - probably much the same. They are a dull orange colour. They react to vibration more than anything else. They build under an outdoor table for example. You sit there working quietly (like just catching up on the Forums) put down your coffee mug with a bump and WHAM on your leg. But white vinegar fixes the sting in about a minute. No need to wait hours for it to go away. We always have a little bottle of white vinegar on the veranda because it fixes most stings very quickly.

[csa]

I'll remember white vinegar; I always have some on hand for outside window washing. I get a welt size of a quarter that lasts a few days.

Thanks.

[monochrome]

Thankfully I'm also not allergic to them. Sure hurts the first day though! Not sure why, but in the Fall, they become more aggressive.

They're preparing their nest for egg laying. Hormones and pheromones make them more aggressive than usual. I had a ground nest in an old stump that wasn't ground out. They got me good, so after dusk I poured a gallon of Malathion down the stump - I had to apply for a use permit to buy the chemical concentrate. Did the trick.

[csa]

Thanks, I wasn't sure why they were more aggressive this time of year. I've never found one of their nests; but I sure don't like them!

[gaweidert]

Yellow jackets have the added bonus of no barb on their stinger so they can sting you again and again. They definitely have an attitude about them.

[ChrisPlatt]

As a child I was attacked by a swarm of yellowjackets when I placed some trash in a receptacle at Palisades Amusement Park.

Freddy Cannon's 1962 hit "Palisades Park"

Chris

[csa]

They definitely have an attitude about them.

Indeed they do!!

[TER-OR]

Yeah the yellowjacket paper wasps are the most trouble. Even hornets aren't so aggressive. The orange/brown paper wasps are teddy bears in comparison.
These wasps are great predators, though. Each of those brood cells will have a bunch of spiders and insects waiting to be turned into new wasps.

[goatsNdonkey]

Don't confuse the dark brown paper wasps with yellow jackets. Paper wasps are much less aggressive. The locations of the relatively small paper wasp nests are much more predictable. And if you do get stung it's more likely to be by just one paper wasp.

Yellow jackets nest underground and can be just about anywhere in the typical yard. If the nest is disturbed, they swarm and go after the threat. You are likely to get stung dozens of times. If you step near the nest and they go up your pant leg, you have a real problem. And they love sweet drinks and go into soda cans and beverage glasses at a picnic! Making the likelihood of getting stung on or in the mouth or on the face very possible.

In my experience, it can take multiple insecticide applications to kill a large yellow jacket nest. If you want to reduce yellow jackets naturally, NEVER try to eradicate moles from your yard. In much of the US, moles are the principal natural predator of the yellow jackets' underground nests. Moles are territorial, so there is a limit to how many moles you can have in your yard. When you compare the minor damage moles can do to a yard to having you or your kid stung several times, I don't think it is much of a contest.

As for hornets -- the ones that make those large gray foot-ball-sized and larger nests usually on tree branches, we had a hornets nest on the side of our house, about 15 feet above the ground a few years ago. We never had any problem with them. They never perceived us a threat, walking so far below their nest. Also they are very beneficial, preying on a lot of insects many people want to keep out of their yards and gardens. Unless they build a nest on or near the ground, which is relatively uncommon, I leave them alone. If you see them starting to build a nest near the ground. It isn't that hard to break it (from a distance) with a l-o-n-g stick or large thrown object. A small tiny nest won't have a big population. If the nest is damaged a few times, they'll find a better place to build, out of your way, but hopefully close enough that you will benefit from their predation on harmful insects.

[WPRESTO]

Decades back I discovered an underground yellow jacket nest in the yard while mowing the lawn after a couple of stings brought them emphatically to my attention. Thought I would have to do something about them, but unless my nose deceived me, a skunk cleaned them out within a week. For that service I will forgive the skunk that sprayed one of our previous Shelties right in the mouth (she looked as though she'd swallowed an aerosol can of foamy shaving cream - probably lost a year's worth of saliva).

[goatsNdonkey]

Fresh skunk spray is supposed to be bioluminescent -- did you notice whether the Shelty glowed in the dark shortly after being sprayed?

[WPRESTO]

Fresh skunk spray is supposed to be bioluminescent -- did you notice whether the Shelty glowed in the dark shortly after being sprayed?

No. We were preoccupied with getting the irritation out of her mouth, then getting the stench off her face (the latter mostly by damp toweling).