Wasps, Hornets and the changing season

[Tecate]

Good day fellow DI’ers.

With the cooling temperatures overnight here in the usually frozen north we are having an exceptionally bad time with stinging insects. Yes every year is the same, but this year they are extremely aggressive and quick to sting.

I am allergic, not anaphylactic, but usually require a quick trip to town for IV steroids and fluids.

My work partner decided to take on a medical standby gig for a rodeo and chuckwagon races this weekend and said that they had dozens of of sting injuries as well as six that required transport to hospital in one day.

At home here I hang a few of the fake nests around the place as well as under the deck and that usually helps a lot. This year the little bastards have built a nest about 25-30 feet up a Spruce right in front of my deck. Too far to reach with the spray foam stuff unfortunately, but they are bad ! Really bad.

Any of you folks having the same experience?

Tecate

[Maxmars]

Here in the area of Maryland, I haven't seen as many wasps this year as in prior years.

I usually have to contend with at least a couple of places on the property where I have to intercede and remove a nest (hive?)  but not this year.

But then we do have a lingering problem with an invasive species that - as far as I know - has nothing to do with wasps... lantern flies.  Why they would be around in numbers and wasps simply 'gone' I have no idea.

I believe I have only seen one wasp all season... maybe they found it better where you live and are all migrating there... blame climate change... everyone else does.  Not that it helps anything.

I once heard that if you set up a bird feeder nearby, the wasps will move away... I can't vouch for that... it might just be an urban legend.

[FlyingClayDisk]

Wasps, thousands of them, every year around this time.  They get so thick on the sides of the house that there's barely 2 feet without one sitting there.  They also hover all over the place in front of the doors.  Fortunately, they're totally non-aggressive and we've never been stung by any.  Well, I was stung once by one that I accidentally sat on, and it stung me behind the knee.  But generally they are just hovering around.  And there's a weird twist to the wasps too.

When we first built the house they didn't show up, but after a couple years they began to show up.  Their numbers seem to vary, but in the hot months of late July, August and early September they're out in force.  I'm not a bug expert, but have a friend who is an entomologist, so we consulted him about the issue.  He positively identified them as paper wasps which is weird because there's no nests.  When I say no nests, I mean like "zero" nests...and we've looked, and looked...and looked.  According to him, paper wasps generally don't travel more then about 300 meters from their nests.  We've scoured the area for a half a mile in every direction and not found a single nest, so we have no idea where they're coming from.

I read an article recently which suggests that paper wasps sometimes take up residence in dirt cliffs, and we do have one of these on our property...a big one.  Because it's about a 50' foot cliff with a creek below it and soft dirt at the top, I can't really rappel down it so I haven't been able to see if this is where they're coming from, but when I stand on top and look down I don't see any wasps.

I'd really like to figure out where the wasps are coming from because I'd like them to be gone.  We've always wanted to raise bees, and you can't really do this if you have many wasps around because they'll kill the bees (which pisses me off).

Anyway, the mystery continues.

[CCoburn]

I got into the car a couple years back and sat on one and it stung me right in the ass. I didn't even know what it was at first, it just felt like I got poked by something really sharp, and it was when I got out of the car to see what it was that I saw it was a wasp. I stopped by my friends work to see if she had anything to put on it, but it mostly just seemed like a joke to them, so I just brushed it off and went about my day and the effects were minimal.

They do build nests around the house here. Last I knew there was one on the porch, but I think that one has since expired, and the birds also build nests under the porch roof where there's like seven little cubby-holes that run the length of it. There was also one near the top of the fireplace chimney. They do occasionally get into the house, but I just can't tolerate killing shit much anymore(unless it's a fly), so I just fold up a paper towel and try to grab 'em and toss 'em outside which works on the first try maybe four out of five times.

Wasps are pretty scary though. Spiders on the other hand, they don't seem to bother me as much. When the indoor cats get fleas somehow, those can be pretty invasive at times, but 'mostly' for the cats.

[jaded]

Good day fellow DI’ers.

With the cooling temperatures overnight here in the usually frozen north we are having an exceptionally bad time with stinging insects. Yes every year is the same, but this year they are extremely aggressive and quick to sting.

I am allergic, not anaphylactic, but usually require a quick trip to town for IV steroids and fluids.

My work partner decided to take on a medical standby gig for a rodeo and chuckwagon races this weekend and said that they had dozens of of sting injuries as well as six that required transport to hospital in one day.

At home here I hang a few of the fake nests around the place as well as under the deck and that usually helps a lot. This year the little bastards have built a nest about 25-30 feet up a Spruce right in front of my deck. Too far to reach with the spray foam stuff unfortunately, but they are bad ! Really bad.

Any of you folks having the same experience?

Tecate

Fun.Fun.Fun!!
The glue, not your problem. I use these to pull poison ivy, add a mosquito netting hat an you could have at it! 


https://www.amazon.com/Greenour-Disposab...179&sr=8-7

[Tecate]

Wow! That would be great if I could get up to it.
And of course if I wasn’t severely allergic.

Holy smokes what a great idea!

Tecate