INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT

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Yellow Jackets

These social wasps live in colonies which number thousands of individuals. These beneficial insects would not anger or threaten us exept that they have adapted themselves to living very closely with us. They take advantage of us by sometimes nesting in the wall voids and attics of our homes where they can go unnoticed all season. They leave the nest area flying outdoors in search for food. However, in the fall, when food becomes scarce and the temperature outdoors cools, they frequently find their way into the living areas of the home. Then they have become a health threat to the home's occupants and most be controlled.

The yellow jackets and hornets belong to the family Vespidae. The yellow jackets are in the subfamily Vespinae. They consist of four genera: "Provespa, Vespa, Vespula and Dolichovespula." In the north temperate zone, wasps undergo an annual cycle. Only queens mated in the fall survive. They spend the winter in protected places such as under bark, stones, shingles and in abandoned rodent nests. In the spring, these queens establish a colony laying from 10 to 20 eggs. Since there are no workers present to help her raise her brood she alone has the burden of foraging for food, feeding the young and collecting wood from which she manufacturers the paper use in nest construction. With the production of these first brood of workers, the queen gives up all her duties exept that of egg laying. She remains in the nest and the workers forage for food and wood, feed the young and enlarge, repair and defend the nest.

 

Bumble Bee

These social wasps live in colonies which number thousands of individuals. These beneficial insects would not anger or threaten us exept that they have adapted themselves to living very closely with us. They take advantage of us by sometimes nesting in the wall voids and attics of our homes where they can go unnoticed all season. They leave the nest area flying outdoors in search for food. However, in the fall, when food becomes scarce and the temperature outdoors cools, they frequently find their way into the living areas of the home. Then they have become a health threat to the home's occupants and most be controlled.

The yellow jackets and hornets belong to the family Vespidae. The yellow jackets are in the subfamily Vespinae. They consist of four genera: "Provespa, Vespa, Vespula and Dolichovespula." In the north temperate zone, wasps undergo an annual cycle. Only queens mated in the fall survive. They spend the winter in protected places such as under bark, stones, shingles and in abandoned rodent nests. In the spring, these queens establish a colony laying from 10 to 20 eggs. Since there are no workers present to help her raise her brood she alone has the burden of foraging for food, feeding the young and collecting wood from which she manufacturers the paper use in nest construction. With the production of these first brood of workers, the queen gives up all her duties exept that of egg laying. She remains in the nest and the workers forage for food and wood, feed the young and enlarge, repair and defend the nest.

Wasps

Polistes wasps commonly have been called paper or paper-making wasps. This name is not appropriate since yellow jackets and hornets also construct nests of paperlike material. Ebeling (1975) proposes they be called umbrella wasps because their nest has the shape of an inverted umbrella.

Nests are usually small (when compared to yellow jacket or hornet nests), containing up to about 250 wasps. The nest consists of a single comb with no paper envelope around it.

A good account of the life cycle of Polistes is given by Evans and West-Eberhard (1970). Mated females over winter in sheltered areas. All females are potential queens -there is no worker caste. Which one actually becomes the queen, or nest initiator, seems to depend on which one begins laying eggs and building cells first. The other females take the subservient role of foraging for food and feeding the young. Evans and West-Eberhard (1970) consider why one female becomes the dominant egg layer when more than one female begins laying eggs at the same time. It seems a contest is begun with females laying eggs and eating the eggs of the other, replacing eaten eggs with those of her own. The one which out-eats the others become the dominant female.

Nests are often built under the eaves of homes and while these wasps are not particularly aggressive, their proximity to living areas threaten many people. Nests are easily destroyed by spraying at night. Knocking down the nest without spraying is worthless since the wasps will only rebuild it.

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