wasps?

[T]

Hi All,

I noticed that my back yard rafters have about 10 wasps nests across them.

And, I notice a lot of wasps on my plants too.

They are not aggressive and leave me alone.

Are these guy doing me any good? Are they eating pests? Or farming pests, like aphids? Don't see any aphids.

Question: they are pretty easy to kill. Leave them alone or exterminate?

Presumably, the amount of nests has to do with close proximity to a food source. Correct?

Many thanks,

-T

[hubops]

These work - for a small-ish area somewhat protected from driving wind & rain - like a porch or patio.

They're made of very thin material - will only last 1 or 2 years. No chemicals ; not killing the insects - just asking them nicely to nest elsewhere. John T.

[T]

Interesting. Their own nests don't seem to deter them. But it is worth a try!

[songbird]

as long as you don't go after the nests they usually will leave you alone.

i tend to leave things alone as they aren't causing harm.

wasps eat spiders, some caterpillars (cabbage worms :) ), and are pollinators of various plants so they can be helpful IMO. you will see them on plants searching for eggs and larvae and spiders.

we have rather large populations here with all the rocks and the only nests i remove are those that they try to get going on the eaves of the house and in areas where we're active. i go around with a long stick and knock them down in the morning and then i step on the nests (do i have to say wear good shoes for this? :) ) when it is cool the wasps aren't very active. then the raccoons come around and eat the nests. the raccoons also go around and search under and behind the larger rocks we have for nests and eat those too.

we have several different kinds of wasps/hornets and in all cases i don't get stung by them very often because i keep the nests off the house and away from other places where we're active.

the canned sprays are probably some of the worst poisons i would like to never use them at all.

songbird