From beginning of Spring till hot cocoa and sweater weather, we find countless insects buzzing and crawling around our gardens. One specific insect most of us dread is paper wasps.
Did You Know:
• Male paper wasps do not sting, only females do.
• The only location worldwide they are not found is in Antarctica.
• They primarily use dead tree bark and flower stems mixed with their saliva to make that nuisance of a nest at the peak of your second story home.
These wasps most often get confused with hornets and yellow jackets. Now, I don’t blame you if you prefer not to get up close and personal to see the differences in their physical features, but you could observe their behavior. Hornets create large, gray, ball shaped nests and yellow jackets create a majority of their nests under ground. They burrow a hole a few inches deep for entry/exit points. Fortunately, this time of year we see less and less. There are some things you can do to prepare for next spring:
1. Remove any dead wood and debris around home they could use to build nests.
2. Remove sitting water that would attract them-similar to mosquitos.
3. Run like heck if needed!
In all honesty there isn’t too much you can do to prevent them from being on your property, just make sure to stay safe and aware of your surroundings-especially those who are highly allergic!
Written by Devin at Barrier Pest Control
CC image courtesy of RBerteig at Flickr
