Yellow jackets

[RedThumb]

Just a quick update on my yellowjackets...
I never saw them in my garden before. Since they cleaned out my tomato worms, I haven't seen them again. They must be living in a neighbor's yard and just came over cause they smelled(?) the caterpillars.

Works for me.

 

[RedThumb]

... I found it by accident when one of the little assholes bit me on the shoulder! ...

That's terrible! Did it get sick?

 

[Pam]

That's terrible! Did it get sick?

ffffhhhhpt!

 

[gardenkiller]

gardenkiller - did you catch that blue mud ? after finding out the name of that species, its not a evil bee/agressive bee. which matches my experience with them, they just fly off everytime I've dealt with them but they are rare for my area. but still wicked looking
& thanks for showing the picture of them & the correct name of them, now I can prove to others they do exsist

Word of warning for ya...they are very passive until you try to remove their nests. Very very bad idea, supposedly the stings are much more painful then the average wasp and they attack in groups. Never happened to me, but one of those friend of a friend things, ya know!

 

[chuk hell]

Yellow jackets are closer to hornets than wasps. They live in the ground in large burrows. Lord help you if you stumble across one of their nests. They will defend it with gusto.

Around here we also have a yellowish paper wasp that many folks mistake for yellow jackets but they are not nearly as aggressive. Since they are insect predators I tend to leave the nests alone until my wife nags me enough to destroy them with wasp killer spray.

Poor little wasps.

 

[DevilDuck]

Ah...Mud Daubers. Pretty harmless, but they look like wasps.