Pest of the Month - Paper Wasps

A young paper wasp queen starting a new colony.

The Bee-Busters Pest of the Month for June is the Paper Wasp. Paper wasps are also sometimes called umbrella wasps, due to the distinctive design of their nests. Here are some interesting facts about them:

• Make paper nests of open cell construction, typically under eaves, decks, soffits and overhangs.
• Beneficial predators of caterpillars and garbage.
• Often enter homes in fall, seeking a place to hibernate.
• Sting if provoked or mishandled.
• Survive for one year only, nests are not reused.
• Fertilized queens hibernate, and build new nests in the Spring
• Can sting repeatedly. Stings are painful.
• Are ½ to 1 inch long and are more slender than Yellow Jackets.
• Mostly yellow with small areas of black.
• Nests consist of a single layer of exposed cells. No protective outer layer exists.
• Colonies are small compared to other bees, up to 200 – 300 workers.
• Feed on insects and are very beneficial to the gardener.
• All females are potential queens, there are no workers castes. The one who begins to build becomes the queen. The other females take on a subservient role of foraging for food and feeding the young.
• Knocking down the nest without proper treatment is worthless since the wasps will only rebuild it.