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Paper Wasps
Characteristics
Size: Most species are about 1 inch in length, but a few may be
as small as 1/2-inch or as large as 1-1/2 inches. Color: Many are reddish-brown
or dark red. Some species are more orange, while others have varying bright
stripes of red and yellow.
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Habitat and Behavior
The key to identifying paper wasps is the shape of the nest -- a round,
upside-down paper comb that is attached by a single stalk to a horizontal
surface in a protected location. This paper nest resembles an umbrella, lending
to these wasps nickname, "umbrella wasps." The colony starts out each spring as
a single queen that has overwintered in a protected site, such as beneath bark,
within leaf litter or inside the walls or attics of buildings.
The queen finds a suitable nesting site and constructs a small comb nest in
which she raises her first brood of larvae. These larvae mature into adult
workers which then begin to forage for food, care for the new young, and enlarge
the nest. Paper wasps are predators and feed on insects, spiders, and
caterpillars. Most paper wasp colonies number only a few dozen workers, but
under the right conditions, a colony might produce more than 100 workers. In
early fall, the colony produces queens which fly out to find a site to
overwinter. Having found such a site, these queens release a chemical pheromone
which attracts other paper wasp queens to the site. In some cases, dozens,
occasionally hundreds, of paper wasps may be attracted to a chimney or attic of
a home or to the walls of a commercial building.
During warm winter and spring days, wasps may "awaken" and work their way
into the building, often ending up inside living spaces where people may
encounter them.
Most paper wasp nests are located in exposed areas beneath soffits, in the
corners of windows, under awnings, under porches, and beneath decks. These
wasps, however, will also nest within voids and other protected sites, such as
gas grills, electric outlet boxes, behind shutters, inside coach lamps, in
horizontal pipes of clothes lines, in horizontal vent pipes on the roof, in hose reels, attics, and crawl spaces. They
often enter attics through holes in the soffits, attic vent screens, and
underneath shingles.
This diagram is a basic illustration of a few of the many areas that wasps
will nest.
A - Under a window sill, starting a colony between the studding.
B -Between the studding, entering through a crack or crevice..
C - A colony between the ceiling joists, entering under the eve, or through
another crack or crevice..
D - A colony in the attic, entering under the eve, or another crack or crevice..
Possible points of entrance.
Control
 Exposed Paper wasp nests are usually easily controlled using a wasp treatment product
such as Wasp Freeze, Wasp-X, Tempo, or
Suspend.
The nest can be knocked down once activity has ceased. On structures where continuous paper wasp
nest building occurs, treatment of the affected areas with a residual
insecticide such as Tempo, Demand,
or Suspend can be applied.
Good
elimination of paper wasps can be eliminated during the early morning or evening
when most of the wasps are in their nest. They can be treated in the daytime
as well. Make sure you do not stand
directly below the nest during treatment. Most wasp and hornet sprays
cause insects to drop instantly when contacted by the insecticide.
Standing directly below a nest increases one's risk of being stung.
Personal protective clothing should be worn if possible.
 If
the nest is not exposed, or hidden within a void or other protected sites, you
can treat these areas with any number of formulations including dusts, aerosols,
or residual insecticides. We like using Delta
Dust because it permeates the space we are targeting. This is of
course a non-living space. Examples of these areas may include, electric
outlet boxes, behind shutters, inside coach lamps, in horizontal pipes of
clothes lines, in horizontal vent pipes on the roof, in hose reels, or in
attics. If you run the risk of being stung, make sure you are wearing the
proper protective clothing.
 The
EPA recently approved Termidor for targeting paper
wasps and yellow jackets. Termidor was originally designed for termites,
and sequentially for ants. It is a great product for social insects, and
it is proving itself again as a great tool for treating paper wasps as well.
While it is NOT a knock down product, it is extremely effective at colony
elimination. Termidor is simply the best.
Preventative Treatments
Wasps forage constantly for new places to nest in the Spring and places to overwinter in the Fall. Treating the structure with a
residual insecticide such as Tempo or
Suspend will help protection, and will most likely
repel them from attempting to nest.
 Directly
treat areas such as the under side of eves and soffits, undersides of gas
grills, around electric outlet boxes, behind or on shutters, in horizontal
pipes of clothes lines, in horizontal vent pipes on the roof, in hose reels, on
cinder block walls, or under decks and canopies.
 Treating
cracks, crevices, and voids with a dust formulation such as
Delta Dust or Drione
works great for preventative as well as curative purposes. Treat all
cracks high and low. Any place that has a 1/4 inch gap or larger can lead
to a comfortable, secure cavities.
For application equipment, you may need the B & G sprayer,
the Bugwieser, the
Hudson Sprayer, or the
White Crusader Duster.
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Question: "We have a
lot of wasps in our structure in the Fall and in the Spring. We
can't locate any nests at all. Where are they coming from?!!!!"
Answer: This is a
common problem, especially in cooler climates where wasps and other
insects must overwinter. In these cooler climates, the wasp society
starts to break apart in the Fall. The workers stop caring for
young, the queen stops laying eggs, and a large number of new queens and
fertile males are then produced from the final batch of larvae in the
nest. The male and female mate, and the male dies. The newly
inseminated females are the future queens of next years nests. These
females will start foraging for a place to spend the winter. It may
take several days for her to find a suitable place. During this time
she will buzz around surfaces, cracks and crevices in search of a suitable
place to overwinter. Once she finds a suitable place, she will move
in and wait out the winter.
During this time, wasps may "awaken"
on warmer days and work their way
into the building (instead of out). As a result, they often end up inside
structural spaces where people may
encounter them.
So, what can you do? Well,
exclusion would be best. If you can build them out, it will prevent the
problem for years to come. In commercial and residential structures,
treating the exterior as mentioned above may provide some relief. If
you can make surface applications in non-living areas such as attics, you
may get results if the wasp forages across these surfaces. In
commercial structures, a surface treatment may be accomplished to the
walls above a suspended ceiling for instance. |
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