another..

another..

An idea of how bad, when opened some cherries, ..in about 45min. another shot.

I think that might the same kind of wasp that is eating my Autumn Britten fall season raspberries. However, your's do look even bigger. They do ruin a lot of fruit. I'm going to try using a fly trap baited with concentrated apple juice, or maybe some very ripe raspberries.

Konrad, do you know what type of wasp that they are? Are they ground nesters?

In past years, they seem to get worse as the season progresses. It gets to where there are no harvestable berries that haven't been chewed on. Sorry to see them on your cherries.

This post was edited by northernmn on Sat, Aug 23, 14 at 9:32

Those are what are referred to as 'yellowjackets' here. A ground-nesting communal wasp.

I have more issues here with the big European hornets. Any fruits that ripen after mid-August are heavily damaged - to the point of being totally consumed/destroyed. Late variety apples/pears are a no-go, here.

Here is a link that might be useful: European hornet

I had some yellow jackets do some damage and on a lot fruit a few years ago, but haven't had a problem since. I noticed a nest that year was dug up, so maybe enough skunks around here help keep the populations down or whatever eats them.

Yep. Had them here last Fall and they ate up my Fall blackberries. Haven't seen them yet this year though but my Fall blackberries are just now ripening.

Thank you all!
So, not birds then,..first I was thinking birds made the wounds and wasp moved in.

Think Lucky is right on the yellowjackets, I also see the bald faced hornets, ..think this one is just about ready to pounce.

I put about 3 yellow jacket traps up per tree and get them under control in a couple of weeks. They are a problem every other year or so here but if I stick with it I've always gotten adequate control, even for plums.

This year it is the honey bees that are completely bonkers. They must be exploiting any fault in the skin provided by yellow jackets, birds or just defects from earlier insect damage. I believe they are coming from wild hives, which hasn't happened for years and I don't ever remember them being such a nuisance here- only seen it before on a site where the owner keeps like 10 hives (he is not the type to suggest that less can ever be more).

I guess I should be happy to see so many of them on my property but it is weird to see bumble bees in all my flowers and honey bees in all my fruit. The yellow jacket and its black and white faced relative are not all that present so far this season. I with they'd chase the honeybees away so I could solve the problem by trapping wasps. I don't want to be killing honey bees.