Have you actually been stung? You should take some trouble to understand if you have yellowjackets or paper wasps. They look very similar. But paper wasps are non-aggressive. They will sting if you threaten or abuse them, but otherwise will ignore you. Yellowjackets are aggressive. They'll sting you just for the heck of it. Paper wasps have yellow/orange antennae. Yellowjacket antenae are black. I can't see from your pictures.

Yellowjackets nest mostly in cavities in the ground. Paperwasps build aerial nests out of mud and wood pulp.

Yellowjackets are scavengers. They're the ones that like human food. Especially sweet human food. Paper wasps feed on live insects. Mostly caterpillars.

And yes, both are garden-beneficial insects. Most ag specialists suggest leaving paper wasp nests in place. We have paper wasps all over the place. People are scared to death of them, but I think they're quite wonderful. I have been stung a couple of times when I accidentally disturbed a nest with my hand or arm. But otherwise, we get along.

Is your child allergic? If not, then nope, lol, I personally won't offer advice to get rid of them. More seriously though... getting stung is not really something that happens in a garden. Unless your child has not been taught to leave them alone, or has not been taught by the bees/wasps themselves to leave them alone, they won't sting unless they are molested, or their hive/nest is threatened. When in a garden, again... unless they perceive a threat to their nest, wasps and bees are working. And they are not territorial for food source. Wave your hand through a cloud of working pollinators and they just move on to the next flower.

And... unless someone is allergic, please consider not harming these beneficial creatures. They are not, in any way, malevolent. In fact, they are essential for the survival of, well, almost everything. I understand it can be scary for a child to be stung, but that's life. Trying to fit nature to our anxieties and whims is... sorry to be so blunt... but foolhardy.

If they are allergic, then perhaps gardening, especially without an EpiPen around, may not be the best hobby until they are mature enough to understand that very real danger.

Actually, yellowjackets and wasps aren't efficient pollinators. That's because they aren't fuzzy. So they don't pick up much pollen. What draws them to flowers are the bugs they expect to find in them. Interestingly, while both are carnivores, yellowjackets develop a strong appetite for sugar late in the season, when the demands for larval feeding become larger. That's also when they get particularly hostile, and are on the march to find human food. So if your kid's mouth and clothes are drenched with soda pop or fruit juice, yellowjackets be all over him or her. Also, to the extent all these wasps look for flowers to find meals, avoid wearing bright colors.

I notice both your wasps are on the wooden boards of the beds. Do you hear them chewing the wood for their nests?

Hmmm... dan, were you referring to my comment? If so, you'll notice - when you go back and read a bit closer, that I did not call either of these wasp species 'pollinators'.

What I said was that none of these beneficial creatures are territorial for food. AND... to make that point, I brought out that pollinators - for instance - will just move on when disturbed by a waving hand... unless directly molested.

Whether it is a bee that is gathering pollen, or a wasp that is hunting, these creatures are beneficial in gardens and are not territorial while working. They are only territorial around their nests, and can be defensive if they perceive a threat to themselves.

I always prefer to keep wasps, and I have many nests around the garden. I've not been stung once so long as I don't mess with them. I prefer to keep them due to the fact that I've actually witnessed them eating bad bugs that terrorize my crops. I like this!! It is your choice though. You could consider spraying them if you want to get rid of them, so long as the plants are not sprayed. Honestly you need to find their nest, the source, before anything can be done.

Floral_uk Yes!!’ What does that mean?!

I don’t hear them chewing but they were always on the wooden stakes I used from last year. As I thought that was the problem I bought plastic stakes and tossed the wooden ones deeper in the back yard about 30 yards away. But that didn’t much change the amount in this garden bed. What does this mean? Will they just use some wood from my raised bed and move on shortly? Does this indicate which type of wasp these are?

there is also lots of talk about pollination and eating bugs but these wasps (if I’m labling correctly) were noticed on the wooden stakes abound a month ago when weather warmed up before I transferred any plants outdoors .... so I’m confused as to their current food source & attraction to my garden

Jacoblockcuff,

Any tips to finding the nest?

I have transplanted and watered with them flying around. They don’t appear to care I’m there. Again though, I have an almost 5 year old and can’t predict any kind of ‘swatting type reaction’ if one flies on his face or clothing or whatnot and I want my garden to be an enjoyable experience rather than a life lesson about not bothering wasps or learning about a newly found allergy.

So I can appreciate keeping them around, this doesn’t appear to be a good year unless, maybe, I’m sure these are the less aggressive type wasps.

Additionally, I do not want to spray chemicals near my garden so I’d need a different plan if you can suggest one.

They are not eating the wood, they are chewing it off to make the 'paper' for their nests. They will probably also be taking prey from amongst your plants.

I agree with the other posters that wasps, at least the types I'm familiar with, are not a big problem and a five year old is old enough to learn to avoid annoying them. The only times I've ever been stung were when I trod barefoot on stunned wasps lying on the ground. And that's about three times in my whole life.

We're talking about wasps, and you're saying "Wave your hand through a cloud of working pollinators and they just move on to the next flower." So I'm just pointing out that wasps aren't included in the example given. If you wave your hand through a cloud of yellowjackets, they'll come after you.

I'd be careful about yellowjackets. I was picnicking in the PNW, and yellowjackets were swarming at our food. They bit and chased. Even when we were just trying to get out of the way. They're mean. I don't think a smile from a 5 year old is going to deter them.

Frankly, if I found a yellowjacket nest, I'd get rid of it.

Err, I remember the episode when I stepped in a mouse run now occupied by yellow-jackets. My clothes were discarded somewhere between the pond (where the nest was) and my house...as I fled for my life, and only got about 5-7 stings (which were quite painful..thus the declothing).

I had little care if I was giving my country neighbors an eyeful. I appreciate the balance of nature, but i went and flame torched that nest that night.

Are you very sure you aren't just transferring your own fear of the insects to your child? Insects of all kinds are a normal part of gardening. An intolerance for bugs doesn't allow for much gardening.

Has he/she ever actually been stung? If not then why teach a child an unwarranted fear of something in nature? If so, it is a normal part of childhood and has happened to all of us at one time or another. Unless you know for a fact that the child is allergic then any harm is minimal and the benefits far outweigh the risks.

I didn't read rgreen's posts the same way as Dan apparently did but while wasps may not as efficient at pollinating as bees they do some pollinating (some even have some hairy bodies) but their main benefit is pest control.

Dave

As deduced by floral_ , both are paper wasps; the bottom image is the common European Paper Wasp, widespread in North America, the top image may be one of several:

https://bugguide.net/node/view/572

These wasps are not aggressive except near nests; I would keep an eye under eaves, gutters, and other overhangs on your property. If they build nests near doors it can be unsettling; otherwise the smallish nests, once vacated later in the year, are easily removed.

Excellent. I'm curious, Logician, how did you deduce that? The pictures weren't that detailed. But yes, paper wasps are generally "nice guys". Don't put your hand in their nest and, if you knock the nest down, assume that they'll be kinda mad at you. But they'll work hard keeping bad caterpillars at bay in your garden, and if your kid flicks his or her hand at them, they shouldn't be upset. I should note that if one DOES sting you, it's painful at first but, at least for me, the pain goes away very fast. In just a couple of minutes.

I should add that last year I had a goodly-sized paper wasp nest (about a 6-inch chunk of nest) on an eave adjacent to the front door. They were busily buzzing around up there. My wife insisted that I remove it before Halloween, when kids would be coming to the door. But instead, I just put up some paper decorations to hide the nest, so the kids wouldn't get freaked out. Halloween came and went, and no one got stung. Nor did anyone get freaked out. I was that confident that the paper wasps would behave themselves, and they did.

Wasps seem to get a lot more active, and seem more agitated, when the sun is shining bright and hot (like perhaps about 97° F. and up).

We get a lot of wasps in our garden (multiple kinds, but there's a dominant kind every year, which can change every year to every few years or so). We're generally removing nests from maybe mid April to late September.

Dominant kinds have been known to be yellow jackets, a yellow and black kind with dangly legs, a yellow and black kind without particularly dangly legs, and a mostly black, with yellow, wasp. There are other kinds, though. I get the feeling there's more than one species of yellow jacket, too (some of them are huge and some aren't).

This year, and last, we have the predominantly black kind (with yellow), and I saw one huge yellow jacket, today.

I could comment on stinging, but I think I'll refrain.

Keep the paper wasps if out of harm's way - good guys, nest are small with up to 15-20 wasps is typical size.

Destroy the yellow jackets nest (in ground) if you can locate it on your property. As the season progresses the nest can grow to contain hundreds of these worthless buggers and if you find it by accident (expl, lawn mowing) they will find you too as an angry swarm.

While mowing the lawn one day, I brushed up against a shrub that must have hidden some wasps, because 2 of them immediately stung my arm, causing big welts that lasted almost a week. The man checking my house for termites was stung while doing the inspection. Paper wasps do sting! They are very common in my neighborhood. If you don't want to use a chemical spray, you can knock down their nests with a strong stream of water. Do it near dusk, bundle up, and run inside right after.

I never said paper wasps didn't sting. I said they stung when you were aggressive towards them. You poke at their nest, and they'll make you pay. But yes, your response to their sting will depend on your body chemistry. Yellowjackets will sting just because you're there.

Vgkg,

any advice for how I find it? Ideally without havibf 500 attacking me

If, as noted, you have paper wasps and not yellowjackets, I wouldn't be worried. But a paper wasp nest will be hanging from something protected. Under an eave or maybe a branch. In fact, I've never seen them under branches. They really like houses! Finding it will not lead to being attacked. Trying to destroy it will.

dan, I did not deduce anything, floral did. m_golds 2 images were highly detailed. When insect ID or advice is posted directly to the Insect nature forum (rather that the more general forum here), you would be surprised how many IDs are done from small, blurry pictures. All of the bugguide images in the link have click-to-magnify options.

lgteacher: Hornets sometimes use dense shrubs to build their papery nests, hornet stings are known to be severe.

m_gold: Any wasp or bee nest or hive containing 500 or more insects will have an obvious source because there will be a dozen or more coming and going from the entrance in mere seconds during the day. The entrance may be in a place on your property not visited daily or even weekly.

My wasps are all welcome. They eat cabbage worms.

Wasps of all types are welcome in my vegetable garden, since they are voracious insect predators. I plant yardlong beans & cleome in my garden each year, specifically because both are attractive to wasps. Thanks to them, there is hardly a caterpillar to be found... and if aphids get bad, the wasps will feed on them in great numbers. Yardlong beans produce a substance which makes wasps unusually docile; wasps are plentiful there once flowering begins, but I have only been stung once... when a wasp was on the back side of a bean as I grabbed it.

That being said... tolerating wasps which hunt in the garden, and tolerating their nests, can be two different things. Even paper wasps - which are generally non-aggressive - can be dangerous if they nest in a play set, or over a doorway. Two of my grandchildren were stung in the same year, by wasps which nested in the tubing over the swing set.

As already mentioned, some wasps (such as yellow jackets) are naturally aggressive. Hornets - not to be confused with paper wasps - are aggressive too. Both make very large nests (up to several hundred) and can attack in huge numbers. It has been my observation that the more aggressive wasps are short bodied; those with long bodies seldom sting unless provoked. I don't know anyone who was ever stung by a mud dauber.

Thank you Logician. I envy expert identifiers of plants and bugs!

Good point about it hanging on a play set. Get rid of that one. But unless it is right over a doorway, such that confused paper wasps can find themselves indoors, things will be OK.

any advice for how I find it? Ideally without havibf 500 attacking me

m_gold, you may not be as foolish as I am ;-) but a while back I found a hornets nest in our attic, I traced them back from eating my pears in the backyard. I carefully armed myself with 2 cans of hornets nest killer (shoots a 20' stream for about 15 seconds, shake Well!), I carefully went back up there and unloaded both cans on them at maximum range as the nest soaked it up like a sponge. The loud humming of the hornets inside was making my chest vibrate, I felt that primal fear gene activate, nyuk. As the cans fizzed out I dived down the steps and closed the hatch. After a couple of days they were toast.

As for your ground bees such as nasty swarmers like yellow jackets I'd see which direction they take off to once they got their load of pulpwood. Sometimes as the sun/shadows progress during the day you might see them coming and going from their ground nest like a stream of gnats, viewing is best early and late when shadows are long. If you go after them with 2 cans I'd have an overturned 5 gallon bucket on hand with an extra can of fogger to toss under. place brick on bucket, this is best done at dusk when the YJs are all back in the nest .....or.....there's always the professionals ;-)

btw, if it's not located nearby and in areas where you or your daughter are not going around it's probably fine. I don't know the range of YJs but if you see a lot of them they may be close by.

Two years ago, paper wasps built a nest underneath the glass top of my patio table, which is shaded by an umbrella. Neighborhood cats routinely used the chairs of the table for sleeping, and I daily used the top of the table as a landing spot for garden stuff. We all got along, and I was able to watch the nest progress through the glass. It was really interesting.

One year back when I had a cherry tree, I put up my ladder one foot from a beautiful bald-faced hornets nest, and picked cherries for a couple of hours. Bald-faced hornets are not aggressive, and they went about their business, as did I.

A number of years ago, yellow jackets took up residence in a compost bin I hadn’t turned in a while. By August, I decided they had to go, but without pesticides. I used a large-diameter insect net, and each day after work I stood in their line of flight and waved the net in a figure-eight motion. The yellow jackets really didn’t like the net, and flew right in trying to attack. I netted over 800 yellow jackets over probably two weeks. Towards the end of that process, I could tell the population was declining, and eventually I saw yellow jackets flying out carrying eggs, which made me a little sad. I hope the population was able to re-establish in a different place. I was never stung, either while I was netting them, or before, when over 800 were flying around the yard.

The above commenter is right: most insects are intent on their business and leave us alone as long as we leave them alone.

I share Dan's healthy respect for yellow jacket nests... especially when they choose my foundation as their nesting place. The nests are innocuous early in the season, but as their numbers increase, so does their aggressiveness. With grandchildren roaming the property, I prefer not to take chances. Since I don't like using poisons, I look for alternative methods.

For nests in my foundation, I position the nozzle of a shop vacuum (with a very long wand) just below the entrance hole... best done at night, or very quickly. The switch is left on, and the vacuum is energized by plugging in an extension cord from a distance. The wasps are usually able to escape the nest by clinging to the wall, but are sucked up by the vacuum when they return in flight - they don't see the threat. This system is a very efficient yellow jacket trap... you don't really appreciate just how many wasps are in a nest until you empty the canister. :-0

Yellow jacket nests in the ground are easy to eradicate. Once you find the hole, go out at night with rubbing alcohol, matches, and a steel bucket. Dump alcohol down the hole, light it, and quickly drive the bucket into the ground over the hole. The flames, fumes, and lack of oxygen will kill the nest.

"Bald-faced hornets are not aggressive, and they went about their business, as did I."

I have been attacked by swarms of wasps several times in my life, and once was by bald faced hornets. They had built their nest in a tree about 10' over the sidewalk. Walking by, I suddenly found myself under attack, being stung, and not knowing where they were coming from! Obviously I ran away, but received about 10 stings before the wasps gave up their pursuit. Fortunately, I was taking an antihistamine at the time for allergies, it reduced the reaction to the stings.

Near my garden I have some ornamental grass closely grouped together (similar to the pic). I don’t cut it in the fall as Birds often enjoy grabbing some of the dry pieces in early spring. I didn’t cut it last weekend because the yellow jackets were close .... is it possible their home is covered or in or attached to these ornamental grass items? I wouldn’t want to cut the grass down only to discover that’s where they live.

also there was talk of following one of thess wasps to find the nest. Is that easy to do? It isn’t super easy to keep an eye on them while they are all flying around.

Thanks to everyone for helping

If the YJs are based in the ground within the bush they could be easily spotted flying back and forth, watch for the sun reflecting off of their tiny wings as they exit the shadow of the bush.

I'm a little confused. I thought the wasps you showed in your picture were identified as paper wasps. But now we're chasing yellowjackets? Paper wasps can certainly set up nests in bushes. Don't stick your hand in the bush.

Yes, paper wasps wear yellow jackets. But they aren't yellowjackets.

Very likely m_gold has both kinds of wasps on the property. The above pictured grass clump is not a likely nesting site for yellowjackets; they require an existing crack/void to set up camp. The entrance to a YJ nest is very obvious as all the insects follow the same flight path in and out for the first/last several feet, it is very orderly and not random.

I should add that yellowjackets usually spawn and pupate in the spring. An overwintering nest is unusual. Bulk emergence doesn't happen for a while. As such, yellowjacket populations, I believe, are especially noticeable in late summer and fall. I've had trouble with them in August! So if we're talking yellowjackets, I don't think you're going to see any swarms of them for a while, and they won't even been making pests of themselves for a while.

On reading up on them, it is possible for them to have aerial nests, or even in bales of hay. Depends somewhat on the type of yellowjacket.