Getting rid of Red Wasps

[cstocks]

Every one seems to have a different name for the yellow striped ones. I argue with some of the guys at work who insist that they are yellow jackets. When I was a kid back in Arkansas we always referred to them as guinea wasps. That is what I still call 'em. They love to nest in the tank farm where I work. I have to be careful during the warm months because I never know where I will stumble across their nests. Good thing about guinea wasps is that, like you say, they are not very aggressive and their sting is not very painful and does not hurt for very long. I never heard that they were enemies of red wasps but my view of wasps is the same as a lot of folks view of snakes. Only good wasp is a dead wasp!

 

[TedLynn]

We have both the yellow jackets and the yellow stripped wasps here.

The Yellow Jackets nest in the ground and are about half the length of the wasps. They are also very aggressive. Sorta kike Palistinian suicide bomber. They will zap you just to show they can! A little gasoline in their hole just around dark takes care of the ones that were inside.

The Yellow stripped wasps build a conventional wasps nest. I normally just walk on by and smile at them. Ted

 

[cstocks]

It's funny about yellow jackets. If you get too close to their nest they will let you know about it in a heartbeat. However, when am outside eating a watermelon or cantalope they come up and buzz around and I can (gently) brush them away with no ill effects. Go figure.

 

[RidgeRunner]

Richard, get out! I'm across 411 from you on the back side of Lanier!

 

[RidgeRunner]

Ted,
I bet the hich-hiking thing is exactly what happened. They prolly crawled into an unoccupied carpenter bee [another fun insect here] hole on a wagon and rode on down to Tejas.