North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Road's End Farm <organic87@frontiernet.net>]

On Jul 20, 2008, at 11:19 PM, Ginda Fisher wrote:

> Hmm, here in eastern Mass, we have
>
> Paper wasps:  Brown critters that nest in paper nests hanging behind shutters, in windows, and other inconvenient places.  Unless the nest is in a very inconvenient place, the critters are fairly harmless.  I've never been stung without stepping on one or something.
>
> White Faced Hornets:  Big scary wasps that next much like paper wasps.  Not too common, so I don't have a strong sense of how dangerous they are.
>
> Honey Bees:  Smaller and chubbier than paper wasps, with fur.  Nest in holes in trees and such in big hives.  Pretty harmless and getting rare.
>
> Bumble Bees:  Pretty much everything else with fur, usually more rotund than honey bees, and live in small nests in the ground.  You pretty much have to grab one for it to sting you.
>
> Yellow Jackets:  These looks like shiny furless honeybees, with a slightly more slender waist.  They live in large underground nests and are very aggressive about defending their nests.  They consider "walking near the nest" as an aggressive act, and can be pretty dangerous.

I have at least all of those here. The white faced I don't see much; they're more likely to be out in the woods; as long as I don't walk into the nest, or run a tractor into one, they don't seem to be a problem. Bumble bees, at least two kinds of paper wasps, yellowjackets, and often honeybees are all over the place. But my yellow jackets don't consider "walking near the nest" aggressive; I walk near their nests all the time. They do consider "tearing apart the nest" to be aggressive; this is most likely to be a problem when they nest in/under the straw bales and I start taking straw for mulch. Even then, if I flee the area for a while, I can come back to the barn later and from only a few feet away peer at them, without getting stung, as they buzz, disconcerted, around the dismembered nest.

And yes, they are yellow jackets. But maybe they're a slightly different version from yours.

I say, jokingly, that I have a peace treaty with the wasps: I won't kill them on purpose, and they won't sting me unless I pinch one. I don't know how to tell anybody else to get theirs to join in a peace treaty, though; although I did once read somewhere that a squashed wasp gives off a chemical signal that causes others to attack. I do my very best not to squash any; but I don't remember where I saw that, and don't know if it's true.

But there are wasps nests of assorted species all over the barns and fields here, including generally some nests on the house; and the only thing that routinely stings me is the sweat bees -- which I had thought weren't actually bees, but I just looked them up and they are -- and that's only if I do pinch them, which happens because they try to drink from wrist or elbow and get pinched when I move, if I didn't realize they were there. The best solution I've found for that is long sleeves.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly