North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

This is a common term here for the whole family.  One thing to keep in mind regarding insect behavior is temperature.  When it's 90 degrees plus, waspers can move faster, sting faster, and probably need to eat more than when it's in the 60's.  Fruit ripens, ie softens faster, molds faster, and thus is more susceptible to insect invasion.  In the south we have more hot days, more warm nights, more fruit ripening in hot weather, and far more bugs in general. 

    I think some waspers enter fruit on their own, certainly the giant hornets seem to.  I don't think I have ever actually been stung picking fruit, but I have sure had to slow down to make sure I didn't pick anything with a wasper on the other side.  When it's small fruit like blackberries and blueberries, picking takes a lot longer.     

    Paper wasps in general seem pretty well behaved.  Even the yellow jackets don't seem too bad if you don't actually step on or right beside their nest.  If they had nice big signs to tell us where the nests were, we could get along better with them.  but they are a lot of bother when you are trying to do things and they are buzzing you, just daring you to bump them.  Paper wasps don't do that.  As for hornets, most of my encounters are when they run into me and continue on their way, in too much of a hurry to think of stinging.  Bumble bees do the same.    Donna