Yellow jacket nest

Hi. I had a yellow jacket nest develop in one of my flower beds this spring. Right next to the house and under my sunroom windows. I left it alone since it didn't seem to be a bid deal and I didn't want to pour a lot of poison down the hole where I had just planted a ton of rescued daffodil bulbs. But then their numbers grew and grew all summer. And a few here and there kept finding their way into the sunroom.

My question is: Are they now just going to hibernate all winter and I'm going to have a big and growing-even-bigger nest of yellow jackets next year?

Or is this a one-year-at-a-time nest building type of bug?

Because if they are just hibernating, I want to kill them now while they are sleeping.

Yellow jackets don't nest in the same place two years in a row. I'm not sure if there are other ground-nest building wasps that look like YJ's though--but if you're positive they're YJ's then they won't be back in that same spot next year.

Well, I'm a GA Tech Yellow Jacket myself, so I know for sure that's what they are. ;-)

And that's just the news I wanted to hear! Thanks!

They might of course find a new (and potentially even less convenient) place to nest next year--there are traps you can buy and put out in the spring to catch the queens as they're looking for a new place to live. At my old house every year there would be a nest of them somewhere--always a different spot, but still there somewhere.

I encourage YJ nests in my garden. They are tremendous aphid and other bug eaters. When they set up a nest near a door or frequently traveled area I move them. We have a 2nd story that they like to hang their nests so those I leave and pull down the nest with a plastic bag and move them to buggy areas where the queen gets them going on a new nest. Now I am not talking about the big finished hive just the beginner nests. They will sting us on occasion out in the garden but only once every couple of years. They ARE very aggressive near their nests though. Here they are cleaning up. Late in the summer they get other sources of food and are not as good hence I have white fly eruptions at that time.

Yellow jackets build nests in the ground--if you've got something that's building nests above ground then it's a different kind of wasp.

I'm a fan of YJs too. So far we have cohabitated well. I do a walkabout in the spring to find where the wasp/hornet nests are so we can define our turf.

I have to disagree on nesting of YJ. This is a photo of such YJ at my home off Wilkipedia. go here http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/yellowjackets.htm

Jumping in, and hoping I don't get stung. If your nest was in the open, I would be willing to bet that you are talking about the European paper wasp that looks much like a yellow jacket. Yellow jackets nest in voids - holes in the ground, walls, etc. The European paper wasp's nest would be in the open - under eaves, in bushes, etc. And they are very aggressive. Check this out: http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/pdf/dominulus.pdf

No sting here. I just wilkipediaed the YJ and that is what they gave as a nest. I remember the YJ nests in the ground in Michigan. I had orthopedic shoes that got stuck in a YJ hole and they flew up my pant leg and stung me until I passed out. Since then I have never had a reaction to their venom. But we don't have them here. I guess it is a common name for the Paper wasp also. At least out here in the west. I copied the wrong source. try this one. http://images.google.com/images?q=yellow+jacket+nest&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GFRC_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=9Fo-S5nvLYjitgOHlsjWAw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CBgQsAQwAw

This message was edited Jan 1, 2010 1:29 PM

I guess it's just like plants where multiple insects have the same common name! The pictures in your Google link where you can see the nests that they've built are what I know as paper wasps--the ones I know as yellow jackets nest in holes and don't build structures like that out in the open. They all sting though so I'd stay away from all of them! LOL