I had a variety of wasps around this past summer but I don't know one from another. Can someone post a photo of a paper wasp so I can decide if this is the tip for me to use next summer? Thanks, Maridell

The wasps love my water gardens. Since they're not particularly aggressive, I don't mind (unlike yellow jackets which are horrible!).

Here's a picture for you Maridell.

Tabby,

Those are scary looking!

I think any of the Polistes species can be called paper wasps. The common paper wasp around here is a plain reddish-brown wasp. I've never been stung by one and the only thing I don't like about them is that they sometimes take off with little butterfly caterpillars. Speaking of their need for water, they frequently will use the small containers of water I leave out in the garden. Sometime last summer, I started finding dead paper wasps in the water. That's very unusual, because the paper wasps can normally land right on the water surface and then fly off again with no problem. I assume the severe drought or heat weakened them. Eventually, all those wasps disappeared...none were left. In fact, all wasps disappeared...until fall brought slightly better conditions...then a very limited number of wasps came around now and then, until really cold weather came.

"the only thing I don't like about them is that they sometimes take off with little butterfly caterpillars"

I never thought about intentionally leaving water out for wasps, LOL but I do keep one shallow plant saucer on the ground by the fence for the Carolina Wrens, and I have seen wasps around it on occasion. We have the Paper Wasps here in Florida and I remember being stung by one a couple of years ago ... the sting was a bit painful!

More interesting facts about the Paper Wasp: http://www.floridabugs.com/Flo... In that link it mentions that they feed on ripe fruit so I guess that's why I see them around at ground level beneath my neighbors fruit trees every year, they must be feeding on the over-ripe fruit that's occasionally on the ground.

tabby, thank you for the great photo. Thier yellow and black colors really stand out! Now that I have seen it I don't think I have paper wasps here.

They love our birdbath, and never bother me, even when I'm cleaning and filling it--they just go about their business til I'm done. The yellow jackets, however, are not patient creatures. I have to spray AT them to keep them from attacking me when I'm cleaning the birdbath!

I love to watch them all summer. They strip the wood off of woodhandled walking spike I have and off of a wood basket planter.
They drink from the cat waterbowl.

I know! And lots of other things go after caterpillars too. That is one reason I often bring the caterpillars in to raise them in containers! And the water containers aren't put out for wasps, but they use them anyway.

Marilyn said:"the only thing I don't like about them is that they sometimes take off with little butterfly caterpillars"

I hate the little beggars! We are beset by them every year. They try to take over my greenhouse, and the barn and get into the roof of our gazebo, and if you get too close to where they have their nests, they get pretty obnoxious. I've never been stung by one, tho. Heh, heh, I have discovered that a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol will take them out very nicely, thank you.

I'll have to try the rubbing alcohol bit. I hate using the wasp killer, but I'm allergic (was stung by 2 hornets a few years ago & I swole up like a balloon!) so I can't really take too much of a chance. They have a real bad habit of making nests inside the grill, too, or the charcoal smoker. But I found they leave my birdies (I love feeding the goldfinches) alone if they have their own source of water.

woofie said:I hate the little beggars! We are beset by them every year. They try to take over my greenhouse, and the barn and get into the roof of our gazebo, and if you get too close to where they have their nests, they get pretty obnoxious. I've never been stung by one, tho. Heh, heh, I have discovered that a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol will take them out very nicely, thank you.

And they don't try and sting you?!

We have them (or some sort of wasp) make nests in the corners of the garage on the outside and in the peak of our dormers every darn year.

The only wasps that have ever stung us at all since moving out here in 1989 was yellowjackets. And that only happened in 2010, after the El Nino rains.

We have paper wasps, yellow jackets and bald-faced hornets here. I've been stung by the yellow jackets (OUCH!), but not by the wasps. And oddly enough, since we got aggressive about reducing the fly population in the barn, we don't see anywhere near the number of hornets. I mostly use the alcohol spray in my GH and for the occasional wasp in the house. They gravitate towards the windows and I just soak them down there. I did dump alcohol on a wasp nest I found on the ground in the garden once. But if you can get them soaked, it kills them just as effectively as the nasty chemical sprays.

Thanks!
This past summer I learned that I have paper wasps in residence.
Got stung once.
It hurt sharply at first but the pain didn't linger long.
I've already put a place for butterflies to puddle just outside where they come and go.'
Good to know it'ss keep the wasps happy too.

Don't you have to change the water daily, just as you for for the birdbaths because of the mosquitoes?

Paul James, host of the former show, Gardening By The Yard on HGTV, said that if you kill wasps, they trigger to bring other wasps in to sting you (something along those lines).

Right. You don't want to stomp on them. Apparently, if you do that, they release some sort of pheromone that attracts more. Which is why the alcohol spray is so nice.

"they release some sort of pheromone that attracts more." That's what Paul James said! Thanks Woofie!