# Busy little bees-stupid ass wasps. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 9, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007 "2014-09-09T19:59:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/1 "2014-09-09T19:59:17Z")
MPSIMS of course The house I bought last year has tons and tons of flowers. And this time of year tons of bees. It’s kind of interesting to watch them throughout the summer and fall. Maybe 20-30 hover and dip like crazy around one type of flower for a week or so, then the next week they are on a different one(and I have no idea what any of the flowers are). They don’t bother me, so I don’t bother them, Although there is an industrious huge orb weaver who gets a fair number of them I’m guessing. I kinda want to put a tracking devise one 'em though, I want to know where my nectar is going. 😉 There are several parks within a mile or so, and 500 trillion various trees in yards where they could be, so I doubt I’ll ever know. I think they are honey bees, I’ve never seen carpenter bees that size. Then there are the dumb-ass wasps. Last Friday we had a huge storm and my grill cover blew off. I didn’t get around to picking it up till Sunday night, by which time a bunch of wasps had decided to make a home. I saw them hover to the ground, then walk under it. So I got a long handle with a hook, and flipped the grill cover inside a trashcan and shut the lid. But the little idiots are still hovering around where it was on the ground, looking really pissy after 2 days. I hope we get a good hard rain to wash the damn pheromones away, YOU DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE, GO AWAY! ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/2 "2014-09-09T20:51:10Z")
With the commercial honeybee population in ever increasing peril, it’s nice to see wild pollinators working the flowers. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/3 "2014-09-09T22:37:07Z")
Wasps pollinate too I know, but they really do have an image problem. A deserved one, the little psychos. They could learn a lot from the bumble-bee’s PR department. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/4 "2014-09-10T01:00:56Z")
I don’t mind all wasps. Some mud daubers like to eat black widows. And they’re pretty non-aggressive. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/5 "2014-09-10T03:08:57Z")
Heck, I have a whole colony of paper wasps on the inner side of my garden shed door. I just open and close it gently. They don’t seem bothered. Many kinds of useful wasps, including minute ones that parasitize caterpillars that eat crops. The only ones I’m against, around here, are the ground wasps (yellow jackets). I hates them forever. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/6 "2014-09-10T10:36:04Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The only ones I’m against, around here, are the ground wasps (yellow jackets). I hates them forever. I recommend taking them out from orbit: [Kinetic bombardment - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment) ---
**Author:** ![secretagingman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@secretagingman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/secretagingman)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/7 "2014-09-10T15:35:16Z")
I think the mud daubers are the dumbest of the stinging insects, I have seen them build their nests on shovel handles, garage door cables and on the side of a bag of charcoal. My real enemies are the yellow jackets, I have been at war with them for years. They started it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/8 "2014-09-11T04:35:04Z")
Damn wasp stung me while I was putting my wheelbarrow back. In the armpit! It’s WAR now dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/9 "2014-09-11T06:37:55Z")
I have a trunk full of wasps right now and I’m not exactly sure how to deal with them. We popped the hood and sprayed but quickly shut it back down again. I know more are coming in through the edges and I’ve seen them go inside the gas cap cover too. The car has been sitting a few months with a dead battery but I am going to have to get it cranked up and running soon. The nest was about the size of a human head. No telling how much bigger it is now. Maybe in the winter it will be easier to move. Maybe by winter the entire trunk will be full though. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/10 "2014-09-11T12:20:59Z")
Those sound like bald faced hornets, Rushgeekgirl. They are assholes. ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/11 "2014-09-11T19:31:02Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > I have a trunk full of wasps right now and I’m not exactly sure how to deal with them. We popped the hood and sprayed but quickly shut it back down again. I know more are coming in through the edges and I’ve seen them go inside the gas cap cover too. The car has been sitting a few months with a dead battery but I am going to have to get it cranked up and running soon. The nest was about the size of a human head. No telling how much bigger it is now. Maybe in the winter it will be easier to move. Maybe by winter the entire trunk will be full though. I assume you live in America. If so look for something like Tempo 1% Dust. Put it around the areas that they use to enter the trunk and they’ll carry the death into their nest. If you live in Canada you’re shit out of luck because you need a license to buy/use this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/12 "2014-09-12T01:49:35Z")
We have lots of flowers around our place, including a ground - cover plant similar to ice plant, near the back of our mobile home. Most of the day there is a crowd of bees swarming around the flowers on the plant, doing their thing and ignoring the humans living nearby. We also have hummingbirds hovering around the flowering hedge at the other end of the place. There used to be a wasp nest in a ball - like hanging at the edge of the awning, but we found out it was abandoned–nothing inside but one dead wasp. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/13 "2014-09-12T01:57:38Z")
Every year I get a few wasps trying to build a home under my eaves. Two or three times a summer I have to deny them a building permit. I have found that if you can attract bumblebees to your yard that the wasps seem to stay away. So I plant things like cosmos and spider flowers each spring and along with my spirea bushes, it seems to keep the balance heavily in favor of the friendly bumblebees. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/14 "2014-09-12T04:44:15Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Every year I get a few wasps trying to build a home under my eaves. Two or three times a summer I have to deny them a building permit. > > I have found that if you can attract bumblebees to your yard that the wasps seem to stay away. So I plant things like cosmos and spider flowers each spring and along with my spirea bushes, it seems to keep the balance heavily in favor of the friendly bumblebees. Are the bumblebees those big shiny black things that hover around? ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/15 "2014-09-13T20:44:55Z")
Black and yellow, they look like small fuzzy blimps. Some are more black than others. They do get upset as easily as yellow jackets are rarely sting. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/16 "2014-09-13T23:07:51Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Every year I get a few wasps trying to build a home under my eaves. Two or three times a summer I have to deny them a building permit. > > I have found that if you can attract bumblebees to your yard that the wasps seem to stay away. So I plant things like cosmos and spider flowers each spring and along with my spirea bushes, it seems to keep the balance heavily in favor of the friendly bumblebees. You can also make or build bumble bee nest boxes. I don’t know anyone who has done this. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/17 "2014-09-15T01:46:09Z")
Hmm, there’s an article out there that says the next boxes [don’t work](http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=975&cookieConsent=A). Where I find them nesting is often in a large pot of soil or under the front porch. The nests are actually pretty small and they move the nest every year. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/18 "2014-09-15T05:52:14Z")
I thought there was going to be a link to [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e9NCAfp5-E). ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/19 "2014-09-15T16:54:27Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Are the bumblebees those big shiny black things that hover around? Those big black shiny things are carpenter bees. They bore holes in wood so it’s best to keep them away but I love watching them. The males can’t sting and while females can they rarely do so I’m not afraid of them like I am the evil wasps. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007/20 "2014-09-15T17:14:19Z")
> [@Anonymous\_Coward](#): > > I assume you live in America. If so look for something like Tempo 1% Dust. Put it around the areas that they use to enter the trunk and they’ll carry the death into their nest. > > If you live in Canada you’re shit out of luck because you need a license to buy/use this stuff. I will definitely look for it! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/busy-little-bees-stupid-ass-wasps/698007.md?page=2)