Wonderful,
Wonderful Wasps!*
The Bad Guy of the Family
Actually the yellow jacket is a good guy in the early and middle summer, when they eat a lot of caterpillars. But in late summer, when their nests have gotten very large, and they are hungry for sweet things, they can be a really, really bad pest. They come to fall picnics, garbage cans, dumpsters, or even you, if you wear some perfume.
They are crazy to get sweet things. Sometimes people mow down the beautiful fall flower, goldenrod, just as it starts to bloom, because they mistakenly think that it causes allergies. But this backfires, because the goldenrod has lots of sweet nectar, and the yellow jackets that were busy in the goldenrod, now have nothing to do but bother you. Goldenrod is one of the most wonderful plants we have; it is beautiful and it does NOT make you sneeze. It is ragweed that makes you sneeze, but you don't notice this plant and its flower so easily.
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Danger! |
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Never drink sweet drinks from a container that you can't see through, during yellow jacket season. This yellow jacket is cleaning up the outside of the can, but she may decide next to go inside. If you get one in your mouth, you could get stung on the tongue or throat, which can be very serious. Keep your drinks covered and in a clear container, when you are in yellow jacket territory.
There's an easy and cheap way to trap yellow jackets, if they have become a problem around your home. Click here for more.
*Note on Protection from Stings
Wasps
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wasp questions and
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