Wasps

[accipiter]

Google "how to stop wasps stripping wood" and decide from the numerous options that come up from using white vinegar and/or a mixture of various types of oils... or maybe get an artificial wasp nest to hang close by. May be too late for this year but should work next year.

 

[pidgeonpost]

Leave 'em alone!
The good they do far outweighs the 'harm'. All too often people get stung because they will fly into a panic and flap or flick the wasp away if it comes near them. Often they flip the wasp onto some innocent bystander, and the justifiably angry wasp reacts accordingly while also releasing pheromones that summon reinforcements.
We've got 2 wasp nests on the property this summer, and they are fascinating to watch.
My wife is less of a fan. Last winter she went to get some firewood and grabbed a pair of gardening gloves that she hadn't worn for a while. She got a sharp stab in her finger, but just thought it was a small thorn or splinter. In fact a queen wasp was hibernating in the little finger of one glove and it got her 5 times before she got the glove off.

 

[alz]

Just used aerosols to get rid of two wasp nests in our garden.
My younger daughter suffered an allergic reaction after being stung by a wasp last year and had to be rushed to hospital after collapsing.
Wasps are not just a nuisance, but extremely dangerous.

 

[D_W]

Not sure what you have over there, but we generally have three types here.

Social paper wasps and mud daubers. They will fly around you, but you have to step on them or get them inside of a shirt to be stung. Their sting is painful, but they are so docile that I've sprayed their nests and haven't done anything to get away and haven't been stung.

And then there are yellowjackets (wasps that will eat both plant and meat - very aggressive) and bald faced hornets (they are aggressive, almost as bad as yellowjackets, and terrible if you attack their nest - plus, they instinctively sting for face and eyes).

The latter two have no redeeming qualities if they're close to where you do anything as they will sting you when you're not really bothering them or doing anything. You can step on them by accident (of course they will sting) or just get close to their nest without knowing it making noise (doing garden work or mowing, etc) and they will sting you in groups. Once you're marked, the others will follow the sting marker and you have to be able to run far enough away to see back toward them to see if they're following. IF you just run a distance and stop, they will catch you and sting you. I stirred a yellowjacket next in a compost pile a decade or so ago (without knowing it) and got stung a bunch of times and ran to the other side of my property into my garage thinking I'd gotten out of line of sight and would be fine - about 15 seconds after I got into the garage, one found me and stung me in the lower back as I was taking my overshirt off to make sure nothing was in it).

I don't bother paper wasps here, though, unless they're making it into the living space in the house. My son got one in his shirt a few years ago and got stung by it repeatedly, but he still has no fear of them. He's also been stung by various bees because his theory (as a little kid) was to squeeze them to see if they sting. Don't ask, we have no idea why getting stung by one would trigger the need to test others that look different later.

(the trick to eliminating hornets here is to set up something to eliminate their nest from a distance and then do it at night when it's dark so they can't see you. Sevin dust is the trusty way to eliminate yellowjackets because they're territorial, view it as an invader to their nest (little holes in the ground) and will chew on the treated dirt around their nest to get rid of it. Hornet's nests burn fine at night if you douse and light them, or if you have to knock the nest off one night and come back and burn it later (e.g., if it's under an overhang and you can't just douse and burn).