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For the past two summers, I have had a type of ground wasp/bee/hornet that baffles me. Can you help?
Builds nest in ground (like a yellow jacket)
Apparently tunnels
Has habits like yellow jackets (in/out during the day, in the nest at night)
Seems particularly attracted to mums, verbena, and coreopsis
Not particularly aggressive. I can go in and out of my front door with dozens of them flying around and they don't sting me.
Doesn't seem affected AT ALL by wasp/hornet killer (I have emptied four cans of the poison into their tunnels, but they seem unaffected by it)
Looks like a yellow jacket, but smaller. One died on my front stoop and it looks like a yellow jacket, but is smaller. I couldn't get a photo before the heavy rains washed it away.
I put out a yellow jacket trap and you should have seen the SWARM of yellow jackets around it. There must have been hundreds of them! I only "caught" one, though.
I think they might be some type of ground wasp. The one I caught looks JUST like a yellow jacket, but is just smaller.
We have the same wasps in our flowerbed in N VA. Small nonaggresive yellow jacket type wasps. the closest thing we could find was a pollen wasp. possibly they have been transported from the west coast? I have even swatted them with no stings so definitely not your picnic pest. Pollen wasps have stubby club antennae. do yours?
Because I'm inclined to let nonaggresive pollinators live, I'm currently trying the mothball relocation method. we are having several guests soon and cant take chances with allergies and large quantities of food and soda.
Did you finally get rid of yours? what city are you near?
I was advised to leave them alone, as they are mostly non-aggressive, and do wonders for pollination. My teen son was stung once, otherwise we weren't bothered by them.
Im not sure if this is right but we had a problem with paper wasps. They weren't aggressive but still a nuisance. I didnt ever see were there nest was so im not sure if it was the normal "paper" nest or if it was in the ground. Wasp traps arent effective against paper wasps but i found one that said it would work...it didnt work. Winter came they died/left and they havent been back this year. I did however see a few buzzing around my flowers but the havent renested where they were. (under a big tree) I dont know if this helps but maybe you can narrow it down. If they came back i would try Seven brand. or Ortho insect killer...I think its effective against a lot of bugs (150) and you can stand far away and spray it with the hose.
Paper Wasp:
The yellow markings are what ID them. If you can catch/kill one and take a good look that might help.
EDIT: Note: Sevin is not a fast knock-down insecticide for wasps. i guess Sevin was bad advice but the Ortho label says it kills wasps.
spraying entrance did nothing and covering nest with 2 boxes of mothballs annoyed them for a day but they did not relocate.
Being a cemented patio flowerbed there was no risk to ground water so I poured a gallon of gasoline onto the nest in dark and rain. Seen 2 wasps since and now gone. Maybe the bait works but did not have time to experiment before garden party.
spraying entrance did nothing and covering nest with 2 boxes of mothballs annoyed them for a day but they did not relocate.
Being a cemented patio flowerbed there was no risk to ground water so I poured a gallon of gasoline onto the nest in dark and rain. Seen 2 wasps since and now gone. Maybe the bait works but did not have time to experiment before garden party.
WTF? So you are saying that this so called flower bed is completely sealed off with concrete on all four sides with water proofing on all the seams to prevent seepage? BS! Pouring a gallon of petroleum distillate like gasoline directly into the ground you have just created a bio hazard that can leak into the ground water system through the capillary leeching process.
So the wasps from last year (whatever they were) are gone and haven't come back to their prior location, but now I have a NEW nest, only about six feet from last year's nest.
I was going to let them be because I know they are pollinators, but a few stung my dog today when we were walking, so they have to go. I have only ever been stung one time, so I don't yet know if I am allergic, but I have multiple anaphylactic reactions to other things and share an allergy profile with my aunt, who has anaphylactic reactions to bees and wasps. Therefore, I don't want to risk being stung. Knowing that the wasps I have now are potentially aggressive, seeing that they stung my dog, I need to take care of them.
Last year, the only thing that seemed to work to kill the wasps I had last year was ten gallons of Sevin dumped into the tunnels (two applications of five gallons). So, I just dumped five gallons into the tunnels of the new nest.
It makes me SO angry to have to use insecticides in my garden. I hate to use herbicides and pesticides unless I absolutely have to do so. But aggressive wasps and hornets have to go, especially when they are *right* next to my front door. I SO wish they would build a nest farther away from my door OR that they wouldn't be aggressive. If that were the case, I would leave them be.
So, we'll see how long or even if the Sevin works...
Oh, AND I had twelve paper wasp nests in my shutters. Those are now gone, too. They were flying into my screens when I stood inside, looking out the window. I think they wanted to attack me.
Why wasps and hornets like my house so much, I do not know. But they certainly do seem happy here.
If this was the 1950's or 60's I would tell you how to get rid of them. We would go to the grocery store and then go to the insecticde section (then only a few items on the shelf). There was a company that made a product called Cynogas. It was basically potassium cyinide. You would put half a teaspoon down the hole and hit it with a little water. You were supposed to be wearing a mask (which was not provided) – so you always checked which way the wind was blowing. You never stood downwind. The bees would fly in and drop motionless when they were three or four feet over the hole.
Ah; the good old days. They don't make effective products like they used to make. I did see that they are bringing back DDT in very limited applications.
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finally gone
paper wasp nests in my shutters. Those are now gone, too. They were flying into my screens when I stood inside, looking out the window. I think they wanted to attack me. 
