In our greenhouse this year a wasp colony formed without anyone noticing.

But luckily the particular species in there is very peaceful and has a comparatively small colony. What is very interesting is that this species does not enclose their nest but build it in a completely exposed way. Very cool as you can always see whats going on in the nest.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldwespen#/media/Datei:Nido_d... This is a picture from wikipedia showcasing the unique nest structure.

I have a lot of them around my house in eastern France. Not dangerous at all (if you don't attack the nest of course) so I let them be.

They're a new specie here, before it was too cold for them to thrive.

It is odd to see a perspective that advocates for the protection of hornets because they predate 'annoying or harmful' insects, since I can't really think of an insect that is more annoying or harmful than hornets.

I think they might mean agriculturally. I have seen tomato hornworms parasitized, and various types of wasps carrying things like grasshoppers or caterpillars. So they can be beneficial.

I hate yellow jackets, but most other types seem pretty docile.

I'm curious what insects the author had in mind.

I have a deep hatred for hornets, but I can think of some other insect species I'm happy to keep in check: mosquitoes, ticks, horse flies / deer flies, cicadas, etc. And probably some caterpillars that can damage our trees by eating their leaves.

I'm not sure wasps do much for most of those. There is the "Cicada Killer" though... https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/publications/E-254/E-254.h...

Other wasps will catch spiders and use them as food for their young.

It depends on what people call "hornets". Wasps are generally pretty chill, even the stinging kind. And provide a lot of benefit to gardeners. Yellow jackets are ill-tempered and very territorial. I have no idea what benefits they bring.

For anyone else that hates yellow jackets, hanging yellow jacket traps early in the year will help catch queens and reduce their overall population for the year. My 2 traps caught 13 this year.

I will have to remember that next year. I just (hopefully) eliminated a nest along my front walkway. I usually get stung at least once every fall (that seems to be when they are most agressive) usually in the leg or foot and I'll swell up to to the point I can't wear a shoe for a few days.

I got rid of my annual plague of yellow jackets by replacing the rotting wood roof shingles with asphalt shingles. I wish I'd known about that years earlier!

(Yellow jackets love to nest in rotting wood.)

Interesting that wasp queens (hornet and wasp are basically synonyms) last only one season while bee queens last for several.

Ant and termite queens can allegedly live longer, even decades. What an existance!

> wasp queens (hornet and wasp are basically synonyms)

While you are correct in your usage of “wasp queens” when talking about hornets, it’s because hornets are a type of wasp. It’s important to know the distinction if you share a habitat with both, though (even if just to know what type of nest is growing under your awnings).

Or competitive high schools where these are the two different mascots.

Like the Leopards vs the Panthers?

I was specifically thinking Hornets vs Wasps, but sure, that works too. Although, is a leopard also a panther or vice versa? Not sure where the leap here happened...

It depends on the bee species, e.g. Bumblebee queens only live for one season.

No mention of the underground-dwelling yellowjackets ("meat bees") that infest northern California picnics. They are definitely not friendly, and not in short supply.

TIL recently: Skunks eat yellowjackets, digging up the entire nest.

I think these are actually https://extension.psu.edu/german-yellowjackets so I'm kind of confused.

>Unlike wasps, hornets don't plague picnic areas in the summer in search of food. There is thus no danger of being stung in the throat by a hornet!

I'm not sure about this either - they seem attracted to open cola cans.

Well, that just sounds like another great reason to not drink sodas! Then again, not getting stung in the throat by a hornet is pretty compelling for just about anything though.

Yellow jacket traps are awesome. Put them out early so you catch the queens. I caught 13 queens this year. That should hopefully mean 13 fewer nests. I'm starting to catch some workers now.

I was stung by a yellow jacket yesterday in my heel on a hike, bugger made the rest of the hike miserable as every step I took with my left foot resulted in shooting pain up the leg. At the very least it made the day interesting.