Yellowjacket Wasp Control In Vineyards With Poison Baits
aerial wasp nest Yellowjacket wasps (social wasps in the family Vespidae) are significant pests in grape vineyards both in terms of the direct damage they do to fruit but also the impact their aggressive, territorial behavior has on vineyard worker productivity and safety. Fruit Damage Most wasp species forage for live prey, mostly other insects, as well as carrion and plant sap. Maturing grapes are a source of plant sap and wasps will tear the outer skin to get at the grape juice inside causing yield and quality losses . Since wasp nests reach their maximum size about the time grapes mature, this damage can be significant in some varieties, in some years. Worker Productivity and Safety The social wasps build large communal colonies (nests) consisting of hundreds to thousands of individual wasps each capable of delivering a painful sting to an intruder. These colonies are built both above ground (aerial nests, see photo), and below ground in abandoned rodent burrows or oth...