What attracts wasps to your house in Sacramento?

Late in the season, wasps come to a Sacramento yard for sugar. They stay if there is a sheltered spot to build.

UC IPM says yellowjacket colonies need large amounts of sugar by late summer, which is why they turn up at open soda cans, garbage, fallen fruit and pet bowls left outside.

Start with the food, then walk the eaves. A nest that is already up is a job for wasp and hornet removal.

Why do wasps show up more in September?

From spring into midsummer, workers mostly hunt other insects and carry the protein back to the larvae. By late summer the colony grows slowly or stops, and the queen and workers need sugar to keep going.

In fall, according to UC IPM, foraging yellowjackets are mainly scavengers. That is when they start landing on plates at barbecues.

They also get more defensive as the season goes on, since the colony is bigger and food is harder to find. Most colonies live one season. The queen comes out in late winter or early spring and starts a new nest from scratch.

What food brings them into the yard?

UC IPM lists these attractants, with a fix for each:

UC IPM notes yellowjackets are sometimes called meat bees. Scrape the grill and bring the plates in after a cookout instead of leaving scraps on the patio table overnight.

Where do wasps build nests around a house?

According to UC IPM, yellowjackets commonly nest in rodent burrows in the ground, and sometimes in hollow spaces in the walls and ceilings of houses. The aerial kind attach paper nests to eaves or tree limbs. Paper wasps pick protected spots too, under eaves, in attics, under branches or vines, and each nest hangs from a short stalk.

The nest at the top of this page was stuck to the underside of a concrete railing with one wasp still sitting on it. Open comb, no paper covering, so it looks like paper wasp work. UC IPM says the open cells of a paper wasp nest can be seen from beneath, so you would only spot this one by bending down.

A slow lap around the house covers most of it: look at the eaves and the vents under them, the underside of railings, deck boards and patio furniture, sheds, and any gap in the siding or trim where a wasp can get behind it.

In the lawn, watch for a hole with a steady line of wasps going in and out, which is usually a ground nest.

Is it a yellowjacket or a paper wasp?

UC IPM describes yellowjackets as medium sized and 1/2 to 1 inch long, black with jagged bands of bright yellow, with a very short, narrow waist. They defend the nest and are more likely to sting if you disturb them while they feed.

Paper wasps are slender, longer in the leg, with an obvious thin waist. Most are not very aggressive, although UC IPM notes they become a problem when they nest over a doorway.

A ground hole with constant traffic is most likely yellowjackets. Keep kids and pets back from it, and do not run the mower over it until it has been dealt with.

Do wasp traps actually work?

Partly. The common heptyl butyrate lure mostly pulls in the western yellowjacket.

UC IPM says adding meat such as chicken may improve catches of the German yellowjacket. Hang traps along the edge of the property, as far from the patio as you can get them.

Yellowjackets forage about a quarter mile, so a trap thins out what is flying around the yard and leaves the nest itself alone. It will not do anything about a paper wasp nest over the front door.

Who handles a wasp nest in Sacramento?

If you live in Sacramento or Yolo County, the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito & Vector Control District may be able to help with a nest in the ground, a tree or a wall. Its technicians will try to spray, destroy or relocate the nest.

The district also says it cannot treat a nest that has gotten into the structure of your home, or one on the upper level of a multi-story building. Requests go through its service request page.

A nest inside a vent, a wall or the roofline is a job for pest control in Sacramento. UC IPM says the easiest and safest way to get rid of a nest that has to go is to call professional help.

When we take one down, the nest gets treated before it is removed. The technician looks at the opening that made the spot attractive, so wasps do not rebuild in it.

Wasp and hornet removal is one of the services we run across Sacramento. Our summer pest guide covers the other insects that peak in the heat. For the rest of the year, see the Sacramento pest calendar.

For a nest in a wall or under a second-story eave, see how our wasp and hornet removal works. Or call (916) 818-3863, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 6pm. If the nest is by an entrance, see our guide to a wasp nest near your Sacramento entryway.

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