Keeping yellow jackets/ hornets in check

[Doc]

I'm pretty proud of my backyard. When I moved into my home about 4 years ago I pulled out all of the previous owners trees (shade) and planted new fruit trees. I also removed a bunch of 'pretty' plants and replaced the flower garden with a vegetable/ berry garden. I left enough flowers to attract a variety of pollinators, however.

Apparently I did too good of a job. I lost about 1/3 of my peach crop this year to yellow jackets- they actually looked more like european hornets, but I'm no entomologist.

Go pick your damn fruit earlier you say! Well, the problem is these pests are burrowing into the fruit LONG before they are ripe. I don't want to spray chemicals all over my food either. I tried a yellow jacket trap from home depot this year, but only seemed to trap about 100 of them. Meanwhile, on the next branch over I've got another 100 eating my peaches!

Next year I plan on setting the traps earlier and using more, possibly the 2L soda bottle traps that you can read about online. But I now have 6 fruit trees in the back yard, 2 which are producing nicely (4 yr old trees), 2 more entering their first season of bearing (2 yr old trees), and 2 yet to start (just planted this spring). So, I'm going to be having a pretty heavy fruit load in the next few years as long as I can keep the pests out of them.

Has anyone here had good luck with one particular method or another?

Also, there are no Y.jacket/hornet nests in my yard, I keep on top of that and knock them down as soon as I find them, generally before they are golf ball sized. They are coming from various neighbors yards, I'm assuming.

If it matters, the fruit trees are:
1. Honeycrisp apple
2. 20th century asian pear
3. Italian plum
4. Red Comice pear
5. Bing Cherry
6. Peach

 

[zebrabeefj40]

I see a lot of folks here in New England covering their fruit trees with netting. I assumed for the birds but it might also work for the yellow jackets. I'm guessing add it after the bees have done their thing with the flowers and the trees have set fruit but before the fruit is big enough for the yellow jackets to bother with.

Nick

 

[splitshot]

I have realized there are good and bad years re; fruit yield. Next year you might get a good crop, or something like the house sparrow population will explode and then the june bugs will eat everything that is left...Or the late freeze..This year wasn't too bad, a few bird pecks, then the honey bees would would cover the damaged fruit. We were able to pick 2 weeks early and stove off the carnage.

Might want to i.d. the specific wasp and google some of the biological pest management websites. They may have a predator that might keep the population in check.

I might add, most wasps are also pollinators, so it's a catch 22.

 

[Doc]

I might add, most wasps are also pollinators, so it's a catch 22.

Yes- this is the other thing I'm concerned with. We do have some honey bee population, but not as large as the jacket/wasp population.

 

[Joe_E]

Yellow Jackets are ground nesters.
Usually hard to find the nests unless you unfortunately walk near it.