While I am ranting about saving native pollinators...  When I was in
entomology graduate school many years ago Dr. R. L. Rabb came to a class
and did a guest lecture on Polistes (paper wasps).  I live in tobacco
growing country and young tobacco plants are plagued by a bud worm that is
hard to reach with insecticides.  Rabb et. al. had observed that Polistes
were very efficient predators of flies, mosquitoes, and caterpillars.  In
his study they installed wasp nest boxes (bird house with no fronts) around
tobacco fields and got good control of bud worms through natural
predation.  As I recall he told us the average wasp nest would consume over
2000 flies and mosquitoes in a season.

So, when someone asks me how to 'get rid' of a wasp nest, I tell them the
fly and mosquito story and they frequently choose life over the bug spray.

Pete, see if you can dig up that paper in the dusty archives.....

Bill Lord
Louisburg, NC

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