Wasp in arborvitae?

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anastatia Vancouver, WA(Zone 8a) Jun 01, 2007

We are doing some serious topping on our arborvitaes and in 1 of them there is a swarm of wasp when we move a branch. Are they in the ground or the bush? How to get rid of?

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Jun 02, 2007

Unfortunately to answer your question it's necessary to know exactly what it is that you have (unless of course you spotted the actual nest in the shrub!). Yellow jackets I know build nests in the ground, but there are other sorts of things that might build nests in the shrub itself. If they are in the ground, the key is to watch where they're flying in and out of when you're not disturbing them--if you can pinpoint the location of the nest, then wait until evening when they've all gone back home for the night, then blast the nest with Raid (Raid is not good for plants unfortunately--I killed a nice rosebush at my old house trying to get rid of a yellow jacket nest). If they are yellow jackets (not sure if this holds true for other wasps or not), they will abandon their nest sometime in the fall and won't come back to the same place the following year, so if you can hold off on topping that one until next year and the shrub's somewhere that's not right next to a patio, front door, etc, then the best approach may just be to leave them alone and just don't get too close to it especially during the day when they're active.

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anastatia Vancouver, WA(Zone 8a) Jun 02, 2007

Thank you e3. In the mean time my dh got the wasp/hornet Raid out and sprayed the ground area and waited 1/2 hr and topped the bush. No bee strings. But after he topped the overgrown bush he found a blue jay nest. Blue Jays are too agressive for his 'friends' yellow finchs, robins, and hummingbirds so he put the nest in the neighbors tree where there are no feeders. Don't know if the jays will return.

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