Spokane7
61°
June 21, 2009 in Letters
Partner with yellow jackets
I was disappointed that Dr. Alisa Hideg in her June 9 column advocated placing yellow jacket traps as a means of protecting yourself from the possibility of a sting.
It has been my experience that if you leave yellow jackets alone they will leave you alone. In return, the yellow jackets, who are very active predators, will keep your yard free of mosquitoes and other bothersome insects. It is estimated that one yellow jacket consumes nearly its own weight in insects, including mosquitoes, daily.
In the past we enjoyed our backyard, which we shared with a number of yellow jackets. Since our neighbors have decided to install traps, however, the backyard is empty of yellow jackets but full of mosquitoes, and there is no enjoying it unless you’re willing to slather DEET all over your arms and other exposed surfaces and drench your clothing with it. And who wants that stuff all over themselves? Too often now we just stay inside.
Of course we can kill everything around us, or walk around wearing DEET, the lemon eucalyptus repellant she mentioned, or spray Listerine around, which a friend advocates. But why can’t we just leave things alone and let nature take care of it for us?
Hosey Horton
Spokane
Don’t fudge fish standard 
Mickeyamc on July 08 at 2:54 p.m.
I did a quick Google search asking the question: What do Yellow Jackets Eat? I also checked in a couple textbooks. The same answer kept popping up.
Yellow Jackets primarily eat fruit and plant nectar. They have a proboscis (sort of like a straw) that they can use to suck juices from fruit and other plants. They are attracted to human food, sweet drinks, candy, and juices. Sometimes they will eat other insects or try to steal honey from honey bees. Absent their preferred foods it is possible that they could eat a mosquito.
This seems to make Horton’s claim that yellow jackets eat nearly thier own weight in insects daily spurious or at least suspect.