Ask your County Agent

Stephanie R. Butcher County Coordinator Agricultural & Natural Resources Agent UGA Extension – Coweta County

Q. There are huge hornets in my yard, but I Cannot Find a Nest. What Can I Use to Kill Them?

A. If they are flying around your lawn and are about 1 ½” to 2” long, then you are probably seeing cicada killers. We see them in July and August every year, but some years we see more than others. This is one of those years. We have had many calls about them.

Cicada killers can be intimidating because they are the largest wasp in Georgia, but they are not something that we have to worry about. Cicadas, on the other hand, should be very afraid. Cicada killer wasp adults feed on nectar but use paralyzed cicadas to feed their young.

Female cicada killers are hard to provoke to sting. The female uses her stinger to paralyze her prey (cicadas) rather than in self-defense. The female’s attention is focused on providing food for her babies, so she poses little threat to humans.

Cicada killers prefer to nest in sandy open sunlit areas. As the female digs, she kicks out soil that forms a semicircle around the burrow opening. She burrows six to ten inches into the ground, prepares a chamber, catches a cicada to fill the chamber, lays an egg on the cicada, and seals the chamber. She may do this over a dozen times in one burrow.

When a female finds a cicada, she paralyzes it with her stinger, straddles it, and attempts to fly with it to her burrow. Because the cicada typically weighs more than she does, these flights are usually hops, with more dragging than gliding.

The egg hatches in a few days and the larva feeds on the paralyzed cicada until nothing is left but a shell. Then the wasp larva pupates within the burrow, remaining there until the next spring.

Males cannot sting; their only defense is intimidation. They patrol the nesting area, trying to divert attention away from the female, allowing her to fill her nest with cicadas. Meanwhile the male is using threatening tactics to distract potential predators. He may even dive bomb perceived threats. Since the males do not have stingers, they are completely harmless. They must rely on bluff, bluster, and bravado to protect their families.

Because cicada egg laying can be damaging to trees and shrubs, cicada killer wasps are very beneficial, providing free biological control. However, homeowners who do not want these wasps around can modify their lawn to be unappealing. A thick healthy turf with no bare spots will exclude cicada killer wasps. If turf is thin in nesting areas, identify turf problems that make the turf weak and correct them.

Cicada killer wasps are active for only a few weeks and are usually gone by mid-August in most of Georgia.

For more information about cicada killers, contact the Coweta County Extension office at 770-254-2620 or coweta.extension@uga.edu and ask for the publication, “Herbs in Southern Gardens”.

The University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences is an equal opportunity, affirmative action organization. ■

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