Growing & Crawling wasps: pollinators with a bad raps By janet douberly We all have a wasp story. At some point we, or somebody we know, got stung, sometimes multiple times, by wasps. Let's face it, wasps have a bad reputation and many folks understandably and indiscriminately hate all wasps. But what if I told you that wasps ultimately do more good than harm? What makes wasps so scary to most people is that some of them can sting and, unlike bees, stinging does not kill them. In fact, they can do it several times when they feel they are in danger, laughing all the way. (Well, maybe not.) What most of us don't realize is that only a small percentage of the hundreds of types of wasps found in Virginia are considered dangerous stingers. In fact, most wasps are found to be beneficial due to the fact that they are not only great pollinators but they will eat many of the insects that we consider pests. Some wasps even lay their eggs inside of pests for their young to devour upon hatching. How helpful is that?
And though, much like humans, some wasps will use the only weapon they have available to defend themselves and their homes, if we respect their boundaries and adapt a live-and-let-live attitude towards any that aren't setting up camp on our houses, I think we can all
learn to appreciate everything our wickedlooking, dagger-weilding friends do for us. Janet Douberly is Program Coordinator at Downtown Greens. learn more about things growing & crawling in Fxbg, check out our Facebook & Instagram.
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