I have defeated Squirrels and birds. But I do not have a solution for these wasps. They bore straight into ripening figs. I guess the organza bags, but eventually I will have dozens of figs ripening at a time. Is that a viable solution? Seems too much work.

You might be able to find the nest.
http://www.techletter.com/Archive/Technical%20Articles/yellowjackettracking.html  

Brother puts moth balls in old panty hose to tie in the muscadine vines.  

A soapy spray will knock them down without being toxic but I don't know if you want soapy figs.

I wonder if wasp/hornet traps would be efficacious.

Brent: nice link. I am sure the nest is not on my property unfortunately. Musillid: I will check on some small traps. Thanks for your reply Charlie.

You might try spraying with neem oil. It deters other insects from my figs.

"gene"

Rafael, I feel your pain. Good luck in finding a solution.

If you use neem be careful when you spray. I believe if there is sun after spraying it can burn the leaves/green stems. I have never used it for figs or wasps but have for scale on a lemon tree. I always sprayed in the evening or late in the day when cloudy.

Organza bags work but only you can tell if it's worth it.  I don't know if Safer's soap works on wasps and yellow jackets but I'd try it.  Once the hive knows you've got fruit they'll all come and you'll have nothing.

Bob, thanks the great news. :-(. The Pretos and Battaglias are ripening-I will not be a happy camper if I experience a yellowjacket invasion.

Are they yellow jackets or paper wasps?

Not sure, look closely at the picture of the green fig, I trapped a critter in the hole while it feasted.

Hi rafaelissimmo,
Build some traps : Take a soda bottle and cut just at shoulder level so that it fits upside down in the bottom part.
Put one centimeter or two of soda in there . Hang 3 or 4 around your trees and some more on the direction that you think that they come from.
Let them sink in the soda ! ... Sometimes shake the bottle to help the insects to sink faster .
You can put some raw meat inside the bottles to attract them even better - keep the soda on the bottom so that the insects do glue themselves .
I think I saw that beer would work too at attracting them ... I think it depends on if those bees traveled through some potted orchards ... ( Hi bullet08, how are the figs :P )

Yellow jacket traps not working. This is.

You need to cover that other one that's swollen & changing color, too.  The earlier you cover them the less incentive they have to come back.

Raf-

Depending the size of the canopy...you could bag the whole canopy portion of your tree by making a giant-size "bag" out of Organza or, Tulle-(bridal veiling) that's sold in fabric stores.  The Tulle veiling has very tiny holes and can easily be sewn by anyone that's handy with a sewing machine.  Throw the bag over the tree and drawstring it around the main stem.  Then the entire canopy will be under a net made from bridal veiling.  When you need to pick figs, just loosen the drawstring and pick your figs....then re-tie the drawstring so wasps can't enter.  You could bag the whole tree only at ripening time.

Just a thought.


Frank

Bob, I had already bagged the second fig last nite, thanks. Frank, nice idea, thanks, but I just got a packet of 100 organza bags, that should work fine.

Are you sure the nest isn't on your property?  It could be in between shed walls or siding.  If you have this many doing damage, as the weather gets cooler they are going to become more aggressive while looking for food.

Another option:
http://www.livingwithbugs.com/yellowjacket_bait.html

Thanks gofigure, I will look into that. The yellowjackets do not seem very interested in my garden store bait traps.