High Rise Specialists

[Bduck]

I'm going thru a massive tree dump in my backyard. Looking at the carpet of leaves I noticed a wasp nest laying amongst the leaves. 



                                
Crafty little dwellers      A 5 tier development            
 

Sometimes I find a round small paper dome laying around in the yard.

And yes, that's my smoker in the background with 3 racks of baby back ribs. 

[wiperhunter2]

I can't say I've seen one with that many layers before, it must be several years old. Do you think it came out of your tree, when the leaves started falling?

[Bduck]

There's no doubt it came out of my tree; I found a couple of leaves attached. Within the past couple of weeks there was a very high windstorm that ripped & stripped a couple of my trees of leaves. Apparently, it must have loosened the nest and as more leaves started dropping it finally came down. I don't think its that old, I would have noticed it before the trees got new spring buds. 

[wiperhunter2]

That's pretty amazing it got that big in one year, I've never seen one get that large in one year.

[joshomaru]

That's a good sized one. It was made this year; the paper outside was torn away with the wind.
Every year I would have a big one in the same maple tree in my park strip (had three maples there). Whenever we went to eat on the back deck, the yellow jackets would come right quick and drive us back inside. I could NEVER find it, until the leaves dropped. was always about the size of a rugby ball.
Last December, my city cut those trees down and replaced my sidewalk that was buckled from the tree roots. This year, no yellow jacket gangs to accost us eating on the deck!
The biggest one I have personally seen was two houses down from me, built against the chimney and eave of the house. I helped them take it down in the dark. SEVEN levels! It took three cans of spray and a garden hose in the dark to take them all down!

[wiperhunter2]

That's a good sized one.  It was made this year; the paper outside was torn away with the wind.
Every year I would have a big one in the same maple tree in my park strip (had three maples there).  Whenever we went to eat on the back deck, the yellow jackets would come right quick and drive us back inside.  I could NEVER find it, until the leaves dropped.  was always about the size of a rugby ball.
Last December, my city cut those trees down and replaced my sidewalk that was buckled from the tree roots.  This year, no yellow jacket gangs to accost us eating on the deck! 
The biggest one I have personally seen was two houses down from me, built against the chimney and eave of the house.  I helped them take it down in the dark.  SEVEN levels!  It took three cans of spray and a garden hose in the dark to take them all down!

If they are yellow jackets, that could be the difference, wasp and yellow jackets are different and likely have different nest. All the ones around my house are wasp, so they only have that single layer of nest. Here is a pic of the two:

[Bduck]

Although I have seen some yellow jackets occasionally, mostly what I have is wasps hanging around. About 2months ago a neighbor came over for a visit. She pointed out a massive collection of wasps in a large flowerpot on my front porch. That posed a danger to anyone that came to my front door. I immediately sprayed with wasp killer, found a very large single nest hidden at the base of the fake plants.  

[wiperhunter2]

Although I have seen some yellow jackets occasionally, mostly what I have is wasps hanging around. About 2months ago a neighbor came over for a visit. She pointed out a massive collection of wasps in a large flowerpot on my front porch. That posed a danger to anyone that came to my front door. I immediately sprayed with wasp killer, found a very large single nest hidden at the base of the fake plants.  

If that wasn't the case, maybe them making their nest in a tree makes a difference, maybe they need more layers to support their nest 
The ones I see around my house are under eaves of my house or frames of trailers but in more protected areas. Either way, what you have is unique and something I haven't seen before.

[Bduck]

Curt, I also find them in the areas you mentioned. On occasion I have to remove the cover that goes over my AC unit and other openings on top of my travel trailer finding many nests.

[jjannie]

Amazing critters for sure. We see many but haven't ever seen a multi-level one like you've had. 

We get many around here as well with the pond we have. 

Our yellow jackets tend to nest mostly in the ground. 

Those wasp traps do work, we bait ours using a stinky chub minnow, hang it nearby and it works great. Fills up in less than a week. Once we thin the nest down before we risk attacking it with a good soaking spray in the nest hole.